Competitive chain brands have better development prospects and naturally have higher franchise requirements. However, it must be understood that brands with stricter franchise conditions tend to have more complete franchise systems and stronger financial resources and strength, and are more capable of ensuring franchisees' profits. Because of this, the more reputable a chain company is, the more stringent it is when selecting franchisees. So what should you pay attention to when opening a franchise store? Choosing to start a business is to ensure profits, so if you want to successfully open a franchise store, you must pay attention to the following aspects:

First understand the franchise before you can join. First of all, friends who choose to start a franchise business , we must have an understanding of the meaning and spirit of franchising, and then we can use this spirit and meaning as criteria to select the final project agency partners. What restrictions does the franchise brand have on agents? Let’s take a look at how to choose a good franchise brand! How to correctly inspect the franchise headquarters!

First, the franchise headquarters should be asked to produce a service mark registration certificate

Because of the so-called franchise, That is, the headquarters authorizes the brand to be used by franchise stores. In other words, the headquarters must first own the brand before it can authorize it to franchise stores. In other words, the headquarters must first obtain the service mark registration certificate issued by the Central Bureau of Standards. Not long ago, there was a dispute over a Chinese restaurant chain system. The old and new systems went to the Fair Trade Commission. Later, the losing party was forced to change the brand name, and the franchise stores that had already joined the chain were also forced to change their names. It was really weird. Innocent! Therefore, before joining, franchisees must first confirm that the headquarters indeed owns this brand, so that they can join with confidence.

Second, payment method of royalties

Generally speaking, the headquarters will charge three types of fees from franchisees, namely franchise fees, royalties and deposits. The so-called franchise fee refers to the fee charged by the headquarters to help franchisees make overall store planning and education and training before opening a store. The royalties refer to the fees that franchise stores need to pay to use the headquarters' trademark and enjoy the goodwill. This is a continuing charge. As long as the franchise store continues to use the headquarters' trademark, it must pay regularly. Payment terms may be annual, quarterly or monthly. As for the deposit, it is the fee charged by the headquarters to ensure that the franchisee will actually fulfill the contract and pay the payment on time.

Among them, since the royalties are ongoing charges, some franchise headquarters will require the franchisee to issue a check for the full amount of the royalties within the contract period when signing the contract. For example, if the contract period is five years, The royalties are paid annually, and some headquarters require franchisees to write five checks for five years of royalties and pay them to the headquarters at once. Later, there was a case where a franchisee of a certain system had opened a store for two years and closed down due to poor business. However, as early as the signing of the contract, a check for five years of royalties had been issued and handed over to the headquarters.

It stands to reason that since the store has been closed in the next three years and no longer uses the trademark and goodwill of the headquarters, there is no need to pay royalties. However, the headquarters still sends the collected checks to the bank to withdraw money, which harms the company. If you win this franchisee, you will not only lose two years of business, but you will also have to pay the amount of the checks that have been issued! Therefore, if the headquarters requires the franchisee to issue a check for the full amount of the royalties within the contract period at one time, you must remember Add something to the contract. When the franchise store closes the store and no longer opens the store, the headquarters must return the unexpired royalties to protect its own rights and interests.

Third, the price issue of supplies from the headquarters

In a general franchise contract, the headquarters will require franchisees to purchase goods from the headquarters and not to purchase goods privately. This is often the point of greatest dispute between the headquarters and franchise stores. Because franchise stores often think that the prices supplied by the headquarters are on the high side, they purchase products from abroad on their own. However, based on the consistency of the quality of the chain system, the headquarters had to require franchise stores to purchase from the headquarters uniformly, so disputes arose. A more reasonable approach is that when signing the contract, the franchisee should request in advance that the price of goods supplied by the headquarters should not be higher than the market price, or what percentage higher than the market price is acceptable, so as to avoid disputes over price issues between the two parties later. endlessly.

Fourth, the issue of business district protection

Usually, in order to ensure the operating interests of the franchise stores, the franchise headquarters will have business district protection, that is, no longer in a certain business district. Open second branch. Therefore, franchisees must be very clear about the scope of the guaranteed business district. However, a common situation is that when the headquarters opens a second store not far away from the guaranteed business district, it affects the business of the original franchise store and triggers protests. In fact, if the headquarters is located outside the guaranteed business district, the franchise stores have no right to protest.

However, it is worth mentioning that when some chain systems have increased in number of franchise stores or have reached saturation, it is difficult to open new franchise stores under the protection of the business district, so they have to resort to clever development methods. Second brand. This means using another new brand name, but the business content is exactly the same as the original brand, so that you are not subject to the business district protection restrictions of the original brand. For example, there was a real estate agency chain system that was like this, which eventually led to a group of franchise stores fighting. Therefore, in order to protect their own rights and interests, franchisees should state when signing a contract that the headquarters shall not develop a second brand with exactly the same business content.

Fifth, non-competition clauses

The so-called non-competition means that in order to protect the business technology and intellectual property and prevent them from being leaked due to the opening of franchises, the headquarters requires franchisees to remain in the contract for the duration of the contract. During the period, or within a certain period after the end, you are not allowed to engage in the same industry as the original franchise store. This regulation is intended to protect the intellectual property rights of the headquarters and is understandable. The Fair Trade Commission also believes that this is not illegal. But how long should the non-compete period be reasonable? If it is too long, it may affect the franchisee's future work rights. In this regard, a certain chain system's non-compete clause was stipulated to be three years, and the franchise store sued the Fair Trading Commission. The Fair Trade Commission believed that the non-compete clause was reasonable, but did it think three years was too long? Later, the headquarters also I wisely changed the three years to one year. Therefore, franchisees must think carefully when signing a contract to avoid affecting their future livelihood.

Sixth, the issue of management regulations

General franchise contracts contain as few as ten or twenty clauses, as many as seventy, eighty or hundreds of clauses, but this is usually the case One provision states, "Any matters not covered in this contract shall be handled in accordance with the management regulations of the headquarters." If a franchisee encounters such a situation, it is best to ask the headquarters to attach the management regulations to the back of the contract as an attachment to the contract. Because the management regulations are formulated by the headquarters, the headquarters can incorporate all matters not specified in the contract into its management regulations, modify them at any time, and do whatever it wants. At that time, the franchisees will have to be at the mercy of the headquarters.

Seventh, regarding penalties for breach of contract

Since the franchise contract is drawn up by the headquarters, it will be more beneficial to the headquarters. The penalties for breach of contract are usually listed only. The part about franchisees was not mentioned at all about the headquarter's breach of contract. Franchisees should be able to put forward relative requirements and clearly define the penalties for breach of contract by the headquarters, especially in terms of services and logistical support that the headquarters should provide, and the headquarters should be required to fulfill them.

Eighth, regarding the settlement of disputes

General franchise contracts will specify the court of jurisdiction, and usually the local court where the headquarters is located is the court of jurisdiction. This is to make it easier for headquarters personnel to travel to nearby courts if necessary in the future. It is worth mentioning that a certain franchise headquarters once stipulated in the contract that franchisees must first undergo mediation by the mediation committee of the headquarters before filing a lawsuit in court. When encountering this situation, you should first understand who are the members of the mediation committee? If they are all members of the headquarters, then the result of the mediation will of course be biased towards the headquarters and detrimental to the franchisees. Due to the contract, franchisees cannot ignore the mediation committee and directly go to court. Therefore, the author recommends that franchisees should request to delete when encountering similar terms.

The editor will talk about the eight major issues about joining a clothing store today. It is not easy to make money, but it must be done and cherished. You must use your money wisely and don’t let unscrupulous brands cheat you. of your hard-earned money.

Clothing management is a very troublesome thing. Many bosses who have been in business for more than ten years may still be eliminated if they do not change their business strategies in this era where they need to keep pace with the times.

Let alone a novice clothing entrepreneur, opening a store is quite difficult.

If someone teaches you the basics of a store, it will be easier to open a store with twice the result with half the effort. I suggest that both novices and veterans of clothing can take a look at the WeChat public account "Clothing Business Circle Micro Classes". There are many exchange experiences among clothing friends, as well as some useful micro classes taught by authoritative teachers. Everyone communicates within the circle. There are no paid lectures, and they are all sincere exchanges. The content discussed is very practical, which is very helpful to the business and is worth learning.