Great Clips vs Sport Clips

Great Clips is the stronger target right now, and it’s not close. The dominant dimension is TAM—4,441 fully franchised units against Sport Clips’ 1,837, with the gap widening because Great Clips is still adding locations at 4.5% annually while Sport Clips is shrinking hard at -1.7%. That’s double the install base you can sell into today, plus a pipeline of net-new franchisees entering the system every quarter. Even with a slightly lower AUV ($410k vs. $419k), the aggregate revenue under management across the Great Clips network dwarfs Sport Clips, meaning more terminals, more transaction volume, and more seats for your platform. When you’re selling per-location SaaS, unit count compounds faster than a 2% AUV edge ever will.

The one dimension where Sport Clips legitimately wins is terrain: its approved-supplier procurement model means franchisees have direct buying power for back-office and marketing tools. Great Clips’ franchisor-controlled stack makes for a harder, top-down sales motion that demands you win the corporate gatekeeper before touching a single store. That’s a real friction. But the tradeoff is scale that unlocks a land-and-expand motion once you’re in—one corporate proof-of-concept converts to thousands of forced-march deployments. Sport Clips’ open buying is theoretically easier per deal, but you’re chasing a decaying base of 1,754 franchisees one at a time while the brand contracts. Easier terrain doesn’t matter when the hill is shrinking under your feet.

Timing seals it. Great Clips’ FDD is current-year, the system is in growth mode, and franchisees are making investment decisions inside a rising-tide environment. Sport Clips is overdue on filing, shedding units, and operators are in defense mode—nobody rips out a scheduling stack when comps are negative. You sell into momentum, not retrenchment.

Verdict: Great Clips hands-down; the unit-count delta and growth trajectory create a TAM advantage no $8k AUV difference or friendlier procurement model can offset.