Start your own Sunbed Home Hire Business

Sunbed Hire · Business Overview

Domestic Sunbed Hire is a well established business which has grown in popularity over the last 20 years. To most people a suntan is perceived as a sign of health, fitness and beauty and is an important factor in today's modern lifestyles. Many people choose to hire a sunbed in the safety and comfort of their own home in order to achieve their required suntan. Hiring a sunbed at home is far more convenient for most people as the sunbed is only required for the desired period of usually 4-6 weeks. Sunbed hire is a clean, respectable business and the customers are mainly ladies aged between 18 - 35 and are very pleasant to deal with.

Hours of work are very flexible, and can easily be organised to suit an individual operator. A typical small hire company with around 50 sunbeds can be managed by working just 15 hours per week. A business of that size should generate in excess of £50,000 profit per year. This size of operation can be run on either a full time basis, or as a second income, working evenings and weekends.

Large gaps in the sunbed home hire market have recently been created by two important factors:-

In recent times, the demand has moved away from the traditional 100watt half hour sunbeds towards the new modern, high powered beds with session times of only 6 minutes. Many existing Sunbed Hire Businesses have failed to reinvest over the years and consequently their equipment is now becoming outdated with very poor demand. Even advertising their old equipment at very low prices is having no effect as the modern sunbed user knows exactly what they want and are prepared to pay the appropriate price. Due to this change in modern tanning, large gaps in the market are being created nationwide, even in areas which seem to have several companies operating already.

New legislation (in force 1/12/04) requires all sunbeds to be fitted with a 10% failsafe device and full safety guards over the tubes. Many established sunbed hire companies have large fleets of sunbeds, however, the equipment is dated and very few of them meet the new legal requirements. In many instances, some of the existing owners who have had up to 20 years of successful and profitable trading are seeing this as a chance to take early retirement or pursue other interests. Of course there are some other businesses which are re-investing and upgrading by buying new equipment, but there is a massive potential gap for new companies to set up.

Once a Sunbed Home Hire Business is established the day to day work involves a mixture of physical lifting, to pick up or deliver the sunbeds to each house and conversing with customers both over the phone and in their homes. The demand peaks between February and August as spring and summer are the most popular time's people want to have a suntan. There is also a large demand for sunbed hire during the 4-6 week period prior to people going on holidays, which is now a more all year round trend. With a modest hire fleet of around 50 modern sunbeds, it is easy to keep all sunbeds out on hire all year round. The major limiting factor on your revenue is the number of beds you can afford to purchase for hire, as the demand tends to totally outstrip supply. The income generated can be used to purchase more sunbeds allowing the business to grow quickly.

Most Sunbed Hire Businesses are run from home, using either an estate car or a small van to do the deliveries. This keeps the overheads very low and a small amount of marketing via advertising, 'word of mouth' and promotions will ensure a constant stream of customers.

It is essential that anyone entering into the Sunbed Home Hire Business has the backing of a good manufacturer who produces quality sunbeds specifically designed to suit the rigors of hire. Expert guidance and free advice are important to help you maximise your profits and avoid any pitfalls.

The retail value of ex-hire sunbeds is often greater than the replacement cost to your company, so it is good practice to constantly sell ex-hire sunbeds to the public. This generates profit and helps to increase your companies profile as well as the popularity of sunbeds in your area. The friends and family of the person who buys a sunbed will want to know where they got it from and this can lead to other sales and new hire customers. Other areas of expansion include tubes sales, service and the commercial sunbed market.

It is very easy to establish a new Sunbed Home Hire Business without making a large financial commitment, however with the right business strategy it can become a very successful and highly profitable business in a short period of time.