Well-being franchising

To bear the proud name of a shoe franchisee, you do not need to pay a lump-sum fee and pay serf rent, in modern terms, royalties - unlike buyers of any franchise of services, whose royalties reach 8% of turnover. It is only necessary to come to terms with the fact that St. George's Day is simply absent in the shoe-maker's calendar. The franchisor and the franchisee equalize only common joy or common sorrow. Anna Komissarova was trying to figure out how well both sides felt under the sword of Damocles of the crisis.

Not Celsius Degrees

SR's survey of leading footwear franchisors has shown that there is no clear trend in demand declining or surging. The weather in the house of each company is different. For example, the largest player in the footwear market, the TsentrObuv company, which has 309 stores throughout Russia, has a growing demand for franchises. Its unsinkability is ensured by its location in the economy segment, which is most in demand during the crisis. Paolo Conte, also in the mid-range segment, is also cheerfully and happily reporting an increase in the number of franchise seekers. In September alone, the company has scheduled six stores to open. Econika's flight during the crisis is also normal - the demand for buying a stable business has remained the same stable. The indicators of the Monroe company have not changed either - over the past year, 8 stores have been opened under their name. You can sympathize with Mascotte - sales of franchises fell by as much as 50%. Both Footterra and Zenden have curtailed the franchise program. In September, Tervolina, which is forced to stop attempts to expand into the regions, will most likely join them.

But the picture of today's shoe franchise market will not be complete if its edges are obscured, namely, a portrait of a potential franchisee, the form of franchise packages, the relationship of both parties to the concession agreement (because the concept of franchise does not exist in the lexicon of Russian law) and cases of the franchisee's complete failure. And in general, it is necessary to properly understand whether it is worth buying a franchise in a crisis or, having put soft objects, like a red damsel, sitting at the window and waiting for the holiday on Russian economic street.

Attention wanted

So, let's look at the verbalized snapshots of job seekers at the hands of franchisors. What do we see?

"Center Shoes": “The portrait has not changed. Most of them are business owners in regional cities. They have free money in connection with the closure of unprofitable lines of business. Most often it’s household appliances and clothing retail. ”

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Westfalika: “A typical portrait of our franchisee is an individual entrepreneur who owns one or two stores under the sign“ Shoes ”. He has been our wholesale customer for a long time, and now seeks to sell shoes retail under our brand. It is clear that in times of crisis, when demand is narrowing, it is not easy for such small companies to survive. Therefore, we see their interest in representing a well-known brand in the market, which is in demand despite the crisis. ” An interesting feature: the crisis forces franchisees to move their brains, and, without waiting for outside help, they themselves take measures to increase the efficiency of their business. Therefore, only praise is worthy: “This year, some of our franchisees did not just close stores, but moved stores to more passable places. For example, one of our franchisees closed a stand-alone store and moved it to a shopping and entertainment center, which drew a large flow of customers. ”

Paolo Conte: “As a rule, people who already have a business, or those who have already worked in the shoe market, but who want to engage in more serious business, turn to us. Among the applicants there is a small percentage of those who were engaged in third-party business. We train or retrain them. We refuse only to those who plan to work in the city in which we already have a store open. ”

Open your handbag

If you look into the franchise packages of our speakers, we can conclude that they live according to the samurai commandments. They prepared for the crisis in advance: they introduced new economical formats that made the cost of opening new stores minimal. Paolo Conte went the other way and made the payment schedule more loyal. The only change that was undertaken during the CentrObuvu crisis was the transition to an advance payment of supplies.

Almost a minute of silence closed shops. Why did the earth sail away from under the feet of the unfortunate? All franchisors who have buried a number of regional stores blame the shameless intervention of the crisis for everything. According to Andrei Voitov, executive director of the franchising department of TD CenterObuv, the reason for all the closures is the same: the franchisees hoped to get a loan in an unsuccessful period and could not get additional support. In the Monroe company, the funeral march was played even before the crisis, Andrey Kalmykov put forward two reasons: the franchisee’s interest in business and the franchisor’s dissatisfaction with his wards.

And finally. In response to my hypothetical statement that buying a franchise guarantees stability in a crisis, almost all shoe makers shook their fingers at the temple, saying that a franchise can add stability if you select the most demanded product category, but even the best franchise in the fashion business does not no guarantees.