How to Start Your Own Virtual Reality Franchise

After many months being at home, many of us have decided that now is the perfect time to make a change. As one of the most exciting and innovative industries undergoing dramatic growth, starting a virtual reality franchise could be the ideal opportunity for you.

Working as part of a big franchise can be one of the best ways to reap all the rewards of the virtual reality sector while minimising the risks. 

What is a virtual reality franchise?

A virtual reality franchisee can work across a number of different industries with a number of different customer demographics. You may find yourself working in VR gaming, at VR theme parks, in tourism, museums, and many other different sectors.

You may be working with VR headsets, gaming devices, televisions and many other types of equipment. As an up and coming technology with an almost limitless number of potential uses, you could find yourself working in some highly specialised industries. 

And, with the global VR industry set to be worth almost double its current size by 2024, totalling more than $12 billion [Statista], there is plenty of room for growth still to come.

Should you start a virtual reality franchise? 

Virtual reality technology is an up-and-coming sector that is promising to change many of the ways we currently live, work, and do business. As such, this is one of the most exciting and profitable sectors for you to be franchising in.

With this market set to grow rapidly over the next few years, now could be the ideal time to start your own virtual reality franchise. As a franchisee, you’ll be working to a business model that has been proven to see better survival rates than many small businesses. As a result, you will be well-positioned to capitalise on this growing and dynamic sector.

How to start a virtual reality franchise

If you’ve decided to start your own virtual reality franchise, you’re in great company. You’re just one of many franchisees who have decided to get set up in this sector. So, if you’re looking to start your own virtual reality franchise, here’s everything you need to know to get your business up and running.

1. Understand the industry

Whilst understanding the intricacies and ins and outs of your chosen industry may sound an obvious point, the virtual reality sector is one that is promising to change the way we live and do business for many years into the future. You should make sure that you understand the ways in which your sector could grow several years down the line.

This sector is growing quickly but is still in the early years of its growth, meaning that the full scale of this market is far from clear. Before starting your own virtual reality business, you should research some of the future applications that your business could specialise in.

For example, you may want to look at some of the following industries:

• Virtual shopping: Virtual reality will change the way we shop by offering customers real-time visualisations of their products in different settings.
• Real estate: Virtual viewings became a necessity during the pandemic and VR makes viewing properties from a distance a far more realistic experience. 
• Education: VR will be able to take the classroom to a whole new place, entirely revolutionising the way education is taught.
• Gaming: Virtual and artificial realities are at the heart of gaming, but with the expansion of virtual technology, this competitive sector will only grow in profitability and excitement.
• Recruitment: VR will make the process of onboarding new team members a whole lot smoother. With new starters enjoying a much more comprehensive insight into the responsibilities of their new role.

As well as simply being a sector in its own right, virtual reality will play a role in many other sectors, so you have plenty of room to specialise further.

2. Apply your skills

As this is such a diverse and varied sector, the more experience you have in different sectors, the better. However, this isn’t a necessity as the majority of franchises don’t require you to have previous experience in VR or sales to be the right franchisee. However, the more diverse and varied your skillset is, the more appealing a franchisee you may be.

As a common requirement, franchisees should be:

• Confident
• Business savvy
• Entrepreneurial
• Ambitious
• Dedicated
• Capable of leading a team
• An efficient recruiter

Training is normally on offer for many franchisees who don’t have some of these skills, but if you’re able to show that you can apply your skills already, you could be the ideal candidate.

3. Finance your franchise

Once you know what virtual reality business you want to work as part of, you will need to decide how you want to finance your business. While the average cost for starting a franchise business was around £42,200 in 2018, starting a CAHEM franchisee requires a minimum investment of £60,000 with franchising fees of £26,000.

While the cost of setting up a franchised business might seem a lot, there are alternatives to paying this cost up front. Some franchises have dedicated financing coaches, tutors or brokers who can help you afford these costs. Many high street banks will also lend up to 70% of all start up costs to individuals with the right credit history. In short, financing your business doesn’t need to be as difficult as it may seem.

4. Prepare a marketing strategy

You will need to discuss with your franchisor how you intend to market your new virtual reality business. As many franchisees have also set up a VR business with your franchisor, there will almost certainly be a tried and tested strategy for you to learn from.

However, as marketing is a field that is never standing still, you should also be prepared to present some new ideas and strategies to help reach your chosen demographic.

Become a franchisee in the virtual reality sector today

Deciding to start your own virtual reality franchisee business could be one of the rewarding career decisions you ever make. In what is a clearly exciting and innovative sector, you have plenty of room of profitability, enjoyment and specialism ahead.

If you’d like to see a full list of other franchising opportunities, you can filter through different sectors on the UK franchise directory.