Why Use a Franchise?

With over 1,400 brands operating in the UK right now as franchises and, with franchised brands contributing an estimated 13.4 billion pounds to the nation’s economy last year, you’ll not be surprised that there are many who avail themselves to the products and services supplied by franchises every day of the year. Some knowingly, others, not so.
The reasons why quite so many people choose a franchise over an independent operator or supplier are interesting and varied.

Many elect to use a franchise for continuity of quality, some because of the extremely high levels of customer care or maybe because of brand recognition. Others like dealing with business owners directly and some with experts in their field.

What isn’t always made apparent though is why franchising is such a preferred option in the market-place. Well, our considered opinion here at Use A Franchise is that, given the choice, many consumers like to deal directly with a business owner. Ideally somebody (or an outlet) who has received top-notch training in their industry sector and is pleased to be able to help to make a buying experience as pleasurable as possible. And that is exactly what consumers receive when dealing with a franchise…..a local area business owner who is trading under a much larger ‘corporate umbrella’ and an expert in their field.

The local area franchisee, and their customers, will often benefit from ‘corporate buying power’ when making purchases from franchised outlets, trades & services. If we took any well-known High Street pizza delivery franchise as an example, just imagine how everybody benefits from economy of scale purchasing power from ingredients ordered centrally in tonnes (rather than the odd kilo that an independent may buy), packaging bought in millions, shared promotional costs etc. All big savings which are passed down the line to the consumer to benefit from….good news indeed in the current economic environment.

If the above is then coupled with tremendous customer service being provided by the person (or people) who actually own that shop then there’s a Win – Win scenario for all to enjoy.

But that’s not the whole picture! If we use the above example again and, when seeking a similar purchase in a different town or city, the chances are that the customer will use the same branded outlet, or indeed service provider, as the one they have used before that gave outstanding value and buying experience.

Many consumers tend to favour franchises to make their purchases from because of corporate uniformity within a franchise network. You’ll probably already have noticed that franchised businesses working from the High Street all have identical shop fronts in all of their respective locations. The internal fittings are identical throughout the UK and stock also tends to be very similar if not identical also.

Where a franchise operation uses vans to typically supply a service, then all of the vehicles sport an identical livery.  Possibly the finest example of corporate uniformity within a franchise are the train operators who all have identical carriages running on the regionally based rail networks.

What has become apparent over time however is the lack of one central information portal giving consumers and potential customers one simple resource to identify which Companies in the UK operate as franchises. That’s until now!

This Use A Franchise site has been designed and constructed to help you find all of the UK franchises operating today by Town, Region or Industry Sector as we want you to be able to find, and benefit from, all of the facets that make dealing with franchises so clearly appealing.

We’d like to think that, by widening the appeal and explaining the features and benefits that using a franchise brings that the current 13.4 billion going into the UK economy can soon become 20 billion and rising!