Mr Rental named Retail Franchise System of the Year by the Franchise Association of New Zealand

Mr Rental was named Retail Franchise System of the Year by the Franchise Association of New Zealand in their prestigious 2008 Westpac NZ Franchising Awards, with Mr Rental Hamilton taking out Franchisee of the Year in the same category, for the second year in a row.

Having only been franchising for seven years, the rental franchise business has grown from one store on Bribie Island in Australia (which still exists today) to a network of 18 stores in New Zealand and a further 41 in Australia.

Store numbers only tell part of the story says General Manager, Alan Payne.

“A constant focus on innovation to increase efficiency and bottom line profit means Mr Rental is better managed and more prepared for growth than many franchises twice its size.”

“We have put considerable resources into IT improvements alone over the past 12 months,” says Mr Payne, “and we’ve been able to tangibly show franchisees they’ve regained more than two and a half hours a week to work on their businesses as a result.”

In fact, IT is just one of Mr Rental’s core competencies, on which business value is measured for both franchisees and customers according to Mr Payne.

“In the past 12 months we’ve undertaken extensive legal review of rental contracts to ensure compliance with legislation changes, introduced an Accredited Franchise Traineeship to enable franchisees to successfully train in their own stores, instigated a network rollout of collective agreement templates meeting the requirements of new employment legislation and launched a national marketing campaign including television advertising and catalogues that introduced the results of a re-branding project and ongoing customer research.”

Add to that the unique and empowering culture evident throughout the franchise where all Mr Rental franchisees, employees and contractors are encouraged to live by ‘above the line’ values – ownership, accountability and responsibility – in addition to embracing the company’s 12 Points of Culture and the foundation of a global future is set.

And that’s exactly the vision Mr Rental has; to be the world’s first choice in renting home appliances.

Mr Rental’s core business is renting home appliances such as fridges, washing machines, televisions, sound systems and game consoles. Rentals of business equipment such as computers and data projectors form a smaller part of the business as does furniture and exercise equipment that were recently added to Mr Rental’s product mix.

“This award recognises our successful transitioning of the business from family to a corporately focussed enterprise and establishes our model as a significant force in the industry, despite a large national competitor.”

“Other systems may be growing faster but our focus has always been on helping franchisees to build a sizable asset while creating a culture and operational system that will stand up to long term expansion,” says Mr Payne.

With an eye on the future but a focus on current growth, Mr Rental has a great story to tell. From 2005 to 2008 the business experienced a phenomenal 145% network revenue growth and a 149% network unit growth.

“This is a business on the cusp of accelerated growth that embodies an enviable culture and operates a proven, efficient system that’s continuously improving. We’re very proud to be considered New Zealand’s best retail franchise system.”