How Unified Commerce Helps Franchise Networks

If you run a retail business, you would be aware of the problems faced by this industry. Some of the challenges faced by the retail sector include providing the customers with a seamless shopping experience, attracting customers, getting an insight into customers’ behavior, poor inventory management, finding better-automated solutions, and improving supply chain management.

It is also challenging to operate franchise stores effectively unless you use the right approach. Even though you need to unify all franchisees under your brand, they should have a certain level of autonomy to differentiate themselves from each other while enabling you to have the desired centralization.

However, wouldn’t it help you a lot if you could have a platform that united your various business processes and data and helped you manage your franchise networks efficiently? Unified commerce allows you to do all that and more, and unsurprisingly, over 86% of all software spending in the retail sector revolves around this strategy.

Related: Things You Should (And Shouldn’t) Do When You Franchise Your Business

What is Unified Commerce?

Unified commerce is a centralized platform that optimizes the customer experience by creating a smooth functioning between the customer touchpoints (a customer touchpoint refers to any direct or indirect contact a client has with a brand during a purchase).

It ensures the smooth operation of the various sales channels and back-end operations to ensure optimum customer satisfaction.

Unified commerce for franchise networks carries a lot of benefits, including the reduction of errors, easy integration of various systems and processes, and reduction of training costs as employees can move across departments.

The smooth shopping experience, cashless transactions, and accurate tracking of customers’ interactions and buying habits are other benefits.

How can unified commerce help franchise networks?

You can benefit immensely from using a unified commerce approach and suitable retail technology to manage your franchise networks efficiently. For instance, as mentioned earlier, you ought to have direct control and autonomy over your franchises while giving them the ability to stand out from each other.

The customer, too, should be able to differentiate from one retail store to another belonging to your brand. Individual franchises should enjoy seamless and easy access to the proper inventory and customer data. That would enable them to closely monitor and assess the customers’ requirements and purchasing behavior.

Simultaneously, it would help if you also had some degree of visibility regarding the selling and access of your franchises.

Use of technology for franchise networks

Using the required retail technology, you can ensure quality management of franchise networks and operations quality management. It will help your brand to project itself as a single brand identity, ensure seamless replenishment between your business and day to day financial operations, and allow you to track the financial transaction occurring across franchise networks accurately.

Technology will also enable you to share only that essential data while having direct control over security access between entities while providing them stock and transaction visibility.

You will enjoy a high trust with your customers since they will benefit from omnichannel delivery and return options and enjoy a personalized experience while searching for a product online.

If your business grows in the future, it will help you with the element of scalability by allowing you to add franchisees and channels seamlessly.

What are some technology solutions for franchise networks?

Even though you will find various technology solutions for managing your franchise networks, a cloud-based unified commerce solution will provide you with the best results.

A few of these solutions are eCommerce, OMS, DOM, inventory management, ERP and multi-store POS.

A unified commerce approach for franchise networks that creates an integrated ecosystem and brings all your various functions into one centralized platform has the potential to benefit your business immensely. It is the ideal solution you need for your franchise network related issues.