Project: Franchise mapping
PVC Wizard is the UK’s 1st Conservatory & PVC Cleaning Franchise and members of the British Franchise Association.
When preparing to roll out the franchise opportunity nationwide, one of the key areas identified was to clearly define the exclusive territories available to franchisees. Our research showed that traditionally within the franchise industry, territories have been defined by the total number of households within a group of postcodes often combined with the local knowledge of the franchisee. This has often led to large imbalances within the franchise network and the resulting territories being overly generous, restricting the future growth of the network as the market becomes saturated. This issue forces some companies to redefine territories and boundaries once the network has been established with the resulting problems and resistance from established franchisees.
As a specialist conservatory cleaning company, we identified that defining territories based upon the likely number of conservatories within each territory would be the ideal scenario. When discussing this option with mapping companies within the franchise industry we were informed that there was no possibility of fulfilling this method and that the traditional route was the only option.
The approach taken by DDL Insight was different. They identified that the more sophisticated process was possible by renting data of households who have made planning applications for conservatories or where a conservatory formed part of the development, these households could then be profiled using their own ACORN software to produce a scientifically accurate profile of conservatory owners.
Once the profiling had been carried out it could then be cross referenced against the existing franchise territories to determine the typical number of profile matching households within these territories which would then form the required territory size and number when mapping the country.
The bespoke solution from DDL Insight provided a greatly enhanced, scientific and accurate approach specifically designed to meet the needs of PVC Wizard. When discussing the nature of the territory with potential franchisees we have confidence in our ability to deliver an exclusive territory that is of a suitable size for them to run their franchise. In addition, we have the confidence that the number of territories will provide the company with enough areas to support the planned growth and expansion plans. Without the solution from DDL Insight there is no doubt that in future years we would suffer the same problems experienced by franchised businesses that have not had the benefit of such a bespoke solution.
John Feeney
Managing Director
PVC Wizard