With a full range of therapeutic products on offer, ranging from sit stand desks to pain relief gels to memory foam pillows, Bad Backs is helping their licensees provide unique solutions and tap into a growing niche.

Founded in 2001, by a group of back pain sufferers, Bad Backs understands there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to back pain relief. “A lot of time and effortis spent on sourcing innovative products”, says Bad Backs Director, Felicity Wood. Bad Backs offers a range of high-quality therapeutic products from around the world, many of which are exclusive to their stores here in Australia. “What we’ve discovered is that pain is subjective”, shares Felicity. “Different things work for different people. Having the diversity of new ideas and a range of products gives people the opportunity to find the solution for them; something that is simple and works”.

Growing to match demand

The business has grown quickly across Melbourne, Sydney and Perth to match demand. But with back pain related issues on the rise, there are now opportunities for entrepreneurial-minded people with commercial experience to join the business in Adelaide and Brisbane.

“We only have a few locations around Australia so we describe ourselves as a semi-destination store, says Felicity. “This is a great opportunity for licensees because they have access to a huge, untapped target market, simply by being the first to open up shop. The back pain market is going to continue to grow too, due to our sedentary lifestyle and an ageing population”.“There is also little competition”, says Felicity. “There are a lot of bedding stores and office furniture stores, but what we’ve done is collected the most ergonomic products and brought them all together under one roof ”.

Niche business

Bad Backs, unlike other retail stores, is a place of discovery. Licensees get close to the product. And it shows. “When people walk into the store they go ‘wow, I never knew a place like this existed’”, says Felicity. Bad Back’s business model is as diverse as their customer’s needs. This unique and niche business helps those people who experience back pain due to their lifestyle and age, but they also work closely with the medical profession and have two business channels: retail stores and B2B.

Felicity explains: “This means our licensees have the opportunity to sell one or two products to a walk-in customer in their retail store but they can also sell 100 to 200 products directly to a corporate or small-to-large business. As well, by not being a ‘franchise’ means our licensees have more flexibility in the way they are able to run their own business, but with our all our help and knowledge of the market”.