Bucking beauty business trends

Global power is bringing huge local benefits for Laser Clinics UK’s franchisees

Laser Clinics UK franchisees have been enjoying the company’s global brand power in both the prices they’re paying and the pricing they’re able to offer to customers, bucking the trends being felt by businesses in the current financial climate.

There are clear advantages that you’d expect from going into business with a global leader in its sector – brand awareness and customer loyalty, unrivalled systems and infrastructure to help you to run your business, and support teams that can help you through every challenge along the way.

There are other, less obvious, benefits of belonging to global organisation, too, but these are no less important – especially with high inflation and rising prices.

Franchisee impact

“We’ve got global supplier agreements for our business, fixing the cost on much of the equipment we use in our clinics,” explains Laser Clinics UK managing director, Jonathan Gardner.

“So, when price increases were brought in by suppliers, we were able to avoid them thanks to the global contracts we have in place.

“This keeps costs down for our U.K. franchisees, which is especially important for new starters working with our teams to get their clinic set up and ready to launch. It’s a really significant advantage and makes a big difference to the profitability of the clinic.”

Of course, no business is immune to the pressures of inflation, and Jonathan accepts that clinic build costs have risen.

But the brand’s buying power benefits extend way beyond the equipment and into other variable costs for franchisees too. I.T. systems, advertising, and print costs are just three areas where the scale of the Laser Clincs operation brings favourable pricing for every franchisee.

Competitive advantage

The brand’s global footprint is helping franchisees to do more than simply manage their costs effectively. It’s helping franchisees to dominate their local markets, too.

While competitors are cutting back, Laser Clinics is pushing forwards, with summer promotions and regular campaigns that address the cost-of-living crisis experienced by customers.

This strategy is ensuring the customer base grows constantly, and it’s also leading to brand loyalty with consumers who still want to look and feel their best even when finances are tight.

Jonathan says: “We’re all used to seeing the price of everything rising lately, but Laser Clinics is bucking the trend. We’re a leader in price and innovation, and that’s proving to be a huge competitive advantage for our franchisees.

“While other aesthetics brands are pushing prices up, we’ve added to our promotional campaigns. We want to help people look and feel their best, and our pricing is differentiating franchisees from their local competition – we’re adding over 200 new customers per clinic per month on average.

“And those customers are staying loyal, providing ongoing revenue for our franchisees.”

Laser Clinics operates a unique 50-50 franchise model, where the brand and the franchisee share the costs of opening a clinic equally and share the ongoing profits on the same basis. It recently celebrated the opening of its 200th clinic worldwide and is also the domestic market leader with the 50th U.K. clinic set to open this autumn.

It’s clear that the combination of global power and local ownership is a winning formula for both franchisees and Laser Clinics alike.

At a glance

Established:

08

Number of franchised outlets:

200+

Location of units:

U.K., Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Canada

Investment range:

£220,000-£240,000

Minimum required capital:

£120,000

Contact:

Jenny Bartlett j.bartlett@laserclinics.co.uk