UNISHIPPERS WINS 2010 FRANCHISE AWARD

Posted on May 10, 2010 by Suzanne Musial

Franchise Business Review Awards Nation's Largest Shipping Reseller as Top Franchise Opportunity Based on Satisfaction Ratings by Franchise Operators

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - Unishippers Global Logistics, LLC received Franchise Business Review's 2010 Franchisee Satisfaction Award at the International Franchise Association (IFA) 50^th Annual Convention in San Antonio, TX on February 5-8, 2010.

As the nation's largest full-service shipping reseller, Unishippers helps provide small and mid-sized business owners a complete line of shipping options all from one company. Partnering with regional and national shipping carriers, such as UPS^®, Estes, and Saia, Unishippers offers these business owners many shipping options, attractive pricing, and community-focused customer service that its customers can't receive anywhere else.

Franchise Business Review, a national franchise market research firm, awarded 134 franchises in 17 industry categories for their system's excellence, as rated and reviewed by their own franchisees.

Unishippers received the award under the category of Business Services.

"Receiving the Franchise Award at the annual IFA convention is a huge honor for our entire organization," said Dan Lockwood, President of Unishippers. "It is extremely important to us to keep our franchisees happy and ensure they are able to offer the best services, products and lowest prices to their customers when it comes to their shipping needs."

Though the economy is still struggling, Unishippers introduced 17 new franchise owners to the system in 2009 and with an aggressive growth strategy for 2010, Unishippers' plans to add 13 franchise locations either opened or signed agreements throughout the country by the end of the year. Unishippers demonstrated a slow but steady approach toward economic recovery and were committed to putting their franchisees first.

This is Franchise Business Review's fifth consecutive year of conducting this study and researching over 500 of today's leading franchise brands representing over 100,000 franchisees. Franchise Business Review's survey questions cover everything from training and support, system quality issues, franchisor relationship, financial opportunity to overall satisfaction. Additionally, demographic and lifestyle questions give a 360-degree view of their franchise ownership experience.

"Franchisee satisfaction is the most critical factor for any prospective franchisee to consider before investing in any franchise opportunity," says Eric Stites, President of Franchise Business Review. "Even during challenging economic times, the very best franchise businesses maintain high franchisee satisfaction. This year's award-winning franchises are in that elite group and represent the very best franchise opportunity investments in the marketplace today."

Franchise Business Review publishes reports throughout the year on the top-rated companies and industry segments within the franchise marketplace. Many of the franchise companies that are researched use Franchise Business Review's Franchisee Satisfaction Index (FSI)™ to benchmark their annual performance. Franchise Business Review consults with these franchise systems to assist them in improving their operational and franchisee performance by sharing industry best-practices.

About Unishippers

Founded in 1987, Unishippers has grown to the largest reseller of shipping services in the nation with more than 285 franchise locations. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, the Unishippers concept is simple - work with major carriers including UPS^®, Saia, Estes and YRC to handle the pickup, transport and delivery of customers' shipments. All the while, local franchisees work to provide customers with service and support. By leveraging the combined shipping volume of all its customers, Unishippers gets deeply discounted rates from its carriers, resulting in lower shipping costs. Unishippers serves more than 75,000 small to mid-sized businesses, and has been recognized as a top franchise in 2009 by Entrepreneur, Franchise Times and AllBusiness.

About Franchise Business Review

Franchise Business Review is a national franchise market research firm that performs independent surveys of franchisee satisfaction and franchise buyer experiences. The firm's services include commissioned franchise research projects, as well as industry-wide studies of franchisee satisfaction. Franchise Business Review is headquartered in Portsmouth, NH.