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For your enjoyment and education, we request goodies from manufacturers and update you on our search. We seek interesting promotional items, foodstuffs, and household items which strike us as innovative, unique, timely or quality improvements on a classic theme.
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Received at International Franchise Expo
Value: $1.00
Significance: 3/5
Last year, we paid the steep $20/person onsite entry free to attend the International Franchise Expo to learn about the various franchise opportunities. This year, we were excited to receive via email an invite to attend again for free. Obviously, at such an event there were numerous goodies to be had, including lots of pizza, ice cream, and food to be consumed on the spot.
The first goodie that I will evaluate is a hand massager from The Woodhouse Spas Corp, because it was a nice goodie and it provides me an opportunity to talk about what looks like an upcoming “hot” franchising trend. This trend will probably become more visible as some owners experience huge growth and the associated media coverage – similar to those owners who started Curves franchises a few years ago.
The goodie was a hand massager comprised of a wooden handle with wooden rollers. This was totally appropriate for the company, and it helped influence us to stop at their booth rather than one of the other spa companies. My only complaint is the massager is fairly cheap so it doesn’t roll well to start with. So if you are ever giving out such a massager to a paying client make sure that you take a few seconds to roll the roller to help get them moving smoothly.
Spa Franchises seem to be growing at the expo. In my view, last year printer re-fill and auto wrap franchises were the star of the show. This year spas and exercise franchises were forefront. I believe this is because of the high profile success of the Curves franchise and of course, the publics infatuation with diets, foods, and shortcuts to a better physical size. Of note, I’ve learned that Curves is reaching a saturation point in various markets and no longer offering new franchises. So spas were big and The Woodhouse Spas Corp was one of them.
It seems as if getting in now with a spa franchise would be very profitable, as long as you like that type of business. Spas are very much a referral business where you could expect referrals or gifts to be sent from across the country. A franchise should benefit from the franchise affiliation via increased traffic. For example, a mother in one part of the county would be more likely to give a bride a spa package as a gift if she could walk into her local spa, make the purchase and know that it is usable by the bride in another city. Off the top of my head, I can only think of Red Door Spas as a national chain, and I’d guess that they are only in a few major cities here in the US.
The market for spa services appears very large. In The Woodhouse Spas Corp franchise package they included a monthly newsletter that would be sent to clients of the spa, it promoted “Prom Parties” and cellulite treatments. And of course many spas are now promoting more medical like treatments. With that, I’d say all bases are covered!
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