Finally, the Philippines’ giant convenience store, 7-Eleven has made its franchising package affordable at only P300,000.00 cash out. The good news came to light after its store operator, Philippine Seven Corp. (PSC) has rolled out its lowest franchising package probably to give chance to franchisees willing to run these stores on a full-time basis.

With this new system, PSC is eyeing to sub-contract mature corporate-owned stores to franchisees, in turn releasing more resources to open more stores and concrete its market-leading spot in the local convenience store business.

This year, PSC aims to invest P3.5 billion to open around new stores and renovate other stores nationwide. Last year, the company’s stores reached to 1,995 stores across the country, and by the end of May, it expanded to 2,071 stores, thereby guzzling up a market share of 70 percent.

“We’re also looking at franchising out existing stores. We have a new franchise package which we’re testing and we’ll be rolling out this year with very low minimal investment.. Basically, we want people who are willing to work in the stores..The idea is to get ex-employees, people who have managed QSRs (quick service restaurants), people with real skills but not much capital,” PSC president, Jose Victor Paterno

This latest franchise package offer of P300,000.00 lowers further the barrier to make an entry in the country’s convenience store giant. In fact, this is even more affordable than its previous franchising package of P1 million announced last year. Older franchise package were worth approximately P3.5 million.

PSC President, Jose Victor Paterno, further explained that the P300,000.00 cash out from franchisees is basically just a deposit that they would eventually get back. He noted that it is just an assurance that the new investor would not run away with the weekend sales.

According to Paterno, under the new package, franchisee would take over an existing corporate store – the one which has already operated for at least one year, while PSC would waive charges on electricity and other maintenance in favor of the franchisee. However, the profit share of the franchisee under the new package would be lower compared to previous packages where franchisees put in greater capital and take on more business risk, he claimed.

So far, the convenience store giant has already converted 50 of its existing corporate-owned stores into franchises under this recent package but so far involved only the “internal” network-employees or existing franchisees.

Aspiring franchisees can expect the same package to be offered this year, he added.

The convenience store giant believes that when franchisees are actively hands-on in running their stores, revenues per store will be higher, in turn increasing overall profitability of the convenience store chain.

Moreover, he also cited that while the convenience store giant continue to grow its network, the same would likewise focus more on growing stores sales by improving its products and services.