Ng Su Onn

WANT

7-Eleven Malaysia is now offering a franchise programme for local entrepreneurs to become partners in running its outlets which offer more than 2,000 products and services.

"It will be based on profit-sharing" 7-Eleven Malaysia Sdn Bhd executive director Ng Su Onn said.

"We don’t collect royalty, marketing contribution and service fees. What we do is share gross profit with the franchisees. We also share 50% of maintenance costs and 50% of electricity bills with the franchisees," he said, adding the programme is based on a full support model.

"From our share of the gross profits, 7-Eleven is responsible for the expenses such as the licence of real estate, equipment, general insurance, royalties, inventory audit and mechandising services."

As such franchisees avoid the risk of incurring prohibitive investment in building, equipment or committing a significant amount of fixed cost.

"Everything is set for them including training, marketing plans, suppliers and equipment.

This is to ensure that franchisees do not struggle, and to help them focus on operating the stores and creating rapport with customers.

"We also provide field service consultation with dedicated persons who will spend a minimum of two hours per week discussing with franchisees on issues, opportunities and how to grow the business," said Ng.

To participate, potential franchisees need to invest RM250,000, of which RM100,000 is a non-refundable initial franchise fee for use of system and brand, and training, while the license fee to operate the store for 10 years (five-year franchise agreement with automatic renewal of five years) is another RM100,000. The remaining RM50,000 is a security deposit for stocks.

After 10 years, franchisees who want to renew their contracts need only pay the license fees, he said, adding that 7-Eleven has also negotiated an agreement with AmBank to provide loans for franchisees, who will be given existing stores to operate.

"We want to give them matured stores and train them to make sure they do well. We take care of building up new stores ourselves," said Ng, adding that the training for franchisees is about six to eight weeks.

The programme is only open to Malaysians, aged between 25 and 60 years with minimum SPM qualifications. It is also open to shop owners such as sundry shop operators who want to convert their shops into 7-Eleven stores.

Capable franchisees may also take on more than one store, said Ng, adding that if the trade area changes during the 10 years, for example, roads are blocked or residents are moving out, 7-Eleven will relocate the franchisee to another place and bear the costs.

Ng said 7-Eleven Malaysia which currently has 1,050 stores nationwide, plans to have 2,000 stores in the next five years, of which 50% are franchised and 50% managed by the corporation.

"Next year, we plan to open 150 stores and franchise 100 existing stores," he said, adding that the programme aims to reach out to Malaysians – especially Bumiputras.

He said the programme has received good response with 10 applicants already accepted to be trained, with another 50 applicants on the list to be assessed.

The target is to have 30 franchisees by year-end, with a maximum of 50 for this year.

For details, call 018-233 9862/0598 or visit www.7Eleven.com.my.