Franchise Buyers Confident of Business Success, says Franchise Portal FranchiseSales.com

LONDON, ENGLAND, August 21, 2010

Sixty percent of aspirant franchisees believe now is a good time to buy a franchise, says a survey of over 200,000 franchise seekers and franchisors by http://www.FranchiseSales.com.

Only 11% are reticent, saying it's a bad time. At a time when the economic climate is plagued with uncertainty this represents a big vote of confidence to the franchising model.

Lifestyles

The survey pointed towards franchise buyers being tempted to burn the candle at both ends - 35% of franchise seekers are currently in employment and 48% are self employed or already a business owner. And a whopping 40% of all surveyed said they planned to continue with their current job/business if they bought a franchise.

Two in five respondents (40%) wanted to run a franchise to supplement an existing income, whether a part-time job or existing business.

In particular web based businesses have been at the fore of this revolution - there are 28 internet-based franchises on FranchiseSales.com. Before the internet came along, running a business and working a separate job in tandem was largely unthinkable without significant help.

Online businesses have lower overheads and can operate autonomously to a large extent, so are more conducive to being run part time or from home.

Younger Buyers

The majority of franchise seekers are aged between 31 and 50, accounting for 57% of respondents. Interestingly, the mean average has dropped from 43 years to 39 over the past two years.

Jeremy Mandell, Head of Marketing at Dynamis, the owner of FranchiseSales.com who ran the survey said: "There are two overarching reasons why franchise seekers are, on average, younger.

"Firstly money - with less disposable income or savings, few younger people can afford the higher costs associated with buying a business. On average a franchise seeker's budget of GBP79,500 is about a third of that of the businesses buyer's GBP208,000.

"Secondly - the lack of need for experience. Whereas nearly 60% of buyers of non-franchised businesses said the number one factor in their decision to buy a particular business was their experience in the sector, many (though by no means all) franchises require little or no industry experience from prospective franchisees."

Franchise buyers also prefer the security and revenue possibilities from a franchise, as opposed to if it matches with their experience.

Starting a business where the brand is already established was the most common reason for buying a franchise, cited by 46% of respondents. The next most important factor, with 29% of responses, was the lower risk associated with buying a franchise, next came the support and training that is always on hand for franchisees from an experienced support team, attracting 13% of replies.

Just over a third of franchise seekers said they know which sector they want to invest; gaining their independence and being their own boss were given as the main drivers for the other 62%.

No experience required

Of those that did know which sector they wanted to go into, food was overwhelmingly the most popular field.

Nearly half of respondents declared an interest in food-related franchises, particularly coffee and fast food. These types of businesses offer a number of advantages, not least that they tend to require no or little previous experience, making it a great option for a broad pool of buyers.

The next most popular sectors were web franchises, health and beauty, automotive and retail.

It's perhaps no surprise that the least popular sectors, including care, pet, dating service and pest control, are more expensive, require specific industry experience or a passion for the field.

Shop-based businesses were the most popular workplace type, cited by 46% of respondents, followed by home-based with 37% and office-based with 33%. Twenty-seven percent professed not to mind where their place of work would be, suggesting income and being their own boss enjoyed primacy in their motivations. Van or car-based environments polled 15% and 6% respectively.

Finance

Sixty-three percent of aspiring franchisees have finance in place before they approach franchisors. Of these, 23% are already working with a local bank and 19% plan to work with the franchisor. Only 20% said haven't thought yet about finance.

Not only do banks see franchises as low risk and therefore offer favourable terms in these credit-straitened times, but the amounts borrowed are also comparatively modest.

However, even though franchise seekers appear to have less difficulty getting bank loans than regular business buyers and certainly those starting businesses, 76% of respondents still wished for more attractive franchise promotions and offers when asked what they most wanted franchisors to offer over the next 12 months. Better financing scored highly too, with 31%, followed by the expansion of franchising into new sectors with 19% and more territories with 18%.

Flight to safety

The availability of so many recession-resilient sectors, along with the comparative ease of securing finance and the reliability of the franchising model, means that franchising represents a flight to safety in tough times.

That 90% of franchises make it past three years compared to just one in three conventional start-ups certainly backs this up. There are few other business models who can boast such a track record.

FranchiseSales.com is published by Dynamis plc.

Dynamis plc is an online publisher, repsonsible for BusinessesForSale.com, FranchiseSales.com, BusinessWings.co.uk and BusinessOpportunities.com. The titles are all in the business transfer market and look to inspire and educate entrepreneurs and provide them with a marketplace in which to find and buy business opportunties.