Learn how Elkjøp Nordic manages franchise contracts for 170 stores.

In 2016, before the new contracts were signed, Elkjøp experienced the difficulties that can arise from an unexpected termination of a franchise contract: They lost their foothold in the city, and while they did open a smaller store, annual sales fell by more than NOK 50 million, and it took four years to re-establish a store of the same size.

Franchisee contracts have three layers of complexity:  

• The contracts have varying terms, from one to five years.
• Each contract has a unique extension option, also between one and five years.
• The deadline for renegotiating also varies, with a minimum time before expiry of ten months.

"Let’s say that as a franchisee you want to leave the chain. Then it’s worth keeping your head down and hoping that the chain doesn’t contact you before your contract expires. This is a massive risk for a franchiser like Elkjøp, and poor contract management can cost us dear in such cases."

Before they started using Complete Control, Elkjøp used folders and spreadsheets to manage contracts – a solution Nilssen regards as totally unviable.

"Now we have a tool that is both user-friendly and gives us the overview we need. There is also the notification function, which gives us a much-appreciated extra layer of security. If we miss a deadline and ignore the automatic alerts, we get a call from House of Control."