Supermarket Franchise

Supermarket franchise businesses are now in all tier-2 & tier-3, small and big cities. We can see that the market size of supermarket franchise in India is increasing with each passing day. The popularity and trends are changing as the supermarket model gives access to people to explore the goods from a large variety.  But this is not all. The supermarket franchise business comes with several pros & cons that we are going to discuss in this article. It will help you to decide whether you should invest in it or not.  Pros of Supermarket franchise: 1. High Brand Recognition & Established Reputation: Supermarket franchise offers you pre-built recognition. This works in your favour as people are already well-informed about the brand. The trust a brand has developed automatically transferred to your store. The established reputation helps you to draw people from day one under the name of the franchise brand. As a result, your win is sure. 2. Access to Proven Business Model & Operational Support: More than 90% of businesses fail due to the lack of systematic planning. The business field is highly competitive, and it’s very tough to even survive in this big ocean. In such a troubled and cut-throat competition, supermarket franchises offer a safer way. You got to follow a proven system with all the required operational support given by the company itself.  3. Bulk Purchasing Power & Cost Savings: A franchise business offers you several products to showcase in your store. The franchisor contacts all these different companies and you contact only the franchisor. As a result, you get your products at wholesale prices, minimum in the market. This saves you money that you can use in other functions of the business.  4. Training & Ongoing Assistance: Franchisors always believe in training & assistance considering the always-changing marketplace. This helps their partners like you to cope with the latest market trends and continuous growth in your business.  5. Financial Considerations: Establishing your own business requires a huge capital that is not possible for each one of us. Franchise business solves this issue to some extent. The capital charge is less than what we need to establish a whole new business from scratch.   Cons of Supermarket franchise: 1. Initial Franchise Fee & Ongoing Royalty Payments: The first con of buying a franchise business is its capital investment. Though it is lower than what it costs for a new business, you may face difficulties buying it. Moreover, the business model asks you for recurring money annually or monthly to renew your eligibility to use the brand.   2. Equipment & Inventory Costs: All franchisees follow a specific set of infrastructures that define their identity. This set also helps to sell more and lets the customer more of your store’s exposure. But this equipment & inventory costs you a lot of money. However, the franchisor may or may not include your equipment & inventory cost in the capital amount.   3. Store Location & Lease Expense: Buying a franchise doesn’t only include the brand name, equipment, products, and inventory but also the location. This means you have to pay for the prime location a franchisor has chosen in your city. This business turns from a franchise business to a real estate business.  4. Profit Potential & Return on Investment: The franchisor will make a deal with you according to their business model. This includes the sharing of the total profit and minimum sales limit. This factor can highly impact your return on investment and personal profit. Be careful with the calculations while signing the deal.  5. Market Stability & Growth Potential: Though supermarket franchise is a profitable business model and will offer you huge profits. But you can’t grow your business according to your preferences. For example- you can’t keep a single product extra that you feel would make good sales. To some extent, a franchise business limits your entrepreneurial zeal.  Considerations for Choosing the Right Supermarket Franchise: If you’re into buying a franchise supermarket to enter into the business world, keep patience. There are some factors you must not ignore. Read all of them below.  1. Brand Value: Before signing a deal, check the brand value of the franchisor. Check out all their recent news and history. Only when you find their business reliable and with a good image, should you proceed. A bad review about the brand can lead to your failure. People will not look at you but at the brand while deciding their decision.  2. Fee & Royalties: Look for a balanced fee & royalty system in the company. This will help you to maintain your account. It must not be greater than your capacity so that you could save your profits as well.  3. Support: Each company offers proper training for its new partners. As you grow in business, they exceed the training level to boost your understanding every now & then. Choose a franchise supermarket business that offers an excellent training program and keeps its support system ready to help under all conditions.  4. Location: Choose a company that chooses a prime location only. This will help you create brand awareness in the initial stages only. More people will come to your place with their requirements and you will generate more sales.  5. Products: The products you are going to sell should have confidence in your own eyes. It’s unethical & non-professional not to have confidence in your own business. So choose a company in which you believe first.  6. Marketing Support: Some franchisee support in marketing your location too. They have their local PR team who would help you in branding & marketing your store.  7. Legal Considerations: Buying a franchise business will need legal consultancy. You may need several permissions, licences, documentation, and certifications you may know about. Choose a company who has an in-house legal team to help keep things transparent and well-informed to all.  Why Choose the 7 Heven Grocery Franchise? As we discussed above, 7 Heven has

These days, many people in India want to open a supermarket, but one fear that stops many of them is how will they beat the big malls and supermarkets. And another challenge is posed by the online sellers providing home delivery systems. How can they beat big malls and online sellers if they don’t have enough resources? Are there any such grocery supermarket marketing strategies that can help beat them? Guess what, there are such strategies and today we are going to learn 8 of them. 8 Grocery Supermarket Marketing Strategies That Can Beat Big Malls and Online Sellers 1. Focus on Locals Many businesses try to attract everyone to their stores and thus they would market themselves everywhere. And as a very simple yet powerful rule of marketing is if you try to win every one, you win no one. As a small supermarket, you cannot defeat the big malls in terms of advertisements on such a big level but you can always focus on locals and make sure that you have a monopoly in your local area.  Your goal should be to make everyone within the area of 3kms, your and only your customer in the grocery market. And you only expand your location when you have done this much. 2. Build Connections One of the best grocery supermarket marketing strategies to have a monopoly in the market is building very strong connections. Many of you may now think that I am talking about building a connection with the customers. While you should build connections with your customers, here I am talking about building connections with the other stores. The stores that your target market often visits. One great example of this is Mc Donalds and Coca-Cola. They are not competitors, they are selling different things to the same customer base, and thus; they are connected. And you should do the same, they promote you and you promote them to each other customers. To increase conversions, you can give special discounts to make them visit you. You alone can’t beat the big malls and rule the locality; you need support. And these connections will help you do so. 3. Irresistible Offers  This grocery supermarket marketing strategy is used a lot. Many supermarkets give a lot of sales and discounts to their customers, but a very big mistake is that they make discounts only to the extent where they can make at least some amount of profit. Now you must be thinking, “What is wrong with it?“ There is nothing wrong with it except one thing, all your competitors are doing the same. The correct way to do this is to just get customers into your supermarket, even if you make 0 profit. This strategy is just like the strategy of Netflix and Amazon Prime. They give you a few days of a free month’s trial even if they make no profit out of it because they are not focusing on profit, they are focusing not on generating customers, but on retaining customers. Also Read: Choosing the right grocery store franchise:7 factors to consider 4. Customer retention Customer retention is one of the most ignored grocery supermarket marketing strategies. People focus on making people come every day but not on retaining the customers who came yesterday. First, get customers inside your supermarket, and then give them coupons, and monthly subscriptions so they will get higher discounts as they have been very loyal customers. It is hard for you to beat the big malls in terms of getting new customers, but you can beat them at retaining customers.  And not only the big malls, but you can also beat the online sellers, as they are far from your customers, and it is a deep-rooted thing in our subconscious mind that we trust people who are physically closer; faster than those who are far. 5. Referral System The best, fastest, and most affordable kind of lead generation system is the referral system. In this grocery supermarket marketing strategy, your one customer promotes your brand to their known ones, and they further promote it to their known ones. And this can be done only when you give your customers an experience and quality that they just cannot forget. Now, one mistake that people make while practicing this strategy is that they expect that if they just give their customers a wonderful experience and quality products, their customers will refer them without having to ask for it directly. You must ask them to refer you once you see that they have become loyal. Waiting for them to do it on their own is a very bad way to build a referral system. 6. Go online locally. Now that the world has shifted online, you can never beat the big malls and online sellers by ignoring all the online grocery supermarket marketing strategies. While online sellers are focusing on many locations, you must use the internet to focus on your local area. Whether it be social media, ads, GMB listings, or any other strategy, they all must be focused on your local area within 3 km. All these will help you create a monopoly in the local market, and once you have done that, you can move on to scaling your area. Also Read: 10 Strategies to Boost Sales in a Supermarket & Retail Kirana Store in India 7. Scale  When you reach the monopoly in your locality, expanding to the next 2-3 km will not be hard at all. In fact, you can target 5-6 km of the area easily now. One mistake that people make while scaling is that they forget to reward the old customers. Never make them say,  “ That brand has changed, it is no longer how it used to be.” Always take care of them. One of the best ways to start scaling is to get into online delivery because you are a physical supermarket and your customers cannot travel such long distances until and unless your price is

Looking to hire staff for your supermarket franchise? According to the statistics, 96% of customers say they’ll leave you due to bad customer service, so you can understand how crucial it is to get the right staff for your business, right? But with so many skills to choose from, how do you know which ones really matter? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with the top 10 most important skills you should look for when staff hiring for a supermarket franchise.  Get ready to take notes, because these are the qualities that will make or break your business!  Here are the 10 skills you must look for when staff hiring for Supermarket Franchise 1. Communication Skills: We all know the importance of communication skills. Yet we fail to deliver it and there are very few in the market you can achieve this with utmost sincerity. What defines poor communication? An example of poor communication skills could be an employee who frequently interrupts others when they are speaking or who uses slang or casual language in a professional setting.  Hence, when hiring staff, it is always necessary to see what communication skills they possess. Here are five key aspects to look for in staff for effective communication skills in a supermarket franchise setting: Active Listening: One of the most important aspects of communication is listening to customers. By actively listening to what customers have to say, you can understand their needs and provide the right solution to their problems. Clear Communication: Customers should be able to understand what you’re saying and vice versa. Clear communication is essential in avoiding misunderstandings and making sure that everyone is on the same page. Confidence: Confidence is key when communicating with customers. Customers are more likely to trust and follow the advice of someone who speaks confidently and is knowledgeable about the products and services offered. Adaptability: Effective communication requires adaptability. Different customers will have different communication styles and preferences, so it’s important to be able to adjust your communication style to suit the individual customer. Patience: Communication can sometimes be frustrating, especially if a customer is upset or angry. It’s important to remain patient and calm and to find a solution that satisfies both the customer and the business. 2. Empathy: What could be worse than an employee who ignores the needs of customers or colleagues and is unable to understand or relate to their experiences  You would always love it if someone could relate to your situation and point you in the direction of the most practical solution.  Therefore you need a staff who can understand the needs and feelings of others and can connect with customers in a way that makes them feel valued and appreciated. This is especially important in a supermarket franchise, where employees are expected to provide excellent customer service and build lasting relationships with customers. This can go on a long way and it will help the customers to keep coming back to your store. 3. Dependability: Employees with full enthusiasm and dedication towards their work always give a lasting impression and can reach any business to great heights. On the other hand, coming late to the work or failing to complete tasks on time would cost the entire team and hence the management starts breaking from this point. Guess, we all would never want this to happen. Right? Hence you require an ideal candidate should be dependable, meaning they should consistently show up for work on time and be willing to put in the necessary effort to get the job done right. They should also be responsible and reliable, keeping promises and following through on commitments. 4. Negotiation: Before hiring a staff you need to keep in mind that employees may be faced with challenging customer requests, and we need individuals who can find mutually beneficial solutions and reach win-win outcomes.  In a franchise business good negotiation skills are crucial when the candidate may need to negotiate with suppliers, resolve conflicts between employees or customers, or find solutions to problems. The ideal candidate should be able to find a mutually beneficial outcome and maintain positive relationships even in challenging situations. 5. Objection Handling: Objection handling is the ability to handle objections and objections from customers and colleagues. Staff members with good objection-handling skills can help in resolving conflicts and maintaining good relationships with customers and colleagues. 6. Team Work: We all might have heard this proverb “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” And in a supermarket franchise teamwork plays a major role as the staff members are expected to work together to achieve common goals. Good team players are important as they can help in creating a positive work environment, improve productivity, and provide excellent customer service. 7. Leadership: Without that leadership quality no business or franchise can run smoothly. Leadership doesn’t have to be restricted to one person delegating the task to its employees. Everyone should have the ability to possess this skill as it will not only help to motivate and guide other employees but also ensure the smooth running of the entire business.  Therefore, an ideal candidate should have strong leadership skills, including the ability to delegate tasks, inspire and motivate others, and make decisions that are in the best interests of the franchise. 8. Time Management: Most franchises fail due to improper time management skills. An example of poor time management could be an employee who is consistently running behind schedule, failing to meet deadlines, or neglecting to prioritize tasks. So you need staff with effective time management skills is critical in a supermarket franchise where employees must be able to prioritize their tasks and meet deadlines. They should be able to manage their time effectively and be able to complete their tasks in a timely and efficient manner. 9. Dressing Ethics: In a customer-facing role, appearance is important, and the ideal candidate should be well-groomed and dressed appropriately for the job. They should understand the