Financial Services Category Leads August Growth in Franchise Interest
Other Franchise Development Growth Categories Include Health and Fitness, Home Services and Automotive
September 10, 2020 – Aspiring franchise owners were focused on “taking care of business” last month, thinking ahead about seasonal changes in consumer needs as interest in Financial Services franchises led August growth of investment inquiries, followed by increased interest in Health, Home and Automotive franchises.
The same categories also saw gains in the average number of investment inquiries per franchise, according to data from the FranchiseVentures network of franchise lead-generation brands, which provides the largest source of prospective franchise buyers in the United States.
Franchise Categories Showing the Most Growth
- Financial Services franchises led the monthly growth in August, with a 55.9% increase in entrepreneurs contacting franchisors to explore owning a franchise. This category includes tax services along with insurance, investment, ATM and other financial services businesses, and last month’s growth was driven almost entirely by tax services, as more tax franchises started actively recruiting for next year’s tax season.
- Health and Fitness franchises and Personal Care franchises also saw increased interest in August, both rebounding from social-distancing and uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Health and Fitness inquiries grew 14.5%, with increases in a variety of fitness concepts and in medical services, including drug testing. Personal Care inquiries grew 9.5%, up for the third month in a row, as potential franchisees anticipate increased demand for hair and nail salons, spas and cosmetic stores.
- Home Services franchises were the largest overall category for franchise inquiries in August, with 23.9% share of all contacts and 8.7% growth from July to August. Real Estate franchises, including property management services, grew 6.5% for the month, and Automotive franchises like oil change, windshield repair, tires and transmission repair shops, logged a 5.8% gain, growing for the second month in a row.
Top-Growing Categories Also Increase Average Inquiries per Franchise
The same categories all saw an increase in the average number of inquiries per franchise concept, and, in many cases, that growth added to an increase in the number of concepts actively recruiting new franchisees.
- Financial Services franchises were selected by 60% more inquiries on average in August, on top of a 25% increase in active concepts.
- Health and Fitness franchises averaged 13.8% higher inquiry rate, with 4.3% growth in active concepts, and Personal Care franchises grew prospects per franchise brand by 10.5%.
- Also growing the average number of inquiries per brand were Home Services franchises (8.9%), Real Estate franchises (7%) and Automotive franchises (6.3%), which also posted a 13.3% increase in active franchise brands.
Franchise Ventures is the leading franchise lead-generation platform for potential franchisees to thousands of growing franchise systems in the United States and Canada. Its franchise lead generation brands include Franchise.com, Franchise Solutions, Franchise Gator, Franchise Opportunities, Franchise For Sale, SmallBusinessStartup.com and BusinessBroker.net, and together they provide the largest aggregation of prospective franchise buyers in the U.S.
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Published on Thursday, September 10th, 2020.