The Global Economy and Business

Affiliate program (or so called, partner program) - is a form of business cooperation between the seller and partners, in which the partners attract visitors to the merchant site and receive bonuses as a percentage or a fixed amount for any specified action (such as visiting certain pages, filling out of forms, purchasing of goods).

According to the legend, the idea of paying commissions to partner sites for various activities with the users they brought, firstly came to Jeff Bezos. He is an owner of the largest online store named Amazon. It happened during a conversation at a dinner party in the mid 90’s. We can not say that this idea was a novel because a network of distributors, who distribute goods of a big seller, is a standard technique in offline business. However, it was necessary to implement a partnership scheme in the Internet and create a large network of partner sites, which would bring buyers to www.amazon.com. I must say that the task was performed with brilliance and the number of partners of Amazon has exceeded 500,000 people already by 2000. One can only imagine how much sales increased.

The Bezos invention was the starting point for the development of new industry in the Internet, known as affiliating marketing. Today, the industry includes a directory of affiliate programs, forums for partners and owners of companions, specialized mailing and affiliate networks; there are professions like the manager of the affiliate program and super affiliate that is to say professional partner. The affiliating marketing attracts a growing number of participants each year: tens of thousands of sites create new affiliate programs, millions of websites - from homepages to such monsters as Look Smart and Yahoo - have become partners.

According to Forester Research firm, 20% of the total turnover of e-commerce is made by partners. Even more imagination amazed are the following statistical calculations: eMarketer and Forester Research showed that in 2004 the turnover of the online advertising market reached $ 22 billion, 54% of which, that is to say, more than $ 11 billion were spent on affiliating marketing. Now we can not imagine a solid e-commerce site, which does not have an affiliate program.

Further development of partnership programs in the West is likely to go on the way of relationships between vendors and partners improving. Increasingly there are partnership proposals where the partners are given the opportunity not only to place on their sites selected links, banners, order forms, but also create unique websites with ready-made design templates, and export the necessary data. There was a clear trend to integration between the parties of affiliating business schemes increasing. New forms of relationships that will be more flexible and efficient will appear there.

There is another interesting aspect of the problem. For many online stores sales volume, produced by partner sites, has become an integral part of the budget. The situation is increasingly approaching the critical point where “the tail begins to wag the dog”. Do not be surprised if there will be informal organizations with names like “Union of professional Amazon affiliates» in the near future, which will make demands to their employers to improve conditions of the affiliate program.

If you are open minded for making money online - then please pay special attention to this franchise opportunity. And please watch the video on the home page of this franchise opportunity. It will explain you how a guy turned from $253,000 in debts to $10,000 - $20,000 in profits.

But, don’t make quick decision. Today you have great tool to research the niche before jumping into the water - and this tool is internet. It’s really hilarious why so many people forget that we are living in the world where information quickly enhances the quality of our life. The other interesting franchise opportunity is hidden in the idea of teaching foreign languages - like Spanish, French and so on.

That is why if you are properly armed with the info in your topic you can rest assured that you will always find the solution to any bad situation. So, please make sure to track this web site on a regular basis. In such an easy way you will have a direct shortcut to the freshest informational updates here. Blogs can be helpful, you just need to know how to use blogging for the new franchise opportunity topic and answers for the most vital questions in this niche.

With online shopping increasing and an ever-increasing amount of individuals going online as their first stop for buying products and services, online franchise business opportunities are a component of a fast growing market. Still for people that don’t in fact purchase goods on the web, the internet is turning into a frequent place for people to do their research ahead of commiting to a purchase.

If you take into account the non-physical nature of running a business on the internet together with the expansive diversity of goods and services that afford themselves to being traded on the internet, its obvious that internet franchises hold a good potential future.

An online franchise opportunity in the UK is potentially an exceptionally desirable start up option as a lot of them can often be run from a home office with no requirement for trade office or premises, to keep overhead costs down. The flexibility that this affords the business owner, forms another component of the desirability in that a website can be open even during the night. This ensures that your web site is constantly open for guests and potential customers even if you leave it unattended, as opposed to a typical business which may require continual human presence at the same time as it is open for trading.

Some of the online franchises presently accessible are:

Regional Directory Service Franchise businesses
These neighborhood business directories are a useful supply of community information for prospective consumers. The plan of this style of franchise is to promote the directory to area businesses providing them world wide web advertising exposure to the neighborhood community.

Web Design and Promotion Franchises
These are providing of web site design and promotion services mostly business to business. The concept of these web design franchise opportunities is to offer a collection of website marketing choices to would-be purchasers. Usually, nominal practical skill is necessary by the franchise franchisee as they effective sell-on services that are sourced and/or provided by the franchise owner themselves. The other variant of this business can be related to mobile application development.

Looking to invest in an Online Franchise

In common with any other business investment, its prudent to do your investigation before investing in an online franchise business. Take time to scrutinise your points of strength and weakness and look at options that suit your individuality and the things you enjoy doing.

Money will as well be a big consideration so put aside time to go into financial support options with your bank. The bank may as well be able to present you with some record of the franchise system. Its important that you go to see the franchise owner to look at their setup and also talk to a selection of their franchisees to pick up on-the-ground opinions on how the franchise business performs for them every day.

Make sure you get legal counsel as there will be legal contracts involved in the franchise business startup and its wise to be appropriately informed and protected against any repercussions. As soon as you have finished your selection, dedicate yourself to following the established system and doing your best to make the franchise work for you.

Taking your existing franchise system out of the country is something a number of franchisors are now thinking about. A clearly developed system in your own country is essential though before you think about this as an opportunity. His franchise must be clearly controlled and he needs to own a proven team controllling central business development. Once these essentials are in place the franchisor is available to direct time and investment on international franchising market development.

Properly thought-out planning and an alert attitude is necessary in order to franchise a business overseas.

Giving consideration to growth markets and economies is the initial point to consider. For example the Middle East is not suffering economically in comparison to the USA and Europe. In addition new economies such as Brazil still possess a growing economy in 2009. Some countries face growth not in general but in some industries - like mobile app development companies in Eastern Europe (thanks to their low rates and high qulity)

Secondly, it is crucial to consider the operating structure of how the franchisor’s business can be set up and controlled internationally. There is a number of routes to think about. The most frequent technique is by recruiting of a master franchisee. The master franchisee will be taught how to lead and direct the franchise business opportunity. He will take on franchisees and run the confirmed method in the new market. Selection of the right master franchisee is crucial as bad selection could result in holding back or hindering the business expansion process. Advancement of the franchise opportunity in the new marketplace will bomb or be a success on the capability and devotion of the master franchisee.

The legal agreement is of fundamental importance. In spite of this, it should be taken into account that if there are disputes the franchisor may possibly have to fight his legal battles in a foreign court. This is time consuming and high-priced. It is then crucial to have indemnity to cover outlay and compensation should this occur.

In conclusion, management and compliance management and logistics are most important to successful managing and realization of the franchise in the new market. Any language barriers may also ought to be dealt with to make certain of clear stream of information. Financial considerations that govern movement of capital and fee payments should be apparent, manageable and resilient.

International franchising is not for the faint hearted, it is for the well organized and established system. Some franchisors use the services of franchise experts to make sure they get the most effective help along the way. It is worth noting that some franchisors choose to take on a master franchise opportunity themselves instead of their own franchise business internationally. In this way they can cultivate more confirmed franchise systems in their own market. This gives the franchisor power to grow proven businesses in a marketplace they understand and have greater control. The avenues are there and the options is yours.

I was really surprised reading the latest post from the Oxagile corporate blog - “Software for hair loss treatment: high-tech way to save beauty and dignity“. I knew that some people use special computer
programs for weight loss (they plan their ration, calculate calories etc.), but I didn’t know that software companies also developed applications for hair loss. Investigating this type of software in more details I even clarified that specialist from CSIRO presented a new program that can count every hair on human body.

Today I decided to write a few words about franchises in a fashion business. Do they really exist? I tried to use Google to find them. The first page of Google search engine result was really very disappointing…Most the companies calling themselves fashion franchises appeared to be just “loose weight” or cosmetics companies….

The UK Franchise Directory knows 3 companies offering such opportunity. So, my conclusion is the following:
1) Search the Internet not for franchise opportunities but for affiliate opportunities of designer clothing stores;
2) contact them directly and discuss the conditions of the agreement…

I was not writing here for a long time as I was too busy with my new hobby – FOREX trading.

But studying Forex I found that there are not only traders but also special forex franchise companies that try to combine the benefits of both businesses – franchising and currency trading. It’s rather interesting and worth of deeper study as I think

 

http://de.betheboss.com/franchise.cfm?s_booth=899437 - - the link to the German company that says that they managed to do it!

By the way GLOBAL FOREX TRADING characterizes itself as FOREX franchise. But when I tried to find the word “franchise” using the search option on their site they said “Your search did not return any results.”

While searching the Internet for interesting information about franchising to share with the readers of my blog I found an outstanding idea that had been realized by the company called Entrepreneur’s Source. They managed to create their franchise business helping others to start-up and operate franchise businesses. I understood that I had to write about it.

The business system created by Entrepreneur’s Source can be divided into 2 parts (as I understood from the information in their web site). On the one hand they work with the companies that already have their business systems. The company offers its clients to expand their operations through creating a franchise system for their business. I really liked the way they present the idea. They explain that they are not consultants but coachers for their clients. They say that every person tries to decrease or avoid risk. It’s natural. And they promise their clients to help to decrease a business risk. Based on their experience the Entrepreneur’s Source is going to train their customers how to swim in a seethed and sudden water of business-sea. They use the idea of coaching comparing their service with the process of teaching to read. On their web site they ask a question: Did You Teach Yourself to Read?
As a sports coach develops an individual training program for each sportsman, Entrepreneur’s Source develop a franchise program for the clients taking into consideration all individual peculiarities. Their package of services includes:
1. Feasibility assessment. Analytics of Entrepreneur’s Source determine if business is franchisable in general.
2. Business plan. They create a document answering marketing, production, and organizational and financial questions concerning prospective franchise business.
3. Raising capital. They help in creation documents and calculations necessary to obtain an external financing.
4. Regulatory compliance. They check if the franchise system and all documents (including disclosure and agreements) meet all the legislative requirements.
5. Marketing & advertising. Well-developed promotion program is a key feature of any franchise system.
6. Lead generation and candidate qualification.
7. Expansion plans
8. And much more …

On the other hand Entrepreneur’s Source deals with those thinking to start-up their business. And they attract prospective franchisees not only for the franchisors mentioned above but also for themselves. Yes, before they decided to earn money while helping others to start-up franchise business (as franchisor or franchisee) they created such system for their own company. And it gave them the experience on how to qualify candidates in order to choose appropriate ones. Now they use the following scheme: they don’t use contract employees to run their satellite offices, but open each new office as a franchised business. The royalty payment is 25%, and Entrepreneur’s Source franchisees pay it from every placement fee – the money received from franchisor when the company places a candidate.

As for me I really liked this idea. The only negative thing in this business is concerned the money that prospective or existing franchisor has to pay to this consulting company. I haven’t found the exact information on the company’s web site, but the other sources say that your franchisor pays them a commission, typically 30% to 75% of the franchise fee. Certainly it is a trade-off. You can set-up your business system yourself or turn to professionals. In the latter case it will cost you and your potential franchisees, as you’ll have to increase the initial fee to cover the consulting costs.

Just a few days ago one of the most famous German business magazines – Impulse have conducted a survey. The main idea of this survey was to make an analysis of franchises in Germany and to rank them.
The survey was based on the information of the magazine and according to some experts. The experts are working in franchise sphere as consultants and/or as researchers. The experts were suggested to rank the companies by twelve criteria that were organized in three directions.
They were:

• sustainability of the franchise concept
  
• sustainability of the business idea
  
• dynamics of the franchise idea.
  

The first direction described general characteristics of the franchiser. It was connected with the age of the franchiser organization, the number of business partners of the franchiser, and overall franchiser’s profit and sales.
Under the terms of the second direction the expert were supposed to look the same business from franchisees’ position. Those criteria covered the market position of franchise system, market competition density, the benefits of the idea to potential franchisee and the potential revenue of the franchisee.
And the criteria of the third direction had to estimate the growth of the franchise system in the past and its future plans. The criteria were the past growth of the system, the planned growth to 2008 and the expansion potential for partners.
I bet you know who is the winner. McDonald’s for sure. Who could doubt about it? They really have fantastic system that is almost perfect for the moment…
But the most interesting question is whose system is the second?
You might think it’s Burger King, Tchibo or Obi… But you will be wrong. The second rank has
Fressnapf.
Have you ever heard about this company? No? There’s nothing unusual in it. The company is not widely known outside European Union. It’s not even mentioned in Wikipedia (at least in it English part. Of course there’s an article about it in German ).
But still it’s the largest European specialized retail chain for petfood and pet accessories.
Its founder and managing partner Torsten Toeller had used the idea of pets supermarkets that were rather common in the USA and Canada. The mission and the vision of the company was to sell specialized pet products on a large scale, while keeping prices low. The economy on scale principle has contributed to his tremendous growth in this niche. Fressnapf had become the right company in the right place.
The rapid development of the company should be given company franchisees the credit. They really managed to uphold Torsten Toeller initiatives.
“We’re like a pack of hungry wolves with one pack leader - that’s the idea behind Fressnapf. We all fight it out and everyone gets their fill!” says Torsten Toeller. The market couldn’t defend itself against that troop…
For the moment the system includes almost 270 franchise partners, and the 4000 or so staff employed at over 750 sites not only in Germany but in Austria, Denmark, France, Luxemburg, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy. The company is working to start in Ireland and Spain.
The main principles that were originally used by Torsten Toeller are the main incentive for company’s success. They are fast growth, standardized processes, effective value added chains,
and the development of own brands.
These principles allowed the company to proceed from a store in Erkelenz, selling petfood and pet accessories to Europe’s leading supplier of pet food and accessories and number 2 German franchise system in just 15 years.
I wish every franchise company could boast of its development that way.

While thinking about modern trends in global economy I came to rather logical to my mind idea. Business needs to combine popular ideas or try to satisfy different wants together. I don’t say that I’m the first person who thinks about this. I only want someone with a creative power (not me as I’m too fond of exact sciences) to invent something that will improve our lives.
 

For example, one person invented a “sports-bar”. He combined the food (eating) with entertainment (ability to watch football or baseball matches, to talk to other fans – like at the stadium but in your town).
When I was writing this another thought came to my mind. Under the same title “sports-bar” we can see an extremely different idea. The businessman can combine the food with a sports training or fitness. Just at one place… I haven’t seen this before. And you? Just imagine: you cycle and eat pizza at the same time (certainly if you wish)…
 

Another good to my opinion combination of ideas is audio books. It takes together two different needs – education (as it’s important for career growth or example of entertainment) and free time (as it’s the thing of the greatest value in the modern society).
 

Healthful eating consulting plus retail selling also provides good opportunities for earning money. When someone explains you the benefits of healthful eating it’s almost impossible not to buy something fresh or full of vitamins and microelements!
 

I promise to think more about this synergy and add more ideas to this post (or will start a new one…). Any suggestions are highly appreciated too :-).

It seems for me that I spent enough time to express my opinion that it’s necessary to evaluate an idea before investing money. This statement completely refers to franchise business. Success of other franchisees doesn’t guarantee your success because as I mentioned before it depends on a particular region and particular conditions of that region.

Now I think it’s time to say a few words about conditions that make business idea practically acceptable.
1. Technological practicability. If to speak about business ideas in general there can be a lot of reasons for inability to realize them. Sometimes it’s too expensive, sometimes there is not enough space to build the plant and locate all the necessary equipment and so on. Even one of the most outstanding producers George Lucas faced the technological problem while realizing his creative ideas. He had to start his Star Wars from Episode IV and only after many years he found a good technological decision to shoot Episodes I, II and III.

Going back to franchise ideas I think that this problem is not so important as franchisor has already created the technological system and tested it. But still potential franchisee has to check the local situation. There can be some legal restrictions for particular region or ecological situation can influence technological practicability or inability to hire personnel of proper qualification can create barriers for the success.

2. Long-run future viability of new business. Starting your business you need to be aware that it will exist for some period of time. It’s important to see the difference between a project and a business. Project can last for several days (like organizing a show or a party) or for several years (like house construction). But when you plan your business it’s a good idea to create it for years and to foresee the conditions for its growth. Maybe one day you’ll sell it and get more money than invested or hand down to your kids.

3. Acceptable economic efficiency and payback period. One survey said that only 30% of all the small businesses were started in order to earn money. The other 70% of new-born entrepreneurs presented the following reasons:
-want to be “my own boss”;
-want to realize my personal ideas;
-want to achieve something in my life and to make a business career, and to help other people… and many other “bombastic” reasons.
As I think it’s possible that people really think that way and do not consider money and profit as important factors of small business. But my experience (not so big but enough to have an opinion) says that most of them will change their minds during the first year of business operations. As the owner of a small company you’ll deal with money everywhere – paying salary, rent, public utilities, and interest for the credit, administrative costs and Internet, advertising and promotion expenditures and many others. You’ll charge prices, calculate revenue and taxes, and so on. Of course, it’ll take some time. I even insist that it takes a lot of time. And every reasonable person wants to get something for the time spent. His family also wants to see the pecuniary results not only self-realization or happiness of other people.
That’s why I suggest everybody to think about economic part of any idea even if you really believe that money is the last thing in the world you want to speak about.

4. Acceptable idea from public or community point of view. Take it seriously! Today people as never before feel very lonely. As a result they try to solve this problem participating in different public organization and community projects. I do not recommend you to start any business that may conflict with public interests. You will loose in 99% of cases…

My conclusion:
Some of these factors are limitations; the others (like economic efficiency) can be used as the main criteria for a franchise idea evaluation. Want to add something? If so, I will highly appreciate your comments.