Decorate With Lights vs Budget Blinds

Budget Blinds is the overwhelmingly stronger software-sales opportunity right now, and it’s not close. The brand wins on TAM and budget: 1,355 franchised units each generating $775K in average revenue means a large, high-value target list. Unit growth is nearly flat (–0.8%), so the installed base isn’t evaporating. A franchisee running a three-quarters-of-a-million-dollar operation has real operational pain that POS, scheduling, and back-office tools can solve, and the royalty rate (3.5%) leaves ample margin for software spend. In contrast, Decorate With Lights brings just 105 franchised units doing $42K AUV—a tiny, fragile base in steep decline (–13.2% unit growth) with virtually no budget for sophisticated martech or ops platforms.

The only dimension where Decorate With Lights has an edge is terrain: its “approved supplier” procurement model means individual franchisees can buy from you directly, whereas Budget Blinds’ franchisor‑controlled procurement forces you through a corporate gatekeeper. That’s a real tradeoff, but it doesn’t flip the decision. A franchisor‑controlled model isn’t a locked door—it’s a centralized sale. With 1,355 units at stake, landing one franchisor‑wide deal unlocks a market 13x larger than the entire Decorate With Lights system, and each seat will spend far more. Even if you only penetrate 10% of Budget Blinds locations through a top‑down agreement, you’ll generate more revenue than capturing every single Decorate With Lights owner. Time invested in winning the franchisor’s trust pays back exponentially; chasing an open but collapsing micro‑brand burns resources for scraps.

Verdict: Budget Blinds wins on TAM and budget by such a wide margin that its closed terrain is a solvable obstacle, not a dealbreaker.