Edition Eighty Nine of The Insider
Greetings and Happy Australia Day!
If you are one of the many new subscribers who are joining us for the first time today - welcome!
To our international subscribers: you may be interested to know that here in Australia we are heating up our bbq's and organising get-togethers with family and friends (which may even include a day at the beach or a serious game of backyard cricket!) because the 26th is Australia Day!
News: With this in mind, we are pleased to bring you news from a franchise which is doing its part for the Australian environment. With the current water situation and the heat of summer, if there was ever a time to go green, this surely is it! Ecowash is a franchise with the philosophy that "driving cars and keeping them clean shouldn't cost the earth".
Also in News today, we meet Renee and Carly, two twenty-something's who will become co-owners in a franchise that, according to BRW Magazine, has been the country’s fastest-growing printer for the past three years.
And, the Australian Retailers Association Executive Director, Richard Evans, shares his insights on what it is that retailers really want: sustainability.
Interested? Read more in our News section below.
Opportunities: We have added many new franchise opportunities this week, and we invite you to visit our website to view these, and our entire list of more than 700 franchises for sale. With franchises starting at around $2,000, there is something to suit everyone's budget!
That's all from us this week. Enjoy Australia Day!
Be sure to join us next week for all the latest from Inside Franchising.
All the best,
from Leesa and the Inside Franchising Team
PS. Be sure to forward this newsletter to your friends and colleagues - you may just inspire someone to take their very first step towards being the next success story!
News in Franchising:
Memo to Australia: One waterless car wash saves 2 billion litres of water
It’s a sobering or heartening thought, depending on which attitude the average Aussie takes to being involved. One waterless carwash, per car in Australia, per year would potentially boost our wilting water resources to the tune of more than two billion litres over 12 months.
Statistics certainly support the lofty projection. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there are currently an incredible 14, 774, 921 cars in the country. Sydney Water estimates, on average, the average automated carwash expels 70 litres of water. Using the time-honoured hose and sponge method many consider a civil right no matter how many nods of disapproval they attract, 180 litres are lost in the process.
Rivalling any nation with our love for cars, most Australians wash their precious set of wheels at least once every 1-2 months, which is a very conservative statistic many a petrol head would argue.
If every car substituted just one wash from either method in a calendar year for a single waterless car wash, the approximate number of litres saved ranges from 1,034,244,470 to 2,659,485,780 litres of our precious finite resource.
Fanciful thinking perhaps, but with waterless car wash operators now dotted all over the nation because of the sheer scarcity of water, not an entirely impossible notion to strive for, according to ecowash mobile managing director Jim Cornish.
Now in nine countries after starting out as a two car Sydney operation three years ago, eocwash mobile is estimated to have saved in excess of 29 million litres of water since its inception.
“The waterless car wash industry is growing rapidly and it is because people are realising there is a market for it, dictated to us by drought and our climate,” said Mr Cornish.
“A business like this inherently starts for all the right reasons, we see the problems with our environment and see this as a way to make a contribution as well as a living. The figures are certainly impressive. If only a portion of the population had the presence of mind to try one waterless car wash to support that very goal, hundreds of millions of litres of water would be saved. That is a simple fact and the more people with that train of thought, the better it gets.”
He added that being green doesn’t mean compromising on quality, clearly an important consideration for car lovers.
“Not only does this new technology save water, it also produces a better result when compared to traditional methods of car washing currently accepted as the norm. So it is great for the environment and the vehicle.”
Click here for more information on this franchise opportunity.
|
Strathfield Printers Pioneer New Wealth Creation Scheme
Two young staff members from local Strathfield print centre Worldwide Online Printing have been handed the chance to pioneer a new wealth creation programme for print communication entrepreneurs.
Renee Woodward, 26, and Carly McIlvride, 22 are the first members of the scheme, which gives young Australian entrepreneurs the opportunity to unlock their commercial potential with an equity stake in a company alongside experienced business owners.
According to BRW Magazine, Worldwide has been the country’s fastest-growing printer for the past three years and now has 82 writing, design and print centres across Australia.
Renee currently manages Worldwide’s centre in Strathfield and Carly works at the same centre as Senior Designer/Customer Service Representative. Under the new scheme they will become co-owners with Vince of new centres in Brookvale and nearby Silverwater.
The scheme is the brainchild of Strathfield centre-owner Vince Grieco, one of Worldwide’s top-performing franchisees. He saw how hard it was for young people to move from management into business ownership, and so devised a rapid roll-out plan which could take Renee and Carly from designers to successful multi-business owner in less than three years.
“It’s a huge responsibility and if I think about it for too long, it can sometimes seem a bit daunting,” said Renee. “The fact that this can happen to someone like me shows just how far printing – and franchising – have come.
“Being a print professional at Worldwide today means working with clients to develop their marketing and communication collateral and help them to build stronger brands. Because all the printing is done in our giant production facilities, staff in the centres are left to focus on customer service.”
According to Vince, the scheme shows what can be achieved when talented young people get a chance to unlock their potential and leverage the commercial value which often otherwise lies hidden within crafts such as graphic design and copywriting.
“Franchising provides a great opportunity for people to own and grow their own business without also taking on all the usual risks, but it doesn’t help successful managers become owners,” he said. “The scheme opens up that route, and will hopefully pave the way for a new breed of entrepreneur who has bags of drive and ability but hasn’t been working long enough to build up the capital base needed to make their business ownership dreams into reality.”
Click here for more information on this franchise opportunity.
|
ARA CAUTIONS AGAINST INTEREST RATE RISE
- CPI FIGURES ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK
Peak retail industry body the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) cautioned against further interest rate rises with this week's Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures showing an annual increase on the upper limit of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) band for inflation.
According to ARA Executive Director Richard Evans, despite the seemingly strong growth, the RBA should not overact with an interest rate rise.
“The CPI for the December 2007 quarter showed the weighted average for the eight capital cities as being a 3.0% increase over the December quarter 2007. But this seemingly strong growth doesn’t mean it’s time for an interest rate rise. Right now consumer confidence is on the wane due to recent bank interest rate increases, and it may be a more miserable story in February when the effects of the November interest rate rise are expected to affect demand,” Evans said.
"Now is not the time to be placing a halt to retail demand when clearly the inflationary indicators are restricted to petrol, housing and education."
Evans pointed to the low year on year growth in food as an indicator that after a good season food production prices have weakened with demand. He also pointed to clothing and footwear as signs the market may be adjusting itself in consumer items without the need for interest rate intervention.
“In transportation the most significant rise was due to petrol prices which showed a 14.3% increase for the twelve month and the impact of the drought on grain growing has seen a significant increase in breads and cereals. With issues including drought and petrol prices already putting pressure on consumer confidence, another interest rate rise would no doubt dampen consumer spending.
“What retailers want is sustainability and if the RBA wants to dampen spending then this is not the time to do it with the uncertainty in the financial markets and with the United States moving to lower rates. We ask the RBA to reflect upon those market price influences already strongly affecting consumer outlooks before placing the heavy hand of a rate rise upon most Australian consumers.
"The great irony of these figures is that just one day after the Government suggested inflation in food items was out of control and thus announced an ACCC inquiry, we see food is not contributing to inflation. Rather it is petrol, drought and housing affecting the figures,” Evans said
Ever wanted to know more about a particular franchise? How much does one cost? Is there an opportunity available? What kind of experience is needed?
Simply click a logo below to find out more information about these franchises, or visit us at www.insidefranchising.com.au to view our full list of opportunities:
www.insidefranchising.com.au
There is always a lot to see and do !
Would you like to advertise with Inside Franchising?
Send all enquiries to:
webmaster@insidefranchising.com.au
| SPECIAL OFFERS: |
|
Join us next week for some great new special offers from our advertisers |
*The content of all news items published in this
newsletter are published in good faith and are reproduced from
information provided by the individual companies the subject
of said news items. Inside Franchising Pty Ltd takes no
responsibility whatsoever for information and content being
true and correct.
|
