Online marketing by sector starts with how a customer in your sector decides: via a map, a quote form, a menu or a trial class. Of the 34,937 Dutch franchise locations the Dutch Franchise Association (NFV) registered for 2025, 9,721 belong to a services brand. For each sector we set a fixed channel order, and you see the outcome in the dashboard of every location.
How many franchise locations does each sector have?
In total, 2025 saw 936 franchise brands, a turnover of €50.5 billion (excl. VAT) and 438,800 people working in franchising, according to the NFV. For your marketing, those totals say little. The split by sector says far more, because the number of locations per brand and the turnover per location vary widely.
Services has the most locations, but the smallest teams per location. Food has large locations with many staff. That difference determines how much time a franchisee can spend on online visibility, and therefore how much head office has to handle. According to the trade association, about 80% of all franchise brands are SMEs: 50 locations at most.
| Sector | Locations | Online challenge | Franchise brands | Turnover per location | Locations per brand (avg.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food (retail) | 7,536 | Many locations per brand, so tight central data and opening hours on every map | 114 | €2.91m | 66 |
| Non-food (retail) | 7,713 | Product and stock findability per shop, click and collect | 180 | €1.75m | 43 |
| Hospitality | 4,228 | Photos, menu, reservations and quick replies to reviews | 157 | €1.23m | 27 |
| Services | 9,721 | Service areas, quote or appointment as the conversion | 375 | €0.48m | 26 |
| Healthcare | 2,201 | Trust, specialisms and online booking, without medical promises | 38 | €1.27m | 58 |
| Other | 3,538 | Decided per brand based on the visibility scan | 72 | €0.68m | 49 |
Which franchise sectors do we cover separately?
We group the NFV sectors into four sector groups. The grouping follows how customers search, not how a trade association counts. For each group, a dedicated page describes which channels come first and what we measure per location.
Services
The largest sector, yet on average fewer than four people work at each location. Many brands work at the customer's address, without a shop. Learn more about online marketing for service franchise brands, covering service areas, quote requests and review response times.
Food and hospitality
Here it is all about the moment: someone looks for what is open now and nearby. Photos, menu, opening hours and booking or ordering decide the choice. See online marketing for food and hospitality chains for the approach per location.
Non-food retail
Customers want to know whether a product is in their local shop and when they can collect it. Opening hours must match on every map platform. On the page online marketing for non-food retail franchises you can read how we set that up per shop.
Health, fitness and wellness
Choosing a care provider, gym or salon is personal. Trust, specialisms and easy online booking or scheduling a trial class weigh heavily. We word things carefully and make no medical promises. See marketing for health, fitness and wellness brands.
Which channels get priority in each franchise sector?
Every franchise brand benefits from a complete Google Business Profile. After that, the order differs. The table below shows the priority we use in the pilot; the visibility scan can adjust it per brand. For details per channel, go to the full overview of our services.
Many chains limit themselves to Google. We also include Apple Maps for franchise chains and Bing Places for multi-location chains, so every location shows correct details on those maps too. How the three compare is explained in Google, Apple and Bing maps compared.
| Channel | Services | Food and hospitality | Non-food retail | Health, fitness and wellness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile and Maps | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Reviews and response time | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| Location page with schema | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| Apple Business Connect and Bing Places | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| GEO (AI visibility) | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Instagram and TikTok per location | 7 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| Online advertising (Google, Microsoft, Meta) | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
What do all franchise sectors have in common online?
However different the sectors are, we see three problems everywhere. For our own 2026 benchmark study, we monitored the hundred largest chains in the Netherlands for six months. Of the 500 Google Business Profiles examined, 40% were fully completed. Only six chains answered reviews the same day or the next, and 90% demonstrably had no review management process.
Almost every chain studied had its own marketing department or an external agency. So the gap is not people, but Local SEO expertise per location, GEO and automation that monitors dozens of profiles at once. That is where we complement existing teams and agencies.
| Checkpoint | Why | How we measure it |
|---|---|---|
| Profile fully completed | A half-finished profile loses its map spot to a local competitor | Score per location in the visibility scan |
| NAP identical on Google, Apple and Bing | Inconsistent details cost trust with customers and AI assistants | Daily comparison with head office's master list |
| Review replies within 24 hours | Speed and a personal reply show the location is there | Response time per location in the dashboard |
| Mentions in AI assistants | Customers increasingly ask ChatGPT or Gemini for advice | Fixed test questions per sector and region |
| Conversion that fits the sector | A call, route, reservation or quote is the real goal | Actions per profile and per location page |
What does online marketing per location cost across sectors?
The price per location is the same in every sector: Basic €199, Growth €400 and Full service €600, always per location per month, plus VAT. What differs is the weight of that amount relative to turnover. A fictional worked example using the NFV averages makes this visible. All rates and what each package includes can be found under what online marketing per location costs.
| Sector | Locations (NFV average) | Growth per month | Per location per year | Share of average turnover per location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Services | 26 | 26 x €400 = €10,400 | €4,800 | about 1.0% of €0.48m |
| Hospitality | 27 | 27 x €400 = €10,800 | €4,800 | about 0.4% of €1.23m |
| Non-food | 43 | 43 x €400 = €17,200 | €4,800 | about 0.3% of €1.75m |
| Food | 66 | 66 x €400 = €26,400 | €4,800 | about 0.2% of €2.91m |
What does this worked example tell you?
In services, a fixed amount per location weighs more heavily, because turnover per location is lower. There we often start with Basic for all locations and Growth for the locations with the most search demand. Media budget for ads goes directly to Google, Microsoft or Meta and is not included in these amounts.
How does sector-focused marketing work when opening, taking over and recruiting?
A franchise guide also groups brands by sector, new locations and takeovers. We follow that logic, but we do not sell listings or advertising space. When you open, we help you launch a new franchise location with profiles already verified before opening day. When a franchisee changes, we handle marketing for a location up for takeover, so profiles and reviews stay in place.
To recruit new entrepreneurs we work by sector: a candidate for a hospitality location searches differently from someone who wants to start a services brand. You do not pay for an advertising package, but per verified introduction. Read how it works in our explanation of recruiting on results.
What does a location outside the Google Maps top 3 cost you?
This calculation uses Dutch figures instead of American click-through rates. The average revenue per franchise location comes from the Dutch Franchise Association (NFV) statistics, reference year 2025. Nobody can say in advance exactly how much revenue a location loses without a top position in Google Maps, with a Google Business Profile that is not in order, or without proper review management. So you calculate a scenario per cause: a few percent of revenue going to a more visible competitor. Add them up and you see the combined cost.
| Sector | Revenue per location per year | 1% revenue missed | 3% revenue missed | Growth package (€4,800 a year) as share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All sectors (average) | €1,445,000 | €14,450 | €43,350 | 0.33% |
| Services | €480,000 | €4,800 | €14,400 | 1% |
| Hospitality | €1,230,000 | €12,300 | €36,900 | 0.39% |
| Health care | €1,270,000 | €12,700 | €38,100 | 0.38% |
| Non-food retail | €1,750,000 | €17,500 | €52,500 | 0.27% |
| Food retail | €2,910,000 | €29,100 | €87,300 | 0.16% |
| Other brands | €680,000 | €6,800 | €20,400 | 0.71% |
- 6 of the 100 largest Dutch franchise chains reply to a Google review within 24 hours; the average response time is 6.8 days and 90% has no demonstrable review management process.
- Only 40% of the 500 Google Business Profiles examined is fully completed.
- In the measurement one review was viewed around 15,000 times on average: an unanswered complaint stays visible to thousands of people.
- 42% of consumers would rather not do business with a company that never replies to reviews (BrightLocal 2026).
Sources: NFV Franchise Statistics, reference year 2025 (34,937 locations, €50.5 billion revenue); Local SEO Franchise Benchmark 2026 (100 largest chains, 500 profiles); sector model on franchiseseo.nl (in Dutch). The percentages are scenarios you choose, not a measurement or a promise. We do not promise rankings or revenue.
