Research in to setting up a specialist foot massage boutique.

Introduction

‘We Do Feet’ is a specialist foot massage boutique

aimed at offering its customers a chance to put

their feet up, relax and be pampered, all at affordable prices.

The warm, relaxing ambience of the boutiques is created through a combination of soothing music, calming aromas and serene natural surroundings.

The company name and logo

has been carefully considered, as this will become a major element for the branding of the boutiques and supplementary products.

(This introduction will be on the leaflet.)

Idea

During the summer holidays I spent four weeks travelling Thailand with my family. There I noticed hundreds of foot reflexology shops full of European, American and Australian tourists. I had many foot massages myself when I was there and thoroughly enjoyed them. I thought to myself, what a great idea and opportunity it could be for me to open a chain of these in the UK, as I have never seen these before. But I knew I would have to act quickly to establish my business and brand first. Naturally the concept would have to be adapted to suit the UK lifestyle but the basic principle would be the same.

Market research

There are two main methods of market research:

Desk research/secondary research (uses data, or information, which already exists in printed form or computer files)
Primary research/field research (obtains original data or information, which did not exist before, from customers and other people)

The primary data gained by field research is significant, because it is not available to any other businesses, unless they do their own research. Though, it is much more expensive than desk research and much more time consuming. When the information has been gathered, it has to be collated, and then analysed before any trends or information become evident. Secondary research is much easier and cheaper than primary research, because the data is already available and does not have to be gathered or analysed. But it is less valuable because it is often out of date and does not always cover the specific theme of study. This is mainly obtained using the Internet. For my coursework I believe it would be best to use a collaboration of the two types of market research available to me. With both types of market research I would almost definitely get the best indications to whether setting up a reflexology boutique would be successful.

For my secondary research I used the Internet to find out where my competition was located, to do this I used the Yellow Pages web site (yell.com) to find out the name and addresses of the various treatment spas in postcode W1, as this is where I plan to open my first ‘We Do Feet’ branch on Oxford Street. I used this information so I could visit my competitors and gather individual information about them. However I did not use secondary research to find out population counts as such, because Oxford Street, in Central London is swarmed with people throughout the year. This fact gives me no doubt that the business will be successful in this area.

Competition

There are many spa treatments that involve foot massage and reflexology. Even though there are already many, there is huge difference between these and mine. This means they are not direct competition as such but still include similar treatments. Because there is no walk in, float out concepts already, the spas are my closest competitors. My first chosen location of Oxford Street, is surrounded by many fitness and Spa treatment centres. I have done thorough research into the spas and have found many in this area. These include:

Location is very important for my business because if I was in an area, which already has many treatment centres there will be greater competition. I am going to geographically map these so you can see where your competitors are. I have done this in the appendix.

When I visited my competitors I found you had to make an appointment sometimes days in advance. Then pay a high price of £45-£60, which is the average for a similar treatment. This is a waste of time and money. The idea of ‘We Do Feet’ is the opposite. Most people would love the idea of a relaxing foot massage and we are offering exactly that. But instead of booking you just show up on impulse, you don’t have to spend an hour or two it only takes 20 minutes and then you (float out) and pay a £10.50 treatment charge and any other purchases to the receptionist.

Whilst not having the same concept as my competitors I will still use many of their better ideas. Whilst visiting them I noticed that many of them had aromatherapy burners to give off scents like lavender and lemon grass. This is an idea, which I am using also. They also had very serene surroundings using soothing music; I thought this was also appropriate.

Selfridges Location

Location of my competitors

These are whom I consider as my competitors around Oxford Street.

All of these competitors are in their own ways different, with varying prices, treatments and ambiences. I have rated these by using the process of brand mapping. This process can help describe a segment of the market, identify the product strengths and weaknesses, evaluate new concepts and identify your competition. I have prepared one to show this and rate where I will be on the map.

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