In the U.S, transportation services are divided into three main areas: taxi and limousine services, moving and residential storage and freight forwarding.
Taxi and Limousine Services
With demand driven by business and leisure travel, franchise owners can succeed through good marketing in the $6 billion industry where there are few operational economies of scale.
Services that a franchise owner can provide include:
- Taxi and limousine service;
- Limousine, luxury car and van rental.
As the owner of this type of transportation services franchise, you will be provided with a turn-key operation, where you will receive extensive training on every aspect of the business.
- Dispatching drivers to customers;
- Managing your fleet of inventory;
- Relationships with vendors – fuel distributors and tank management;
- Maintenance and repair of vehicles;
- Accounting and employee hiring practices;
- Use of trademarks and marketing materials.
Moving and Residential Storage
Consisting of nearly $12 billion in combined annual revenue, franchises in this industry can concentrate on a number of different areas that involve moving and/or storage.
- Moving of household and office goods;
- Transportation of specialty items such as pianos and trade show exhibits;
- Long and short-term storage for items being moved either locally or interstate – otherwise known as storage-in-transit (SIT).
Turnover in residential and commercial rentals as well as home sales and corporate relocations are some of the factors that drive demand for moving and storage franchises. Those entrepreneurs that are interested in becoming an owner of a self-storage franchise will have the majority of their revenue streams coming from the leasing of storage units and warehousing space.
Freight Forwarding Services
With over $50 billion generated in combined revenue a year, freight forwarding franchises arrange transportation of goods on behalf of shippers. Customs brokers are also included in this sub-industry. Manufacturing domestic output and international trade are the areas that freight forwarding franchise owners can generate revenue.
To compete, you can set yourself apart as a franchise owner due to:
- The operations blueprint established by the franchisor;
- Established relationships with shopper and carrier networks;
- Comprehensive training on the industry and running of the franchise;
- Marketing and advertising support;
- In-house tools and resources.