This post is part of a series asking top franchisors a commonly asked question by prospective franchisees. Today's question is: What are some trends to keep an eye out for within your industry segment?
Adam Povlitz
President of Anago Cleaning Systems, a commercial cleaning franchise
The industry is moving more toward technology, and Anago has certainly been at the forefront of this movement. We have proprietary cloud based software to manage all aspects of the business, and our own proprietary Anago App for bidding and estimating, as well as customer service. Green cleaning is also very important. As more and more business owners and managers seek to minimize their company’s environmental impact, the use of less water, less paper, and environmentally friendly cleaning solutions is crucial.
Sean Young
Director of Corporate Development for The Glass Guru, a home service franchise specializing in glass/windows
Energy efficiency is a big-time buzzword right now. Homeowners are eager to make investments in their home that will give them return-on-investment. Energy efficiency upgrades that pay for themselves down the road through reductions in utility costs are in high demand. There are often local or state programs that help homeowners finance approved energy efficiency upgrades! This includes window and entry door upgrades, where The Glass Guru in in a unique position to assist homeowners.
Bob Titus
President & CEO of Minuteman Press International, a B2B printing and marketing services franchise
As the world's largest design, printing, and marketing franchise, we are proud to be industry leaders. There are several exciting trends that we are excited about for our owners such as the emergence of digital printing technologies that has made the ability to produce short run, full-color printing more cost-effective and with fast turnaround. These are cost savings that our owners can pass along to their customers, and it also enables our centers to produce orders ranging in volume from 1 to 1 million.
Large format printing is also a big trend, as there is a growing need for signs, banners, flags, and posters. Our centers have the ability to offer custom designs and that we have the ability to provide our owners with the resources they need to fulfill such orders for large format printing.
Another trend that we are seeing is the growth of promotional products. Promotional items such as branded apparel, pens, pads, magnets, keychains, mobile phone chargers, and so much more are popular with Minuteman Press business clients and customers. Anything you can put a name, image, or logo on, we can produce.
Lastly, there has been increased demand for personalized marketing, which we are able to accomplish using our digital printing systems through a process called variable data printing. If we are printing 1,000 direct mail postcards, variable data printing lets us change the text for each postcard by pulling the text from a data file while still allowing for fast turnaround.
Mike Reeder
Vice President & Brand Leader of Archadeck, a home services franchise for outdoor living spaces
The continued technological advances in synthetic materials in the marketplace. In addition, the niche that we have created that we can build almost anything outside. To elaborate, we used to be just a deck and porch builder. Nowadays we design and install not only “structures”, but we include hardscapes and softscapes. Many of our projects involve more than a deck or patio alone. We found that customers wish to consider a deck and a patio, or a Screen Porch with landscaping. This has also allowed us to secure more projects as homeowners would prefer to work with 1 company and not 2 or 3 for the larger projects.
Jef Strauss and Dan Remus
Co-Founders of Wag N' Wash, a retail franchise providing all-natural pet foods and products, grooming, a self-wash center, and bakery
The growth of natural pet food sales is an amazing trend to watch as the quality and variety of products offered expands and evolves. Staying current on these trends is key to our brand maintaining our industry leadership, and to the growth of your business.
Lauren Humm Fakete
President of IM=X Pilates and Fitness, a hybrid fitness format franchise
The trend that we seek to address is keeping the consumer constantly engaged with new and exciting hybrid workouts. For example, a workout that combines Pilates reformer sequencing with indoor cycling, or a ballet barre programming that also incorporates a wall tower, or a boot camp that combines a variety of equipment in a circuit-training style. We are truly pulling from a broad range of sources to supply the consumer with fun, creative, and substantial workouts that make a difference - hence the name Integrated Movement Exercise, or IM=X.