For Anushka Neyol, a first generation entrepreneur and co-founder of Nurture Baby Spa, the journey towards parenting and parental care started when she had a brother at the age of 15. She was, in her own words, literally a third parent to her newborn brother.
Finding roots from her personal journey, she realised there was a huge gap in the market if parents had to pamper their newborns and infants, and if they wished to spend extra quality time. “For many working parents, who have no support at home, finding a dedicated space where they can relax with their baby and help the baby relax too is a major challenge. Our vision is to make this a reality,” says the team of Nurture Baby Spa.
With mostly millennial parents visiting the spa, the centre has more than 100 monthly clients and has been seeing growth month-on-month. The average spa session cost is around Rs 1000-1400 for a one-hour session.
Business Model
For Swathi Kolla, founder of Hyderabad-based Your Baby Spa, a franchise unit of London-based Your Baby Spa, a spa session with her son in UK was a realisation that such spas were needed in India too.
Commenting on why opening such baby spas is a hot investment opportunity, Kolla says baby spas are a global demand but very few players are available in the market to address this demand.
She says, “For working mothers, who have less time to spend with their babies, this is a great way to bond as the babies are relaxed during a hydrotherapy session. Hence, more and more parents, especially young mothers are willing to travel to long distances to come to the spa.”
Further, she says, “Ideally, the spa should give a ‘luxury feel’ but most importantly it needs to give parents a feeling of support and comfort. The spa should be in an easily accessible location in order to optimize development benefits of the infant and induced disciplined participation from parents.”
With nearly 100 monthly clients, Your Baby Spa is now looking at pan-India expansion, starting with major metro cities. It is aggressively looking for franchise partners in Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Ahemdabad and Kolkata.
The average investment for 800-3000 sq.ft baby spa could range between Rs 30L- Rs 2 crore depending on the location. The average pay back period is three years.
Way Forward
While several treatments like hydrotherapy and massage therapy are immensely popular with mothers, Kolla feels that with package offers and combined services, there could be more demand, which will further make baby spas accessible to all.