Innovative Company

Business Plan for Mom Spa

Executive Summary

Mom Spa will provide spa services and products for mothers with small children: moms can get a facial or a manicure or have a relaxing foot rub while their children are watched in another room by child care. The products offered will be locally produced soaps, shampoos, and health and beauty products.

The objectives of this business plan are to describe the market opportunity for this type of business and why it makes sense, how sales and marketing will be achieved, what the competitive analysis reveals, how operations will be conducted, what the management team will consist of, and how the business will be funded.

The market for a spa that caters exclusively to mothers is enormous and in need. Today’s spas do not take into consideration how hard it is for moms with small children to find the time for a relaxing trip to the spa. But a spa that can provide moms with child care service while mom gets a spa treatment would fill a unique gap in the market. The target market is young moms in middle to upper middle class suburbs. There are many spas in these target areas, but none that cater to moms with small kids. Every spa out there requires an appointment, which means moms need to work around the schedule of others and need to arrange day care. The competitive advantage of Mom Spa is that moms no longer need to worry about making an appointment or arranging their own care for kids.

The growth potential of Mom Spa is high as it can be turned into a franchise and opened in any area where the target demographic is high. Mom Spa could be first to market, and this accomplishment would give it a strong brand appeal. It could also build that brand by selling locally produced products that help local producers to get their products to market.

Funding requirements are based on assessments of rent, equipment, staff, materials, and operating costs. Funding will be provided by using equity financing, debt financing, and private investors. Private investment and crowdfunding will be used to obtain start-up capital.

Overview and Objectives

What is the Mom Spa? The Mom Spa is a way for Moms to get a spa treatment without having to worry who will watch their kids. The Mom Spa is a unique idea in the spa industry, as it caters specifically to mothers with small children. Most moms are busy, on-the-go, and have their hands full. At the same time, these moms are one population that needs most to de-stress. The average day spa that exists in the market today is not equipped to provide the care services that moms require in order to get a spa treatment. The target market consists of new moms, women in their 20s and 30s with young children who are not yet in school, in middle class and upper middle class communities.

This business plan describes the products, services, market opportunities, sales strategy, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, operations, management team, and financial analysis necessary for bringing the Mom Spa to life. The goal of this business is to meet the needs of moms who otherwise will not get to the spa for some self-pampering and de-stressing. It is a worthy goal with moms as the target demographic.

Products and Services

The Mom Spa will offer local health, beauty, and bath products that are produced by local manufacturers. It will provide general spa services along with day care services so that moms don’t have to worry about what to do with their kids while they pop in for a spa treatment. The spa will cater to the children while Mom spends a few minutes on herself and refreshes. Services will range from massages, facials, nails, masks, and manicures, to shampoos, and anything else that Mom might expect from a day spa. The main service, however, is that kids will be watched by a certified day care specialist in a separate room while Mom is taken care of.

The mission of the Mom Spa is to be the go-to provider of moms on the go with kids in tow. The vision of the Mom Spa is to be the community support for moms and local producers, so that everyone can come together to be the family that we all need, supporting one another, and satisfying one another’s needs at the local level.

Market Opportunities

As University of Maryland sociologist Steven Martin notes, “Large families have consistently been common…Two is the norm, but for every 34 mothers who stop at two, there are 28 who have three, four, or more” (BabyCenterStaff, 2019). In other words, there is a tremendous market opportunity for a spa that caters specifically to moms with multiple kids in tow. In fact, Bemis (2015) has shown that nearly 90% of moms today believe they are more stressed than their own mothers were in the previous generation; more than 2 in 3 moms are concerned about their own health and are stressed about finances; and more than half struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Because moms are pulled in so many different directions all while trying to care for the kids, they don’t have time for a traditional day spa that doesn’t consider their needs. Yet these moms need a spa treatment. Neely et al. (2009) have found that even just a few short minutes of self-pampering can help women de-stress significantly. The Mom Spa provides moms with that opportunity: it invites them to drop in whenever they can, takes the kids off Mom’s shoulders while Mom gets to relax and self-pamper for a few minutes before she heads back out to face the world.

The Mom Spa could substantially disrupt the spa industry. It could reshape the way women think about getting a spa treatment, the way moms think about being served by businesses, and the way spas think about providing services and revenue streams. The industry is ripe for innovation, and today’s moms are ready for a break. The Mom Spa will be the first to market and the number one brand for self-pampering moms in need of a few minutes of relaxation during the week.

Sales and Marketing

The sales strategy for this business is to use a subscription-based model like that used by many businesses today, from Dollar Shave Club to Netflix to Costco: by getting moms to subscribe to the Spa, the business will make it possible for moms to drop in anytime for their treatment without making an appointment. The moms will be given certain time lengths for treatments and service types per their subscription level. Sub levels will come in packages of gold, silver, and bronze. The gold will be the premium package and the bronze will be the basic package with silver being the mid-tier package. Depending on how much time the mom sees herself dropping in at the spa, the appealing package will differ. However, the business will still offer service fees for first time users so that they can get a feel for how the business works.

The marketing strategy for this business will be to use social media marketing, as this is the major way in which word of mouth is spread today. Social media influencers have more impact on consumer choices than legacy media and today’s next generation of consumers care more about social media influencers’ opinion than they do about commercials or ads (Dhar & Chang, 2009; Lim et al., 2017). Social media marketing is a clever way to advertise without cost. Tesla uses this marketing strategy and it is truly zero cost and very effective. Social media helps to give a platform where user generated content can draw eyeballs. It helps that the target demographic for Mom Spa is also one that is active on social media, including Facebook. So long as Mom Spa is active on Facebook and other social media, it will be able to network and spread the good word about the new spa in town. It will also network with other firms in town that are providing all-natural products that will be sold at the Mom Spa. Social media influencers may be used to help grow the brand.

The marketing objectives will be to promote the business initially, and then to engage the customer demographic via social media. The business will solicit positive reviews on social media platforms like Yelp and Google, and it will use social media to increase brand visibility. It will then seek to expand to other markets in viable communities where the demographics are right and there is a large mom population to serve. The ultimate goal will be to market the brand as a franchise opportunity for investors.

A basic business model canvas provides a sense of key partners, key activities, key resources, value propositions, customer relationships, customer segments, channels for marketing, cost structure and revenue streams. Key partners will be those in the local health and beauty/bath product manufacturing industry. The spa will partner with local producers to bring unique products to the market, and this will help to differentiate it from other spas as well. The goal here is to support the community in more ways than one.

Key Partners

Beauty, bath and spa product manufacturers

Key Activities

Massages, facials, nails, masks, etc.

Value Propositions

We give Moms a chance to do something nice for themselves, de-stress, and self-pamper.

Customer Relationships

The goal is to serve every customer fairly

Customer Segments

Moms with young children (typically under the age of 5 but also for older kids up to 12)

Key Resources

Buildings, staff, brand and supplies

Channels

Social media, word of mouth

Cost Structure

Value-driven

Revenue Streams

Service fees or subscription fees

Competitive Analysis

Day spas can be found in many different suburban communities. Some cater to lower middle class customers, some to higher class customers. They all have one thing in common, though: none of them cater specifically to moms who are likely to have one or more children in tow. These spas can also be found in different areas of commercial enterprise: some are in urban areas, some in suburban areas, some in more out of the way venues. The Mom Spa will try to situate it itself in places where moms are likely to be doing shopping or running errands. The beauty of the Mom Spa is that it is there when Mom needs it, so it cannot be out of the way but rather something that is on the way and that can satisfy Mom while she is running her errands with the kids.

Future competition in the marketplace is likely to want to mirror the approach taken by Mom Spa, as it is so innovative and will be successful with the target demographic. To compete, other day spas may try to mimic the strategy of Mom Spa. The good thing for Mom Spa when this happens is that it will have the brand appeal of being first to market and once it franchises, its brand will grow. Just like Tesla won brand appeal by being first to market with its electric car, Mom Spa will win brand appeal by being first to market with a spa that caters specifically to moms.

Operations

Skilled employees will be needed for providing massages, facials, manicures, and all the other essential spa services, including child care. Because they are skilled and the spa wants to employ the best it will have to provide competitive wages. Potential joint ventures will be pursued with local producers of beauty, health, and bath products. Strong emphasis will be placed on all-natural, organic products and homeopathic wellness solutions. The key is to have mom going home happy and healthy, refreshed and rejuvenated with all-natural services and products that vitalize her and cause her to want to come back again and again.

Operations will be every day of the week. A team of skilled employees will rotate shifts, and some will be full-time while others are part-time. Some may be on-call if needed depending on forecasting based on subscriptions sold. Maximum capacity, of course, will limit the number of customers at any given time, but the operations daily will consist of providing spa services and child care. The customer relationship is one in which the customer is always seen as right, and the business is there to serve the customer during designated hours seven days a week.

Management Team

The management team needed for this spa will consist of a child care manager and a spa services manager. The units will be separated as they are two distinct branches, but the managers will report directly to a general manager. Once the spa is franchised out, general managers will cover various districts and report to a regional manager. The regional manager will be responsible for reporting to the CEO and board. The spa will have to incorporate so as to ensure that the board of directors and CEO are able to build the company with the goal being to franchise.