Solarium In Bangkok

[Blake7]

It has come my attention that there are absolutely no solariums in Bangkok. Some large hotels say they have a solarium on their website but what they mean is that they have sun beds by the pool.

Do you feel that opening a solarium/tanning salon in Bangkok would be a good idea? The way I see it there are 3 types of people who would use a sunbed:

1. People in Bangkok who have no time or opportunity to sunbathe

2. People who want a tan before they go to the beach (sounds strange but no one likes to be white on the beach!)

3. People who want an all over tan (no white bottoms).

Opinions much appreciated. Also if anyone knows of any existing solariums in Bangkok please let me know.

[lukamar]

What market are you going after becauseThai People don't like to get dark, it makes them feel like, I'm quoting here, "farmers". My wife uses SPF32 in the winter in Canada I've only spent time in the north but even in the parks all the Thai's sit in the shade, I've only seen farang people sit in the sun.

[Blake7]

Of course just the expat/tourist market

[Baaksida]

Of course just the expat/tourist market

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do they come to LOS for the solariums??

I'd think, that 99% of the tourists and expats want a 'genuine' sun tan. And there are nice beaches in the vicinity of Bangkok, so I've heard...

[Khun Jean]

You can use the "fear" factor.

Like "pre" browning before getting burned on the beach (in 10 minutes).

Safe browning instead of the real sun causing skin cancer etc..

It will be a small niche, but if you have a good location near to some big hotels it might work. A lot of marketing though.

[samran]

selling ice to eskimo's?

[Tattytam]

I think it could work, some of my friends who work in Bangkok would use a solarium for sure. It would have to be cheap though, with their teachers salary!

[mattcooler]

It has come my attention that there are absolutely no solariums in Bangkok. Some large hotels say they have a solarium on their website but what they mean is that they have sun beds by the pool.

Do you feel that opening a solarium/tanning salon in Bangkok would be a good idea? The way I see it there are 3 types of people who would use a sunbed:

1. People in Bangkok who have no time or opportunity to sunbathe

2. People who want a tan before they go to the beach (sounds strange but no one likes to be white on the beach!)

3. People who want an all over tan (no white bottoms).

Opinions much appreciated. Also if anyone knows of any existing solariums in Bangkok please let me know.

take a look of this website I found

www.thai-tan.com

[buddhafly]

i have heard that there is one tan salon in bkk, but yet to ever get an address or find it.

the one on the www.thai-tan.com wesite says they will open in a fitness club.

i think a tanning salon in bangkok could actually do ok provided it was done right, marketed and promoted etc.

your average thai is not your target customer. i think youd make your money off expats who work too much and dont have days off to sun up. they live in a tropical country but still look like theyre living in london. theres your first ad, free.

be sure to get enough tanning beds, of different types, and dont skimp on changing the bulbs when they weaken. customers will know and not come back.

have a shower available.

close to public transport.

its a huge city with a lot of expats and tourists. i think youd do fine if you did it right.

[steveromagnino]

your average thai is not your target customer. i think youd make your money off expats who work too much and dont have days off to sun up. they live in a tropical country but still look like theyre living in london. theres your first ad, free.

be sure to get enough tanning beds, of different types, and dont skimp on changing the bulbs when they weaken. customers will know and not come back.

have a shower available.

close to public transport.

its a huge city with a lot of expats and tourists. i think youd do fine if you did it right.

Yeah, I agree with the B-Fly.

First up, you will make almost no money off any Thais at all. Secondly, the ability to run tanning clinics will be irrelevant to most tourists for the matter of how will you market to them (they are in BKK for only a couple of days); how many would prefer to get a tan at the beach rather than in BKK and how many of them are white/farang (since in essence the the 60% of arrivals that are Asian probably are very unlikely to want to get a tan).

My guess is you have a target audience of expats living in Bangkok of perhaps 10,000 at the most, not taking into account ability to spend, frequency and so on. Not a problem as you only need maybe 500 customers total to be viable. One would of course ask why, if this is a good idea, has one of the existing business operators in the spa/comfort/fitness industry not already done it; my guess is the niche is too small for any chain, but might be ok for a one off.

AFAIK there are a few places offering UV treatment e.g. hydrohealth; cannot think of any off hand that have sunbeds.

There may be FTA issues and tax issues to get the machinery here; my own feeling is the marketing to reach such a small niche will make life very hard. And the constraint on price is that for whatever you charge, someone can just lie outside and acheive much the same thing at a fancy resort in Hua Hin or similar.

Edited March 12, 2007 by steveromagnino