How to Start Your Own Retail Franchise

While this sector was rocked by the pandemic, the retail industry has since diversified and is looking forward to exciting growth again in the near future. Whether you want a fixed premises shop, an online store or are looking for a hybrid mix of the two, here’s how you can start your own retail franchise.

Despite the obvious disappointment and frustration many retailers have felt over the last few months, many business owners have risen to the challenge and responded by tapping into new and exciting retail trends.

Though it has been difficult, the retail sector is still a profitable and important sector to the UK economy. Whether it’s online, in-store or hybrid retailing that interests you the most, this is still a sector worth making a career change for. 

But how exactly do you start your own retail franchise? 

What does a retail franchise do?

Whatever you want your dream retail business to be, your primary role will be selling as many as many units as you can. On top of providing the best possible customer experience you can, a retail franchisee can expect to do many of the following:

• updating and changing marketing displays
• working with industry-leading POS software
• fulfilling orders as they arrive
• recruiting new team members
• replenishing stock

When it comes to working in the retail industry, one thing’s for certain: you will be busy. This is an industry where you will be working hard. That being said, the rewards are excellent. Knowing you provide excellent customer service on a daily basis means that you will have plenty of job satisfaction. And, with the support of your franchisor, you will be well on the way to securing some exciting profits.

Why start a retail franchise?

On top of job satisfaction and profitability, you’ll have one major advantage over your competitors when it comes to running your own business: your franchisor. At every stage of setting up your business, you will have the support of your franchisor to help with lots of the trickiest parts of business ownership:

• you will be able to benefit from the pre-existing customer base and reputation of your franchisor
• you can count on the dedicated support of various tutors and business mentors
• you’ll have help with recruitment 
• there will be different and advantageous rates for setting up your business

In what is still a profitable sector, there are lots of reasons to start your own retail franchise. So here’s our top tips on how you can do exactly that.

How to start your own retail franchise 

1. Decide what kind of business you want to run

Lots of businesses have had to innovate over the last few months, meaning that many have had to adjust to an entirely new way of working. While that may have brought its own challenges at first, many have now perfected these new ways of working. Three of the most common retail businesses you will find today are:

• Bricks-and-mortar businesses: Traditional, fixed premises with a physical shop front.
• Online businesses: Organisations that operate entirely online. These have no physical shop front and dispatch items directly from a warehouse to customers.
• Hybrid businesses: Digitally-enhanced physical stores, with digital displays and built-in internet-based features. 

Each of these businesses will require a different kind of investment and will only be acceptable to certain kinds of franchises. However, they each have their own advantages and disadvantages so, when it comes to running your own retail businesses, you will need to decide which one of the above suits your needs best.

2. Find a franchise 

There are lots of different franchises in the retail sector, but not all of them will suit your needs perfectly. When it comes to finding the right franchise, you will need to do some research to find out which franchises will offer you the right amount of training, support and guidance, are most affordable and have the right ethos for you.

There are lots of different factors you need to consider and questions you need to ask, but once you’ve done your research and narrowed down your options, you should be in a good position to find the right franchise for your needs.

3. Figure out your recruitment

In retail, your business is only as strong as your team members. Your team members will need to understand the ethos of your business and get on well with each other. On top of this, they will also need to have a number of common characteristics that make them each effective team players. Good characteristics to watch out for are:

• a good way with people
• an enthusiasm for their work
• self-motivation
• a proactive approach
• a commitment to furthering their knowledge and skills

4. Finance your franchise 

One of the final steps you’ll need to take before you start your own business is figure out how you intend to finance your franchise. The average cost of setting up a franchise business in the UK is around £42,200 [British Franchise Association], with lots of retail franchises coming in significantly below this cost.

While this is great news, you will still need to figure out how to finance your new business. Thankfully, and depending on your credit history, many major banks are prepared to offer up to 70% of start-up costs. Because franchising is seen as a safer way to run a business, you can look forward to enjoying the benefits of attractive and competitive financial rates.

Start your own retail franchise today

The retail sector is still a profitable sector. Although it has endured some difficult times of late, there are still plenty of opportunities in this industry. If it isn’t quite the right sector for you though, have a look at the UK franchise directory, where you’ll be able to search and filter through lots of different opportunities.