Every branch's stock and sales, from one account
Six branches, six notebooks, and each night six photos of them on your phone.
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The sweet brand's night photos, the shoe chain's small-town sizes and the franchisee with two units
Six branches send six photos of six notebook pages
A local sweet brand has six branches in small towns, each with its own manager. At night each manager sends a photo of that day's notebook page. The head office reads six handwritings, types the totals into a sheet, and finds on the third day that one branch's photo was of the wrong page. Nobody can say which branch sold most on the festival evening. By the time the sheet is complete, the festival evening is a week old. The festival evening is the one the head office most wants to read, and it is the one it reads last.
A footwear chain that is moving into small towns
Bata India said in 2019 it had 150 franchise stores and planned about 500 in small towns over five years, Retail4Growth reported. A small-town branch of a footwear brand has the same sizes as a big one, but fewer pairs of each. The head office does not know which branch is out of size seven until a customer writes to complain.
A franchisee with two units and one pair of eyes
Multi-unit franchising in India grew by over 36% in the two years to 2019, Entrepreneur India reported, and one franchisee now holds two units of the same brand, one in each of two nearby towns. He is in one unit in the morning and the other in the afternoon, and each time he arrives, he has to ask the staff what happened while he was away. In the evening he does the sums for both units on the back of a bill.
What stands beside a branch in a sweet brand, a shoe chain and a two-unit franchisee
Branches and franchises
The six branch managers stop photographing their notebooks, and the head office reads each branch's stock and sales from one account at nine at night.
Many shops, one owner
The small-town branch that opened last week is one more place in the account the day it opens.
Daily reports
Each branch's day beside its own earlier days, so a small-town branch is judged by its own pace.
Low stock warnings
See which branch is down to its last pair of size seven, before its manager has to be asked.
Godown stock
The brand's own godown has a count like each branch, so what is sent out and what is left are both written.
The branch manager's page, read at the head office
Six branches in the head office's pocket by nine at night
The managers are other people with bills of their own. The brand does not ask for photos or wait for a monthly visit. It reads every branch's day from its one account, and on the morning after a rainy Tuesday that sold nothing it can ask that manager why.
Sizes seen branch by branch before the complaint comes
The head office opens the stock of each branch and sees where size seven is down to a pair. It sees which branch has plenty. It knows who to call before the customer writes. The small-town branch stops being the last to be heard from.
The franchisee reads both units from the shop he is not in
From the unit where he stands, the franchisee opens the other unit's sales for the day. He arrives in the afternoon already knowing how the morning went there. The staff are asked about the one thing that looks wrong, not about everything.
Questions from owners of a brand whose branches are run by other people
My branch managers do not know the app. Who makes the bills?
Each branch makes its bills at its own counter, like any shop. The head office reads the stock and sales from one account, and does not have to make the bills.
My cousin runs a branch under my brand. What does he see, and what do I see?
The account is yours, and his branch is in it like any other. You open the branch's stock and sales from your account. His own work is the bills at his counter.
Does it work out the franchise fee each branch owes me?
No. It shows each branch's stock and sales. The fee is worked out the way your agreement says, and the sales figures are what you work it from.
A franchisee leaves my brand. What does his branch's record in my account show?
The bills made up to the day he leaves stay in your account as they were made, with their dates. Nothing in them changes because he has gone, and the stock and sales of that branch can still be read.
Can I add a branch the week it opens?
Yes. Add it to the account when you open it, and its bills start from that day. The older branches carry on as they are.
A branch made no bills at all yesterday. How do I know if it was shut or something is wrong?
The day shows no bills and does not say why. Ask the manager, and read that branch's earlier days beside it: if its quiet days are usually few, a day with none is the one to ask about.
Franchising in India, in two reports from 2019
India has over 4,600 active franchisers and nearly 2,00,000 franchise outlets run by almost 1.7 lakh franchisees, Entrepreneur India wrote in 2019. Each of those outlets is a counter somebody has to read from far away. A brand with six branches in small towns is a small one beside them.
Entrepreneur India wrote in 2019 that more than 1,000 new retail brands adopt franchising in India every year. A brand with its first three branches has the same trouble as one with three hundred, only smaller. The trouble for a brand with six branches is how to read all six on the same night.