Massage Products Business Plan

We are intending to appeal to the professional massage therapist and the massage school market. This market segment both appreciates and truly needs the Massage Tool Products line.

In our particular market, we also seek the end user who appreciates the advantage of having professional quality tools.

4.1 Target Market Segment Strategy

Massage therapists are generally exposed to tools and equipment by the school they attend. Their instructors have credibility and the products they endorse are generally the ones the students buy. Increasingly, massage therapists are looking for products to extend their productivity and the length of their career by avoiding overuse injuries. Our product addresses this critical need and we’ll buy visibility in Massage Magazine and with schools across the U.S. and in Europe and Japan, which are the primary markets. Gradually, we will also move into China.

4.2 Market Segmentation

Massage Tools Products Inc. sells Massage Tools to both the professional and retail market. Our products address the chronic overuse injuries and discomfort experienced by busy massage therapy professionals. Designed with the massage therapist in mind, Massage Tool Products unique ergonomic shape give you the leverage to apply pressure where needed with less hand and wrist strain. Ideal for trigger point, deep tissue, reflexology, seated massage or practically any modality, this product fills the need of a growing group of health care professionals whose careers are limited by their ability to serve multiple clients a day without interruption by injury.

4.3 Industry Analysis

The massage therapy industry has undergone a great deal of change in the last five years. Many of the larger manufacturers of tables and chairs have gone out of business. Those manufacturers were competing primarily on price. The few remaining companies have reputations for quality workmanship and money back guarantees. The integrity factor has been significant.

Many of the existing companies serving the massage professionals niche with equipment and supplies are offering products and tools, but none are providing a tool like ours that addresses overuse injuries.

Our product line is filling a niche that is just beginning to open up. The boom of massage therapy over the last 15 years has created a significant number of professional massage therapists who are experiencing carpal tunnel syndrome or other overuse injuries. Our products are designed to assist those professionals and to extend their careers. However, new professionals just completing their education will understand the importance of purchasing and using Massage Tools Products as they begin building their practices, having seen what is happening in the industry as a whole.

Most massage therapists who graduate are women 23-35 and intend to serve several clients a day to create adequate income. They tend to purchase from their massage schools or stores associated with the schools. We have contacts in these schools and with several physical therapy schools through the owners affiliation with a massage table company. It will be a natural product for these schools and stores to add to their product line.

4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

A few newcomers to the U.S. market are the Chinese and the Europeans, both of whom have incredibly inexpensive products that are not of stellar quality, but do continue to steadily improve.