Prospective Franchisees Find Potential for Strong Return on Investment with Wireless Zone

When entrepreneurs make the decision to break into the franchising industry, one of the first things that they learn is the importance of a brand’s Franchise Disclosure Document, or FDD. While the document can seem overwhelming, it’s filled with information that signals to candidates whether or not a brand’s opportunity is the right fit for them. And the FDD’s Item 19—which highlights a brand’s financial performance—is one section that prospective franchisees are sure to review.

One of the most competitive Item 19’s in the industry belongs to the nation’s largest Verizon Wireless retail franchise, Wireless Zone . That’s because the brand’s summary of its franchise sales is broken down by month in addition to top and bottom performers in its system, ultimately giving prospective candidates a realistic idea of where they could potentially fall in place.

“In order to be confident when buying into a brand, franchisees need to be certain that the business ownership opportunity can meet their financial goals. That’s why Wireless Zone’s Item 19 is so detailed—we want to give candidates all of the information that they need to make an educated decision,” said Keith Dziki, Wireless Zone’s director of franchise sales. “Beyond providing prospective franchisees with that information, our comprehensive Item 19 is also hard to beat.

We’re constantly working to keep sales up and other costs down so that we can put our local owners in a position to succeed.”

Wireless Zone ’s Item 19 shows that its franchisees have the opportunity to make a sizable profit, ultimately seeing a positive return on their investment. In the first quarter of 2016, for example, average gross revenue for the brand’s 153 stores on the gross profit royalty model passed the $300,000 mark, with average gross profit coming in over $87,000. That number jumped in the second quarter—average gross profits topped $90,000 for those franchised locations between the months of April and June last year.

Wireless Zone stores are also seeing a lot of activity when it comes to customer transactions. Of the brand’s 328 locations that were open for a full year in 2015, over 40 percent of its locations reached or exceeded the average when it came to the average number of postpay activations per store per month, average number of upgrades per store per month and average number of transactions per store per month.

To date, Wireless Zone’s approach to its Item 19 has been successful. By giving prospective franchisees the opportunity to review such detailed data, candidates have the opportunity to learn what it takes to be successful in their own stores.

“Wireless Zone’s franchise system is designed to help set its franchisees up for success. That’s one of the things that first stood out to me about the brand, and it’s one of the reasons that I signed my franchise agreement,” said Nate Bastarche, a multi-unit Wireless Zone franchisee based in Massachusetts. “The wireless retail industry is booming, and Wireless Zone goes above and beyond to capitalize on that by offering customers a quality experience that they can’t find anywhere else.”

Beyond its strong financial performance indicators, Wireless Zone also offers franchisees a business opportunity that’s affordable to get off the ground. Start-up costs range from $128,000 to $393,500, and the brand’s corporate team is on hand to support its local owners every step of the way as they build or take over their stores.

“We’re proud to offer our franchisees a system that allows them to thrive. The wireless retail industry is only going to get bigger, and we’re excited to continue working with local business owners who share our passion for being ahead of the curve,” said Dziki. “By striving to improve our system-wide sales and enhancing our corporate support, I’m confident that we’ll continue reporting positive numbers throughout our FDD.”

Cassie has over five years of digital and traditional media experience. She joined NLA after working as a television news producer in both Milwaukee and Chicago, and now specializes in aligning strategies across the board for her clients, ultimately building buzz and telling compelling stories through content marketing, social media, digital campaigns and traditional PR. Cassie has a Bachelor of Arts in Broadcast and Electronic Communications from Marquette University.

In her spare time, Cassie enjoys traveling and exploring what new cities have to offer in addition to spending time with her friends and family.