Hi Ben

I guess it depends on how much overlap there will be in the different franchises and how customers will perceive the franchises - do you want them to know/feel there is a bigger holding group somewhere or will they be highly localised and customised?

There are certainly advantages of keeping 1 domain with sub-directories for the different franchises. Not just in managing the content/systems/apps/pages all in one place but SEO advantages - all your inbound links will point at the same domain so all will benefit. If you launch a new franchise with a sub-directory it should get indexed and rank much quicker than if a new domain.

On the other hand, if you want highly individual brands, with local markets, and in different languages etc, then I'd err towards having local sites, with their own domains etc. It would then take longer to build links/SEO for each but, in the longer term, you'll likely do better for that niche in that market. 

Hi Ben, we're a franchise, that has an ecommerce site - www.wiltshirefarmfoods.com. Personally, I would argue that you should have neither. I would suggest a single, national site, that whenever a postcode or whatever territorial idenitifier you use is selected, tailors itself to that franchise.

Can you answer a few questions?

1) How much control will you give to the individual franchisees? Remember that participation will vary wildly, and if they have content control, so will quality.

2) How significantly do you expect content to vary between franchisees?

3) How much is the brand based on "a local service"? Is it necessary for the user to see the franchise territory in the URL?