As you consider the purchase of a franchise, you’ve discovered a franchise universe with hundreds of business models all requiring a different customer service skill set.
Some business models are designed to cater to the customer looking for an appointment followed by a visit to their home and a selling process with a future delivery date. Other business models cater to the impulse buyer. Let’s take a look at a few franchise opportunities that are built to appease the impulse buying customer.
The Great American Cookie Company franchise is generally found in malls, usually tucked into a corner with cabinets displaying their cookies and other baked goods – and the scent wafting out to tempt passersby. They also have a kiosk program with the same approach.
It’s unusual for a Great American Cookies storefront to be a standalone business simply because the business model relies on a lot of impulse purchases. A large portion of the revenue also comes from orders for the iconic giant “cookie cakes” and boxes of goodies for business events, but having a location where franchisees can thrive on impulse buys is important to the success of a Great American Cookies franchise.
Great American Cookie Company puts it like this: “We find that areas such as regional malls, lifestyle centers, entertainment complexes, airports and transit stations make excellent sites.” In other words, places with lots of walk-by traffic, places where people hang out – locations with plenty of opportunities for impulse buys of fragrant cookies.
The franchise’s awareness of the motivations of its customers lets it help franchisees with identifying the perfect location.
Another example is Little Caesars. This innovative franchise makes pizza into an impulse buy.
Pizza can be made to order for people sitting in a restaurant or for people prepared to plan ahead and drive to pick it up. Pizza delivery is ideal for people who know they want pizza, and online ordering now lets people schedule pizza delivery for the end of a long workday. Grabbing a pizza right now because your nostrils have been tickled by a delicious scent isn’t usually an option.
Little Caesars changed all that when they moved away from made to order pizzas and into their “hot-and-ready” style of service. Their bright store facade is designed to grab the attention of customers driving by, and they can serve up hot, immediate pizza by offering just two basic options—cheese and pepperoni. They actually use some special ovens to be so quick, but customers generally don’t care. They’re drawn by the knowledge that they can get pizza whenever the mood strikes them.
Little Caesar’s has put a lot of effort and creativity into making sure that consumers realize that they can buy a pizza without calling or waiting, so your Little Caesar’s franchise can reap the rewards by appealing to the impulse buyer.
A franchise designed to draw the impulse buyer must obviously have a location where it will be seen (and perhaps smelled) by lots of potential shoppers. It has to have a system for welcoming customers, getting the goods into their hands, and completing the transaction quickly, with no complications along the way. Its products must have a price point that encourages quick decision making. All these elements have to come together to make the franchise work for impulse shoppers.
If this sounds like it’s a good fit for you, seek out the franchise opportunities that appeal to the impulse shopper in you – chances are they’ll do the same for your customers.
