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Barber Franchise

Ashwini Kulkarni Sule
Franchises are a great way to reduce the initial investment. Let us explore various advantages and challenges of barber franchise in this story.
Personal grooming industry has flourished to a considerable extent in the last decade. Newer treatments and techniques are being introduced, which help to make people look presentable. Hairstyle and haircuts are highly inspired by the celebrities, and people do not hesitate to shell extra money to get the look of their favorite celebrity.
There is always a need for experts in this field. Some hair salons (or barber shops) have created their own brands. Some are even launching their chains of hair salons and spas. Barber franchise is an upcoming trend in this business.

Information

Barber franchise dwells on the reputation of a well-known hairstyling brand. Often, the franchisor (the original business) offers franchises to people who are looking to get into the business of hairstyling.
Since these are often people with requisite expertise in the field, looking for entering into this business, they usually make for good barber shop franchisees.
The brand gets an opportunity to expand their business without much of physical efforts on their part, while the franchisees get an opportunity to flourish their business, under the brand name of the reputed business. Thus, this is a win-win situation for all the parties involved.
Along with several advantages, there are also certain challenges involved in this business. Hence, if you want to get into it, take into account the several factors involved.

Advantages

A ready-made brand name is the biggest advantage of a barber franchise. While a new standalone business has to invest years of efforts and money to establish their brand, here you get your brand value as soon as you start your business.
You will also get a steady customer flow, since these will be people who are loyal to the original brand, or who have had good experiences with other franchises of the same company.
You do not have to invest in the infrastructure as much as you would, if you were to start a business from scratch. You often have a big brand backing you for everything that you need to set up a business. Since you get a ready-made business plan, there is no need to do trial and error to get your business working.
Challenges get considerably reduced, as you get an expert guidance at every step, since somebody has already been there and done that before you.
You do not have to look after the publicity part of the business, since the original company has already taken care of that. This will help you to cut your advertising and marketing costs to a great extent, as your business needs no introduction. Reduction in initial costs is equivalent to increase in profit. Even after paying related fee and royalty, your profit share is still good.

Challenges

The most important drawback of this system is that your business does not remain your own. The performance of the original company and other franchises affect your business to a considerable extent.
Though this can initially provide impetus to your business, it would also mean huge loss, if something goes wrong even with a single franchise. Thus, your business can suffer a major setback for no fault of yours.
In this kind of business, you have to strictly follow the standards set by the franchisor. Right from hiring hair experts to choosing their uniforms, you will have to follow the codes predesigned by him/her. You have minimal scope to expand the horizons of your business.
In short, you will lose liberty to bring innovation in your business, and have to deal with a lot of orders and restrictions. Hence, check your tolerance limit before you get into it. Another problem is that huge reliability upon the parent company may cripple your ability as a businessman.
Since you are one of the several franchises, you will have to struggle to get your services on time. Hence, you might want to have back up services of your own, in case the parent company fails to serve you.
Thus, all in all, it is a good option, if you have limited resources at your disposal. However, it may get constricting at a later stage. Hence, weigh your options wisely before you make any decision.