FranConnect Survey Reveals the State of Franchising as Industry Shifts Towards Recovery Planning

"Franchises have been among the hardest hit businesses by the COVID-19 pandemic. Widespread store closings and uncertainty are a fact of life for franchisees and brand executives across sectors," said Robert Cresanti, CEO of the International Franchise Association. "These insights on franchise sales, executive perspectives, and 'what's next' can guide businesses as they seek a path forward."

The data revealed several positive indicators, especially related to Franchise Sales efforts, and expectations for franchisee churn. At the same time, many organizations now have longer, more realistic timeframes for location re-opening.

Among the key findings:

• Corporate Staff layoff projections are down dramatically, with 46% or organizations reporting unlikely to need further reductions, as compared to 21% a month earlier.

• Fewer than one-third of respondents now expect Franchisee churn in excess of 10%, down from nearly 50% of respondents one month ago.

• Many businesses that expected 2-month shutdowns now project 3-6 months, while at the same time, many organizations are accelerating their reopening.

• Some franchise leaders are optimistic about franchise sales recoveries, but a large portion of the group expect a more significant impact (50%+ drop in sales) now vs a month ago.

Survey Details: 233 respondents contributed to the collective dataset, concluded on April 30, 2020. Participants represented eight industries: Quick Service Restaurants, Business Services, Personal Services, Residential/Commercial Services, Real Estate, Full-Service Restaurants, Hotel/Lodging, and Retail Food Products & Services.

FranConnect is the leading franchise management software provider. Its FranConnect platform engages stakeholders to grow, scale and optimize franchise systems through a connected and complete view of the business from sales to multi-unit and multi-brand performance. Over 800 brands — including 40 of the Entrepreneur's Top 100 Global Franchises - in 18 countries count on FranConnect to run their franchise systems.

FranConnect customers span all sizes, growth phases, and industries and they grow 44% faster on average than the broader franchising market. Backed by private-equity investor Serent Capital, FranConnect is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, with global follow-the-sun operations. For more information on FranConnect, visit: www.