Editor’s note: This article was first published in February 2012; the growth figures for aesthetic medicine centres and male demand, and the state of the franchise market it describes, reflect Spain at that time.
We already included the health and beauty sector among the most profitable businesses for 2012. This week the Spanish Society of Aesthetic Medicine (SEME) confirmed it, announcing a 20% increase in openings of new aesthetic medicine centres. Although SEME says these new centres are sharing out the same existing demand, which is causing a price war in the sector, the fact is that demand for these services has grown.
Ironically, demand for these services is rising because of how hard it is to find work: unemployed people are aware that they need to look their best to improve their chances of getting a job. Likewise, these centres are visited by people who have lost their jobs and by those afraid of losing them, as well as by people who have gone through a divorce and need to feel good about themselves again.
Until fairly recently, beauty centres were aimed at women as their potential market. Today, however, men are also potential customers: demand from men has gone from 10% to 30% in recent years and is expected to keep growing. In fact, beauty centres exclusively for men have already appeared.
The beauty franchise market is going through its best moment, since a franchisee not only buys into a profitable, proven business model but also into a sector that is surviving the crisis despite the growing competition. And speaking of competition, SEME is asking the relevant authorities for tighter regulation of the sector, because “clandestine” beauty centres are also on the rise, offering prices that can only be achieved by using low-quality products that could put clients’ health at risk.
Among the fastest-growing services are laser hair removal, liposuction and new preventive alternatives so as not to have to resort to any kind of surgery in the future.
Further reading
- Profitable and innovative franchises for 2012
- Business ideas to start this year
- How to start a business with no money
- The mindset of an entrepreneur
Featured image: TheExG, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
