In March, the number of new businesses dropped dramatically. The 23 per cent year-on-year decline coincided with an additional 21,000 businesses collapsing vs March 2019, a sign of the market heavily impacted by COVID-19. While some businesses have managed to pivot to a technological offering, those that rely on face-to-face interaction, such as cosmetic surgery, have had to find new ways to transform their offering for a post-COVID world.
Non-essential businesses such as plastic surgery and cosmetic dermatology have reached a fever pitch over the past decade — the popularity of cosmetic procedures alone grew by 163% from 2000 to 2018 – but Coronavirus has caused mass disruption across these industries. Despite this, businesses, such as Uvence, have continued on their planned trajectory and are ready to begin treatments as soon as it is safe to do so.
Reece Tomlinson, CEO of Uvence, has explained the journey of launching a business during the Coronavirus crisis.
“This period has been a challenge for businesses across the world in a variety of sectors, but few have been hit as hard as non-essential cosmetic procedures. Launching a new business during this time has been a challenge but it has also presented a number of exciting opportunities in a new environment. Being a new business, we have been able to adapt our offering from the very start. Being nimble and agile during the lockdown has meant that we have been more prepared than some others who are more established and need more time to pivot.
Our research indicates that the demand for cosmetic surgery will continue to grow, as we have observed a considerable increase in popularity in recent years. This has meant that we have been confident in reaching out to potential customers and investors alike both in our model and the future scalability of the business, despite the disruption caused by the lockdown. This is a key component of launching a new venture and would encourage others to really dive into their research as the business environment has changed, potentially for good. “