As a franchise owner, you rely on suppliers to provide you with the various products and services that you need to keep your business going. When you run a single location, it’s very easy to manage suppliers and continue relationships with those who have consistently supported your business well. But what happens when you add new locations to your portfolio? Do you try new suppliers or stick to the same ones? Here are four reasons why a company needs the same supplier among locations.
1. You Need to Maintain Consistent Product Quality
Your franchise has developed a reputation for providing a certain quality of products or services. When you try out a new supplier for all of your locations or only use a certain supplier for some locations and a different one for another, you run the risk of changing the quality of your products or services in those locations, sometimes for the worst. Customers will be able to taste the difference so it’s important to maintain consistency.
2. It Ensures No Variation in Costs
When you begin scouring franchise supplier networks to find the right suppliers, you establish relationships with dependable suppliers who ask you to pay the same amount for the same goods and services on a regular basis. If you decide to shift over to a new supplier for other locations, you can end up with variations in cost that will require you to go back to your budget to figure out how to navigate those and how they may impact your bottom line. It’s much easier to stick with the suppliers you know so you don’t end up having to switch your entire strategy across multiple locations.
3. There’s No New Guesswork
While it’s easy to want to believe that suppliers are all going to offer the best possible service, it’s not true. Much like any other business, there are unreliable suppliers who might provide subpar products or services, miss shipments entirely, and engage in other activities that put your business in jeopardy. When you stick to the suppliers you know well, there’s no guesswork involved.
4. Searching for New Suppliers Can Be a Costly and Complex Process
Searching for new suppliers for your various franchise locations isn’t necessarily a simple task. Trying to find a new supplier that meets your expectations and performs as well as the other suppliers that you currently work with can be a costly and time-consuming process that may not work out for months, which ends up wasting money and preventing your business from moving forward as planned. If you don’t have to use a different supplier for another location, you shouldn’t.
Having more than one franchise location is an excellent way to expand your business and advance financially. That being said, some make the mistake of doing everything from scratch for these new locations, including looking for new suppliers. If this is something you’re uncertain about yourself, use the four reasons above to stick to your current supplier unless you absolutely can’t use them for the new location.
