Franchise Owners Only: Your HQ Let You Down...Now What?
Are you a franchise owner? Have they let you down when it comes to apparel?
Either it is too expensive, not customized to your location, or it takes forever to be delivered?
The good news is, we work with franchise locations across the country. Regardless who your HQ or affiliation is, we can help you with your specific apparel needs. We've navigated these situations and agreements for many years and we're prepared to step in and help out.
In this post, I'm going to breakdown 6 key characteristics you need to build a thriving, profitable, and scalable apparel brand at your business- without any help from your HQ.
Have a plan- You need to have a plan for apparel. Don't rely on feeling. Don't rely on "when people ask enough". Have a set plan. 3-5 times a year is plenty. Once a quarter is great. The main thing is to have a plan. This is why I recommend all of our clients have an apparel plan. We will help you set up a plan in less than 10 minutes. This plan has shown to keep clients on track and clients on an apparel plan sell 30% more apparel than those who do not have one.
Limited edition- View every project as a limited edition design. Have a staple tee that you always have a little inventory on. Adopting a mindset that every design will be new and unique will give you peace of mind knowing you don't have to go backwards and constantly place reorders for orders you already placed. If you're nervous about having to come up with new designs every order- that is our job! We're always happy to provide fresh and new artwork for each order.
Custom to you- Let's face it....your members want a shirt designed for their specific location. Your members are not anchored to your franchise brand. They'e anchored to their location. When you offer apparel for your specific location, be sure to included your location information in the design.
Preorder- You don't need to order in bulk and spend good cash flow on apparel. Run a preorder for 7 days. Collect everyone's order ahead of time. That way, you know how much profit you made and how popular the design is. This will take a lot of guesswork out of the process.
Avoid excess inventory- We have all walked into incredible businesses and gyms with amazing retail areas with tons of items available for purchase. While this seems like a good idea, in reality, unless these businesses are super high traffic, the inventory just sits there and unsold goods will burn a hole in your pocket. Consider offering extremely limited inventory. This will keep your preorder process effective. If people know they can only get new designs via preorder, they will be sure to participate in the preorder.
Hammer the basics- You're stressing yourself out sourcing some super particular items- leggings, sports bras, head bands, running jackets...The problem is simply this...unless you're planning on ordering 500-1000 pieces at a time, it is really hard to find high quality items like this thru a wholesaler. I'm going to save you a lot of headache and heartache. That stuff is best done through someone who specializes in custom garments. If I am being honest with you, this is an expensive rabbit hole. You will spend a lot of money before settling on the right garment. If you want to go down this rabbit hole, it is doable but if you to avoid it, I recommend tees, tanks, longsleeves, and hoodies. Those items are instant "YES!" items.
If you're a franchise location and you're struggling with apparel and need some consistency/clarity with this process, schedule a call with us today to learn more about how we can simplify this for you.