Internet franchise options in the UK

How would you like to be an internet franchise operator?

If you'd like to combine business and internet, franchising is one possibility that it's worth considering.

Be aware though that franchises require considerably more investment than you'll see for any of the other options on this website - but if that's a possibility for you, read on ...

There are a couple of national franchises which offer territories throughout the country promoting and building small business websites.

If you’re interested in making an internet home income, this is quite an interesting area to look at, even if you don’t go for it yourself.

What is a franchise?

The franchisor owns all the trademarks, the business model and the 'trade secrets' (for example, KFC's secret recipe).

The franchisee pays the franchisor for the use of its trademarks, business model and 'trade secrets'.

The franchisee pays the franchisor fees to access it's support, expertise, use of trademarks, market-specific information and so on.Some good examples of franchises are:

• McDonalds
• KFC
• Subway
• Blockbuster
• Pizza Hut
• Dominos

There are three key elements which help to define what a franchise arrangement is:

1) A payment of fees or royalities takes place
2) The use of a trademark or trading name is granted
3) Help, support, guidance and marketing tools are supplied by the franchisor

There are many, many options available, but here are some examples of internet franchise operations in the UK to give you a feel for what's involved ...

Internet franchise example 1: ORCA

Here’s what they do:

• Produce websites for small-to-medium sized businesses
• Offer the full range of standard services like website construction, contact forms, SEO, e-commerce and so on
• An ORCA ‘territory’ (there are 447 of them) costs £13,000 and gives franchisees access to a training and support package and the services of a team of specialist website designers.
• They also provide marketing and telesales support for every franchisee.
• IT experience is not required as the central team do all the design and hosting work for you

If, like me, you build your own websites, I’m sure you’ll be interested in this model.

Funnily enough, I’d be more interested if I could actually build the websites myself rather than handing them over to a team to do all the fun stuff.

If I could do it with technical support, templates, marketing, leads and the feeling of a ‘big brand’ behind me, this could be an interesting option.

I’d love to know how long it would take you to earn back your £13,000 initial investment … maybe I’m charging too little for the websites I build!

Internet franchise example 1: Activ

Areas are priced at £6995 + VAT and what’s on offer are two basic products:

• £499 standard website package
• £999 online shop package

This is offered as a franchise which you can ‘pick up and put down’ as you want to, so it’s also aimed at part-time workers, retired people and so on.

Once again, no technical knowledge is required (hang on though, that’s the fun bit!) and the sites themselves look very nice as you can see on their examples page.

After training you are allowed as a franchisee to get involved in creating the websites, which is a blessed relief, and the info says you can make up to £35k annually from that initial level of investment.

Once again, this is extremely interesting as a business model and one worth clocking if you’re in the website-making game yourself.

Internet franchise considerations

Good things about franchises

• You get a ready made brand and business model
• You get to use a proven, successful system
• You get full business start-up support and guidance
• You can save costs because you're part of a big operation
• You get a ready-made network of fellow franchisees

Bad things about franchises

• You have to do things the way the franchisor wants to - you don't get your business freedom
• You may have to pay the ongoing fees and royalities for the life of your business - fine if you're doing well, bad if you're struggling
• You might still go out of business, being in a franchise is no guarantee of success
• You might make less money out of it than you think and have less ability to rectify the situation

Beware: There is no official regulation of the British franchise industry.

Instead, the government has opted for self-regulation via the British Franchise Association, so use what information is available to ensure that you take the best advice before you sign on the dotted line.

If an internet franchise isn't for you, look at the business model and see what you can learn from it.

There are more internet-based examples on the franchisedirect.co.uk website.

It might be that in the longer term your own small business ideas might be more suited to you being a franchisor rather than a franchisee.

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