Hiring The Right People
Many franchises - such as food, hospitality and...
4 Tips for Finding the Best Market for Your Canadian Franchise
When you research Canadian franchises, you are probably looking across various industries. This will be among the most important choices you make as a new business owner.
However, this isn't the only type of market you need to consider before you decide. You also must know who will be buying from you and, among them, who your best customers will likely be. When you narrow down this field in the beginning, you can research business models more in depth and use that information to guide your search. While you probably already know to check area demographics and local foot traffic, there are other ways you can dig deeper into the potential of a given market.
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Filling a real need
The area you're in must have a real need for the goods and services you will provide. Consider what types of industries are missing from the area in question and whether you may be the one to fill in that void. At the same time, check to see if the market is overly saturated on anything. While some competition is okay, too many competitors will make it very tough for you to be successful, and that same business could do much better elsewhere, where the market is not so full.
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Asking the locals
Try to find out what the locals in the area want or need. This is great feedback from your potential customer pool as these are the people who live in and will spend money in your area. Try to discover where they would be likely to spend more money, and don't overlook their ideas. Poll people casually, put a focus group together or send out a survey that offers steady feedback. From the results, you can learn what local shoppers really want to have around.
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Examine other locations
Observing other locations of the franchise you're considering will give you insight into who shops there regularly. The franchisee may also be willing to answer questions about who their typical customer tends to be, and you can see whether that type of person is in the market you are considering.
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Look at past businesses
If there were past businesses in your area from your potential brand or a similar one, look at who is still open and who has closed their doors. Find out what the successful ones are doing to keep themselves popular, and, if you can, find out what happened with the businesses that failed. By looking at the success and failures of the same or similar franchises in your potential market, you can gain some valuable perspective on the strength of the possible customer base there.
Once you have completely reviewed and examined a local market, you can make an informed decision about whether you are leaning toward the right business in the right place. You may just find that either the brand or the business needs to change, or even that it's time to begin your search from scratch.
