Franchises Tapping Into Outsourced Parenting Trend
Published February 22, 2012 | 
Children’s fitness franchise Ready Steady Go Kids says it wants to establish 100 locations, highlighting the growth of services that tap into the increasingly common trend of outsourced parenting.
According to the founders of the franchise, Adelaide-based couple Stuart and Toni Derbyshire, Ready Steady Go Kids is the largest preschool exercise business in the country.
via Ready Steady Go Kids, Franchises Tapping Into Outsourced Parenting Trend: Innovation.
Hairhouse Warehouse: boosting new stores
Published February 20, 2012 | Franchise manager Dean Salamone told Franchising, “We felt that in order for new stores to get as much traction as possible, we could do something unique in the marketplace that will help. The main emphasis is to encourage the salon offer sooner rather than later.
“As franchisors we can do a value add for our franchisees,” Salamone said.
The promotional package, valued at $35,000 cost price, is intended to supplement the local area marketing that franchisees undertake.
via Hairhouse Warehouse: product promos to boost new stores.
Anytime Fitness Australia
Published February 13, 2012 | Anytime Fitness Australia matches US pace: 300 territories sold.
McDonell-Jimenez said “The Anytime Fitness business model offers an amazing balance of lifestyle and a rewarding business. Some of our franchisees own as many as nine clubs and still enjoy a great personal lifestyle. This is almost impossible to achieve in other franchise businesses.
“We look for franchisees who understand the importance of sales and marketing along with an exceptional passion to deliver a great member experience,” said McDonell-Jimenez. “Our most successful franchisees focus on sales and marketing and hire a terrific club manager to produce an ideal club culture. Our clubs offer the members what they need – great equipment, personal attention, and convenient and affordable facilities, open anytime.”
Social Media and negative feedback
Published February 13, 2012 | At HMS we believe if you put it online be prepared for all comments – nasty and nice. That’s the whole point of social media. Negative comments tell the business what they need to do to change and nice comments tell the business what they are doing right. See below on Westpac who were removing the nasty ones!
The incident has once again raised the debate over whether businesses should censor disparaging comments made on their Facebook pages, or allow them to remain in the interests of open discussion.
James Griffin, co-founder of online reputation management company SR7, says while it depends on the context as to whether a business should censor messages, most of the time it’s not a good idea.
“It’s true that it entirely depends on the situation, and the context in what you’re doing and what’s going on,” he says.
Big plans for The Coffee Club
Published February 7, 2012 | “Great service is most important,” Drivas toldFranchising. “The next couple of years are going to be pretty tough. We’re expecting business to be price driven, value adding, service driven. We don’t want to engage in the price driven side, we’re focusing on great service. We believe we have got value for money.”
Big plans for The Coffee Club.
New website offers traffic data for franchise location search
Published February 2, 2012 | 
Choosing the site for a new franchise just got easier, with the release of a website to allow businesses to download traffic estimates information.
The geodemographic modelling business Spectrum Analysis, in conjunction with Veitch Lister Consulting and Harvest Digital Planning, has so far licenced the data to Shell, McDonald’s and Caltex but is now making it accessible through online subscription.
via New website offers traffic data for franchise location search.
Why retail rents simply have to come down: Gottliebsen
Published January 31, 2012 | Over the years, one of the safest investments has been owning a shop in a good shopping centre. Many investors were not afraid to borrow heavily on them. There seemed a never-ending number of tenants prepared to pay exorbitant sums to fit them out and commit to big rents. But that’s changing and by the end of the year the landscape will have changed dramatically.
via Why retail rents simply have to come down: Gottliebsen.
Hotondo Homes’ new planner [video]
Published January 26, 2012 | A new online tool at new-build franchise Hotondo Homes means house buyers can create a plan for their ideal home themselves. Customers simply choose from one of 40 standard Hotondo Homes designs and using the interactive planner add modifications with the click of a mouse.
via Design your own house online: Hotondo Homes’ new planner [video].
Domino’s boosts Facebook fans with dessert giveaway
Published January 23, 2012 | Europe is likely to muddle through 2012, providing a fillip for retailers and homebuilders, and adding to solid economic growth in Australia as it gathers steam after last year’s natural disasters, according to a new report.