There are approximately 1,500 franchise brands operating in the Russian Federation, and this number is increasing every year. Attractive franchises are characterized by low entry fees, moderate royalties and start-up investments, as well as ongoing support for scaling and development.
Brief information
A franchise is when an entrepreneur (franchisee) buys the opportunity to use the brand or brand of a trade group (franchisor) to sell their products. This allows you to enter the market “with a name” and an effective business model immediately, skipping the promotion stage.
The franchisee's startup costs consist of a lump-sum (introduction) fee and start-up investments. The first is a one-time payment for cooperation (usually more than 100,000 rubles). The second is the entrepreneur’s expenses for equipment, registration of a legal entity, etc. In the future, the franchisee pays royalties - a commission for using the brand. This is either a percentage of income or an exact amount.
Gross Haus
• Investments in opening: from 0.8 million rubles. • Lump sum payment: 20-70 thousand rubles. (depending on the store format) • Royalty: 1% of sales • Payback: 18-36 months • Number of franchise points: 181 • Launch year: 2009
GrossHaus is a federal chain of stores selling stationery and consumables for home, office and school. The points operate in a self-service format on areas of 25-400 m2. The trading group offers franchisees assortment, advertising and organizational support, advice on financial issues, assistance at the start (choosing a location, purchasing equipment, staff training).
What are the advantages of a franchise business?
Almost any franchise for a small business with minimal investment has a number of positive qualities, for which it is actually chosen. Among them:
- Fast payback. Since the investment is small, the result in the form of net profit can be obtained quickly; in fact, this is a guarantee of results.
- A profitable option for learning many of the intricacies of entrepreneurship, so to speak, in the field, namely management, personnel selection and improving your own skills.
- Availability of an already proven commercial scheme. A business franchise with a small start-up investment always has a clear plan for the launch and activities of the franchisee.
- Developed customer base. Almost any existing business project already has loyal customers who are ready to buy goods or use services under a specific brand.
- Minimizing risks, and if everything is done correctly, then completely eliminating them.
- Possibility of choosing a price segment, which will depend on the content of the franchise package with services. It is worth knowing that the less data and standardized procedures the franchisee receives, the higher the risks.
Franchising has a number of advantages.
Of course, there are certain disadvantages. Even such an attractive option as a franchise without investments for implementation can be risky. Before choosing a direction of activity, it is very important to study the financial results of the parent company for the year, communicate with other franchisees, and monitor the interest of city residents in a particular service or product.
Any franchise, no matter whether it concerns the sale of children's clothing or auto parts, affordable goods or expensive and high-quality textiles, requires strict adherence to the algorithm of actions proposed by the franchisor.
Hodograph
• Investments in opening: from 0.2-0.5 million rubles. • Lump sum payment: from RUB 150,000. • Royalty: from 3,000 rub. / from 3 months of operation • Payback: 3-6 months • Number of franchise points: 69 • Launch year: 2014
“Godograph” is a network of educational centers that prepare schoolchildren for the Unified State Exam and the Unified State Exam. This franchise is characterized by low competition, especially in medium-sized cities (from 100 thousand to 1 million population). Investments at the start are small - you need an audience, a blackboard, desks and chairs.
Demand for is independent of the economic situation in the country. The period of interaction with the client varies from 3 to 36 months.
Franchisee support includes webinars, communication in a closed community of center managers, services of specialists in design, advertising, website, accounting and legal issues.
Franchise payback period
The question of which franchises are profitable to open can only be answered after a preliminary analysis. A profitable business should pay for itself quickly. It is this factor that determines when the money invested in the business will be returned.
Fast-paying franchises with minimal investment are ideal. But there are a lot of factors on which payback depends:
- Comprehensive research of the market segment in which you will work.
- The number of similar enterprises, that is, competition.
- A popular field of activity will quickly pass the break-even point, even in a small town.
- The payback period for a low-cost business is much shorter than for a top-end one.
Attention . The minimum payback period is six months. If the franchisee promises less, then you should be wary.
The path to payback
White Smile
• Investments in opening: from 0.3 million rubles. • Lump sum: no • Royalty: no • Payback: from 2 months • Number of franchise points: 270 • Launch year: 2013
White Smile is a chain of cosmetic teeth-lightening salons that claims to charge no lump-sum fees or royalties from its franchisees. But the start is still not free - from 140 to 390 thousand rubles, depending on the number of jobs. According to the White Smile website, it takes at least 5 days to start a business. The average income of one salon starts from 100,000 rubles. With a trade margin of 350%, it is predicted that the outlet will begin to pay for itself from the third month.
The network provides entrepreneurs with marketing guides, visual identity and promotional materials for high-quality delivery of services and goods. The franchisee is served by a personal project manager who helps in matters of optimizing the product matrix, promotion and the whitening technology itself.
Sun School
The most dynamic and fastest-growing franchise in 2020, judging by RBC data, is not a chain of minimarkets or even laboratory research. This is... a kindergarten. Compared to the previous ranking, Sun School jumped from 35th to 9th place, and signed 52 new contracts over the past year.
Gardens opened under the Sun School franchise operate according to the ABC concept, aimed at the harmonious development of the child: intelligence, health, communication skills. And all this in a playful way within the framework of a bilingual approach: the first half of the day in Russian, the second in English with native speakers.
Gelateria Plombir
• Investments in opening: from 0.5 million rubles. • Lump sum payment: 230,000 rub. • Royalties: no • Payback: from 3-6 months • Number of franchise points: 138 • Launch year: 2015
The ice cream parlor chain Gelateria Plombir began its history in St. Petersburg in 2008, and in 2020 it became a franchisor. Partner establishments operate in Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. By 2020, the company plans to expand to 500 locations in 15 countries.
There are several ready-made solutions to get started:
• Street seasonal point of sale – 130,000 rub. + PV. • Point of sale “Light” for the shopping center – 305,000 rub. + PV. • Point of sale “Standard Plus” for a shopping center – 465,000 rubles. + PV. • Point with its own production – 415,000 rub. + PV.
The cost of launching a cafe with seating is calculated individually. A special offer is a guarantee of results. If the business turns out to be unprofitable, Gelateria Plombit promises to return the lump sum fee to the client.
2. Hemotest
In second place among the most popular franchises in Russia in 2020 is the program from Gemotest. It works in the same field as the ninth place in the rating, Invitro. Hemotest entered the testing field five years later than Invitro, but was able to quickly take its market share and is thriving.
And although Gemotest is still inferior to Invitro in terms of the total number of points (slightly more than 300 versus 800), the network of franchisees is growing rapidly.
Why has the Hemotest franchise become so popular?
- The reason lies in the reduced threshold for entering the franchise - a point from Hemotest will cost a novice sample collector about half as much as from Invitro.
- In Invitro the fees are fixed, but in Hemotest they are a percentage of turnover.
- Not only that, Gemotest also provides free training for the point’s employees.
But you shouldn’t think that if a franchisee has launched an outlet, he can forget about it and only collect coupons once a month. Both companies are very sensitive to their reputation and vigilantly monitor the behavior of their contract partners. Everything is used - from video surveillance, a secret shopping system to monitoring customer reviews, not to mention possible visits from sanitary and epidemiological stations. True, here too Gemotest takes a gentler approach to its franchisees than Invitro. The company considers each case individually and generally fines less frequently.
Fly.ru
• Investment in opening: from 0.3 million • Lump-sum payment: no • Royalty: 10-30 thousand rubles. per month • Payback: from 3 months • Number of franchise points: 564 • Launch year: 2014
“Sletat.ru” is a network of travel agencies that developed from a company developing IT tools for tourism. According to information from the website, the number of outlets increases by 24 monthly. Franchisees receive legal and design support. Full online business automation, website, marketing materials. Participation in corporate life (trainings, conferences, meetings with leaders of the tourism business).
Sletat.ru points are opening in the format of offices or islands in shopping/business centers. The launch costs from 300,000 rubles, the budget for design is 120,000.
Franchise "Mondi" - sale of women's clothing
- Website – mondi.su.
- The size of the lump sum contribution is 59 thousand rubles.
- Required investments – from 59 thousand rubles.
- There are no royalties.
- Payback time – 1–2 months
- The franchise opening year is 2020.
Mondi is one of the cheapest franchises in Russia, offered by the famous online women's clothing store.
The assortment includes a wide variety of products:
- evening dresses;
- tracksuits;
- jackets;
- coat;
- costumes;
- kits, etc.
The company was founded in 2020, the franchise was launched two years later. Today, 35 businesses already operate under the Mondi brand.
The buyer receives a ready-to-use online store in which all prices are displayed. There is no need to involve web designers or developers. Administration is carried out through a simple control panel.
The work does not require renting a showroom or warehouse. Attracting customers and sales are carried out exclusively through the Internet. The traffic sources used are Instagram and Google AdWords advertising.
The franchisee receives full information support and advice on attracting customers and servicing them.
Fast and Shine
• Investments in opening: from 0.2 million rubles. • Lump sum payment: from RUR 239,000. • Royalty: from 4,000 rub. / month • Payback: from 2 months • Number of franchise points: 464 • Launch year: 2011
The Fast & Shine car wash chain is an American idea implemented in Russia in 2011. Franchisees use special chemicals rather than water to clean their cars. You can start a business in the format of a mobile car wash (call from the application) - then the starting investment will be equal to the cost of purchasing materials and equipment. But the network has partners who work as stationary car washes near large malls and shopping centers.
SDEK
• Investments in opening: from 0.5 million rubles. • Lump sum payment: 200,000 rub. • Royalty: 10% (from the seventh month) • Payback: from 2 to 6 months • Number of franchise points: 1109 • Year of launch: 2009
The SDEK express courier delivery service is one of the most popular in Russia. In addition to the lump-sum contribution, an investment of 350,000 rubles is required to start working on the network. To make the start easier, the franchisor does not charge royalties for the first 6 months.
Franchisees are supported throughout the contract, have full access to the network of representative offices, ERP and CRM systems, and receive advertising support. Before starting work, franchisees undergo a mandatory internship at the head office.
Now the SDEK team is focused on finding partners from Europe, the USA, Canada, the UAE and Asia, but the Russian network also continues to grow. Offices opened in cities with a population of up to 100,000 receive special terms of cooperation.
Franchises with minimal investment - features
Inexpensive franchises for small businesses are practically a guarantee of rapid and successful development of your own business under the strict control of the franchisor and perhaps the only successful solution for entrepreneurs without experience. An inexpensive franchise with a quick payback will allow you to try with little risk whether this type of activity is suitable for them.
There are many ideas for a franchise
A fast-paying franchise has an average return on investment of 6-18 months from the moment the business opens. An option to work on it is literally a journey into the world of entrepreneurship hand in hand with an experienced mentor. He will help in calculating realistically all possible costs.
Even the cheapest franchises require a business plan, which must be strictly adhered to in order to achieve good results in your field.
To minimize the costs of beginning entrepreneurs, franchisors offer the following solutions:
- Franchise without down payment and/or royalty.
- Franchises in installments.
These options are quite attractive, but it is very important to find out all the nuances of such a transaction, because the initial savings may later turn out to be very doubtful.
Junior
• Investments in opening: from 0.5 million rubles. • Lump sum payment: from RUB 180,000. • Royalty: from 5,000 rub. / month • Payback: from 2 months • Number of franchise points: 345 • Launch year: 2014
"Junior" is a network of football schools for children from 3 years old, supporting 32 of its own and 345 franchise points in 25 countries. The total number of students is about 37,000. The franchisor claims that for one school to pay for itself, it is enough to recruit 12 children with an average subscription price of 4,000 rubles.
Junior's partner network includes the Russian Football Union, MegaFon, as well as clubs from Russia (Rostov, CSKA, Krylya-Sovetov, Enisey, Dynamo Moscow), Greece (Olympiacos), Portugal (Sporting), Scotland (Celtic) and Spain (Valencia).
Champion
• Investment in opening: 0.5 million rubles. • Lump sum payment: from RUB 180,000. • Royalty: from 8,000 rub. • Payback: from 4 months • Number of franchise points: 455 • Launch year: 2014
“Championika” is another brand of children’s football schools. It is represented in 120 cities in Russia and other countries. According to the franchisor, the school’s monthly profit is 140-350 thousand rubles. / month
The network also helps franchisees increase income by selling merchandise, holding competitions, promotional events, holidays and opening dance studios.
“Championika” is organically integrated into the country’s sports infrastructure - the best students go to sports camps of the largest football clubs in Russia (Zenit, Spartak-Moscow, Arsenal, Shinnik). And information support for schools is provided by sports and children's media, Russian football stars (Dmitry Alenichev, Igor Akinfeev).
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