Franchisor To Use Rugby To Turn Men On To Beauty Care

AllAfrica.com:

Health and beauty franchisor Placecol is set to open its first outlet catering for men, but instead of the traditional salon look, Placecol Man will boast rugby screens and a “more masculine environment”.

Its first outlet for men was part of this aggressive opening strategy. CEO Wessel de Wet said on Tuesday less than 10% of the group’s clientele were male, as men were not comfortable receiving beauty treatments in a feminine environment.

However, the group saw demand from men for salon-style treatments and the new salon, which would open in Pretoria in about September, would offer hair treatments, pedicures and manicures as well as facials, he said.

De Wet said the group would like to almost double the number of outlets it had, from 106, over the next two years, but expected to reach 180 during 2010. Between August and October the group would open outlets for two new concepts, SkinPHD and Stylique.

SkinPHD is a medical skin-care franchise that will be owned and run by general practitioners and dermatologists, and was set to open in October. De Wet said research and development of products and the franchise concept were complete and the company was ready to roll it out. Read more.