Brands were not treated like partners – Kommersant

Due to the crisis at the end of this year, according to experts, the market will be replenished with only 500 new franchises. This is 16% less than a year ago. The reduction of the segment is due to a decrease in the interest of entrepreneurs in such a business development model. Now they are least interested in opening franchises for retailers, vape shops and beauty salons.

In 2023, about 500 new franchises will enter the Russian market, which is 16% less year-on-year, follows from the TopFranchise.ru report, which Kommersant has read. According to Franshiza.ru, the franchising market will grow by no more than 250 new franchises, while a year earlier, more than 400 networks launched such partnership projects.

One of the reasons for the decline in the number of new franchises is the low activity of foreign brands, explains Franshiza.ru expert Anna Rozhdestvenskaya. There are practically no new international brands on the Russian market for the second year due to the political situation and current restrictions. According to Nikoliers, only nine new foreign brands were released in Russia in 2022 compared to 19 brands in 2021.

At the same time, Ms. Rozhdestvenskaya continues, Russian franchises are actively sold to international markets. For example, the Tigrus holding opens its first Osteria Mario restaurant in Dubai according to this scheme. GC “Shokoladnitsa” is negotiating with potential partners from the UAE, Turkey and Cyprus, Stardogs – in one of the CIS countries. The franchising business scaling model gives Russian companies the opportunity to enter foreign markets – this is one of the reasons that keeps companies’ interest in franchise development from a sharp drop, says Anna Rozhdestvenskaya.

Fewer retail projects will enter the market, especially those related to imports, which is explained by difficulties with logistics, says Victor Bolshakov, founder of TopFranchise.ru. For the same reason, retailer affiliate programs have become less popular this year, losing 10-15% of demand, Ms. Rozhdestvenskaya confirms. The launch of such franchises is also influenced by a high entry threshold – up to 20 million rubles. to the point, adds Igor Karavaev, Chairman of the Presidium of the Association of Retail Companies.

According to the franchising model, beauty studios have also begun to open less frequently, Anna Rozhdestvenskaya notes. This is due to the general situation on the market: the industry is still affected by the geopolitical crisis, due to which entrepreneurs have become less likely to open new beauty salons, Lyalya Sadykova, Ombudsman of the Association of Beauty Industry Entrepreneurs, explains. Also, according to her, now there is a mentoring trend in the field, when a businessman hires an expert or mentor, which is much cheaper than buying a franchise.

Another industry that has experienced a drop in demand for franchises is vape shops, says Anna Rozhdestvenskaya. The uncertainty in this segment is related to the implementation of Law No. 178-FZ, which implies serious regulation of vaping and a significant reduction in the illegal market, the formation by the Russian government of a list of substances and additives that will be banned in the production of e-liquids for electronic cigarettes, explains the president of the Professional Alliance of Participants in the Russian Market of Electronic Nicotine systems Lev Grigoriev. Therefore, he continues, market participants minimize their commodity balances and think about a potential exit from the market.

The decline in franchisee activity is also characteristic of the market as a whole. TopFranchise.ru expects that in 2023 the demand for franchises in Russia will remain at the level of 2022 or, according to pessimistic forecasts, will decrease by 10%. This, as analysts note, is evidenced by the dynamics of general interest in buying franchises – since January 2023, there has been a month-to-month drop.

Daria Andrianova