A wonderful year has just come to an end, and we have many exciting projects ahead for 2023! Before diving into this new year full of ambition, we believe it’s always important to take a step back and reflect on the year that’s just ended. Let’s take a look back at 2022.
Our year in numbers
The “all-in-one” collaborative platform, as we like to call it, dedicated to franchises, now includes more than 250 brands across 100 countries and 5 continents. That’s over 300,000 daily users and a total of 6 languages available on Cerca, formerly Franchise On Cloud.
We are proud of our collaborations and our clients, whom we have the privilege of supporting in their pursuit of growth. According to an annual survey conducted as part of the renewal of our ISO 9001 certification, we achieved over 98% customer satisfaction.
The Franchise Development Report 2022, to get the year off to a good start
Last year also began with numbers, as we felt that we were lacking data on the franchise sector. Thanks to our years of experience, we were in the perfect position to create the Franchise Development Report in partnership with EverFruit Digital.
The webinar is still available, as well as the survey. We continue to analyze consumer behavior in order to provide the most tailored service possible to the needs of both franchisees and franchisors, particularly when it comes to franchise candidate recruitment.
Franchise Trade Shows and Forums
Two major events are held each year, bringing together all the key players in the franchise industry. The first takes place in Paris — the Franchise Expo is a true networking platform for entrepreneurs. For four days, the French and international franchise ecosystem gathers at Franchise Expo Paris. The second, the Forum Franchise in October in Lyon, brings together more than 160 brands seeking to accelerate their growth by recruiting new franchisees. This event is primarily aimed at franchisors, organized retail networks, and franchise industry experts. We were delighted to meet franchisors and clients there and present our solution.
A mobile application for franchisors and franchisees
A new version of our mobile application has been available since this year. It includes all the daily features needed to communicate within your network. Available on both Android and iPhone, it keeps your entire network right at your fingertips. You can access all the latest news with comments and likes, an interactive directory, messaging, work groups and notifications — and even audits and visit reports since this summer!
Local digital marketing integrated into management software
The year goes on and so do our investments — always with the goal of supporting our clients in their local marketing as well as in communication within their own franchise networks. Let’s take a look back at the various features implemented over the past year:
Local marketing focus with the Cerca x Mobilosoft partnership
Mobilosoft complements Cerca’s local digital marketing offering. It helps generate web-to-store traffic and addresses the fact that nearly 80% of consumers who perform a local search visit a store within an 8 km radius (Hubspot Marketing Statistics 2021). This partnership strengthens the training offer and provides franchise networks and their franchisees with a collaborative digital marketing platform to better organize and manage their online reputation.
Communication within the franchise network
Network management and daily operations for field managers have been simplified thanks to our new communication features within the network. News can now be categorized by location, visit reports can be duplicated from an existing report without losing comments or tracking. Additionally, when setting up action plans during a visit report, a new tab allows you to check if an action plan is already in progress, thus avoiding duplicates. On the mapping side, it is now possible to merge catchment areas for a given site, and location markers can also be made invisible.
These new features streamline the use of the platform and make the work of network managers easier.
Events are changing!
A new feature this year: Zoom is now available for video conferences, just like Google Meet. After Teams and GoToMeeting, it is now possible to hold video meetings through the popular platforms Zoom and Google Meet directly via Cerca.
Moreover, starting this year, only one email is needed instead of two as before — the first email already contains the link to the video conference and is also available in the event on your calendar. With just one click, you can join the meeting!
A look back at the major consumer trends of 2022
Consumers now conduct their research online before potentially converting locally, as we mentioned in this article: searches like “open now near me” have increased by more than +400% year-over-year worldwide.
Shopping is becoming increasingly omnichannel: social media, web, apps, newsletters, and more. However, the key takeaway is that consumers are primarily seeking added value. They closely examine offers and promotions, while also paying attention to a company’s values to ensure alignment. Lastly, but importantly, on social media, micro-influencers are on the rise, and short videos with high added value are driving more and more conversions. That said, among all trends, one remains unchanged: the zero position in Local SEO continues to be the most effective lever.
To stay in tune with consumer trends and activate local marketing, we have also launched a partnership with DeepReach. Catchment areas are predefined, allowing the activation of a set of local digital advertising groups tailored to each franchisee’s needs.
In summary, we are very pleased with the year that has just passed, and we look forward to sharing our projects for 2023 with you.
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