Franchise Trends of the Last Decade

Franchising has been a popular way of establishing and growing a business for several decades. Pioneered by McDonald’s in the 1950s, it’s become quite an attractive way for many owners to achieve entrepreneurial success.

However, franchising has undergone quite a large number of changes since it was initially developed. While some of this has been driven by entrepreneurs adding a unique twist on the process, much more has been because of outside forces.

Quite a significant amount has been because of the markets that many firms have wanted to break into. With how quickly and consistently these markets can change, there have been a variety of trends that have affected franchises.

This has been especially true in the past decade, which has seen quite a significant shift in various areas. Quite a lot of this has been focused on adapting in specific ways. There are a few notable trends that have affected franchising as a whole over the past decade.

Shifting Demographics

Demographics have shifted quite significantly in recent years, especially across the United States. This has meant that many franchise owners have had to recalibrate their strategy to focus more on these demographics.

While much of this has been seen in the difference between Boomers and Millennials, there also minorities, seniors, and much more to consider. As a result, quite a considerable number of franchises have been adjusted to these changing demographics.

Growth Segments

While there were a variety of franchise niches that grew significantly over the past decade, some were much more popular than others. As a result, they were some of the more popular areas for potential franchise owners to tackle. These include:

• Green Businesses: These started to become quite popular in 2009 and show no signs of slowing down.
• Fitness & Health: This includes gyms, sports and training centers, personal care, and much more.
• Recession Proof Areas: There have been a few areas that are somewhat recession proof, with each of these proving attractive to franchise owners.

While there were a few other areas that proved to be somewhat popular, the above were the highest growth areas in the franchise community. As such, they often seemed to be the trendier areas to target.

Like any other business model, franchising will continue to be tweaked and changed for years to come. While many entrepreneurs who use the approach may think that it’s already high-quality, this doesn’t mean that it couldn’t be improved.

Despite the results that it may already be offering, franchise owners will need to tweak their business model for success continually. This is mainly focusing on adapting to new and changing markets.

While the above trends were the largest ones to affect franchising in the past decade, it doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t come into play in the future. Instead, they could have more of a role than many people may imagine.