Franchising Growth In 2006

Many commentators are suggesting that the halcyon days of franchise growth are now over. Talking to franchises that use American Express, this is not the experience. It is true there is some saturation of brands and good sites are becoming increasingly difficult to find. However, providing an alternative to being a single store and brand retailer competing with the large format retail stores, coupled with the strong export growth of franchises, suggests that they will still achieve growth rates of over 20%. In addition, increased regulatory scrutiny by ACCC, supported by several high profile court cases relating to both franchisor and franchisee obligations, has led to a clean up of many of the marginal operators in the industry.