What personal services does O2 Care Services offer?
O2 is the leading company in the personal services sector. We offer home maintenance (cleaning and ironing), childcare at home, support for the elderly and disabled and school support.
Why did you choose a franchise model and how are you developing it?
We started as a branch. Now we have about 200 own agencies, but also 200 franchises. We have become franchises because this offers the opportunity to connect the French territory much more quickly. There is also an economic issue behind it: in branches you have to bear all the opening costs, while in franchises it is the person in charge of the company who carries out your project and in return benefits from our brand, from our know-how. and support.
Now we open some branches and instead proceed to acquire other companies. Regarding the franchise, we have a rate of 35 to 40 franchise openings per year, knowing that we can reach 650 agencies in French territory.
How is the personal services market evolving, and specifically that of the elderly?
The home maintenance market is developing well. It has recently been pushed by the immediate advancement of the tax credit, which brings into this declared market people who worked with undeclared or first-time buyers of personal services, found it a bit pricey, or were put off by waiting a year for the tax credit.
The senior market is exponential, due to the aging of the population, but also because the baby boomers are now 76-77 years old, and little by little they are reaching a first level of dependency, and therefore support for their household. The largest segment of our age pyramid is entering this senior market. Also, people are going to nursing homes later and later, in their 90s, and they want to stay home as long as possible. All these elements mean that the senior market is experiencing a very high demand, which will increase due to aging.
The obstacle to the development of the personal services market is recruitment. Now it is difficult to find caregivers, and we do not train enough in France. To follow the senior market, we will have to redouble our efforts to train people who want to dedicate themselves to these professions, for which there has been full employment for 50 years. It is a social and societal issue for the country to control how we are going to treat our elders, and this applies to the entire market, which is suffering from a labor shortage.
This content was produced with SCRIBEO. The BFMBUSINESS editorial team was not involved in the production of this content.
Source: BFM TV
