With its recurring membership model and multiple revenue streams, the global gym industry has been extremely successful in popularising personal fitness training for the high street market.
With the health club sector now worth £53bn (US$75.1bn, €66.5bn) worldwide, the concept of taking previously premium custom services and making them more widely accessible to fitness conscious consumers – exemplified by firms such as Fitness First with its monthly subscription solution – has now become a benchmark of what is a proven and highly profitable business model.
Such membership-based models provide businesses with the opportunity to forge long-term, mutually beneficial relationships with their customers. The recurring income streams generated mean that the businesses are relatively low risk and are able to quickly become cash-flow positive – meaning every attention can be focused on improving client experience.
Within this context, one British industry to so far remain predominantly exclusive and ‘boutique’ is the UK spa sector. This is surprising since the increasingly health conscious Brits make over 6 million annual spa visits, with the demand growing yearly. And it’s luxury hotels with spas that account for over 41 per cent of all these yearly visitors.
Clearly then, there’s a gap in the market for an affordable local solution that places the emphasis on top quality spa and massage services.
Step forward Massage Heights, the Texas-based chain that’s successfully deployed the membership model to bring five-star resort style spa services to the high street.
Founded in 2004, the company has achieved its goal of making massage and spa services more accessible and therefore more frequently experienced. It now has 125 outlets across the US and Canada run by hand-selected franchisees.
With spa retreats located in busy urban areas and open during hours to suit local people – and with well-trained therapists, multiple levels of membership and product up-sells all contributing to revenue – dedicated Massage Heights outlets are able to offer an unrivalled client experience and as such generate more income per square foot than their competitors.
Given the current levels of opportunity in the UK spa sector – combined with Massage Heights’ proven subscription business model – the stage is set for early adopters to establish a strong foothold in the British luxury massage and spa market.
That’s why the search is on for an enterprising British entrepreneur to take the reigns at the forefront of the firm’s UK expansion, to grow the Massage Heights brand and franchise network into a household name across the country.
“Once considered a treat, massage has now gone mainstream in America and we’ve identified the UK as the next new market that’s ripe for expansion,” says Alice O’Donnell, vice president of marketing at Massage Heights. “We’ve developed a model that’s proven to be successful and transferrable, so becoming our UK master franchisor is a low-risk opportunity with high potential rewards.”
Could this UK master franchisor role and enticing opportunity be for you?