Unicorn Judging from the overall industry trend, the development prospects of prenatal care are considerable, but it is not suitable for everyone to enter the industry, and there is no such thing as "making money with your eyes closed".
I previously worked in customer operations at a private obstetrics and gynecology hospital in Hangzhou for three years. In 2019, our hospital's prenatal care package only included basic prenatal care and pregnancy nutrition guidance. The unit price was 3,200 yuan. It was considered a good performance to sell more than 20 packages every month. By 2022, the package had expanded to include seven or eight items including gestational diabetes dietary intervention, exclusive exercise personal training during pregnancy, prenatal emotional counseling, delivery rehearsals and even accompanying training for expectant fathers. The most expensive full-cycle customized package sold for 18,000, and it was impossible to get a reservation two months in advance. In the past six months, 70% of the reservation customers were born after 1995. Many young girls took their husbands to book a seat as soon as they were tested on the parallel bars, fearing that they would be late and not be able to find their favorite nurse.
If you just listen to this and feel that there is gold everywhere in this industry, then you are too optimistic. Last year, a small prenatal care studio opened downstairs in my community. The boss used to sell maternal and infant products. He recruited two young girls who had just graduated. They signed up for an online training class for half a month before they dared to work. The main focus was 999 yuan for full-pregnancy care. When it opened, it was very busy with leaflets, but it closed after less than 5 months. Either the calculation of the weight gain range was ridiculously wrong, or the movements taught almost caused the customer to have fetal contractions. The reputation collapsed faster than anything else. As far as I know, at least 6 small studios with this kind of concept were closed in the main urban area of our city last year.
There is actually a lot of noise in the industry now about the positioning of this industry. Most people with a medical background believe that prenatal care is essentially an extension of medical services, and all service personnel must have corresponding medical qualifications. After all, it involves fetal movement monitoring, abnormal situation warnings, and dietary adjustments for special physiques. The slightest difference can be a matter of life and death. ； Some people with a background in life services feel that many pregnant women do not seek prenatal care for medical advice at all. They just want someone to accompany them during prenatal check-ups, help them avoid the pitfalls of maternal and infant products, and listen to her complain about her parents-in-law's labor and discomfort during pregnancy. These soft needs do not necessarily require medical staff to provide them, but they are not relaxing enough.
The current situation of my two friends who do prenatal care is very different. One is a nurse who was a nurse in the obstetrics department of a tertiary hospital. After she resigned, she opened a small studio, specializing in home care for pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies. Her clients are all referred by her former colleagues and familiar obstetricians. She is professional and has extremely loyal customers. Now she is so busy that she has to squeeze in to even take a sip of water. ； There is also a former yoga instructor who followed the trend and took a pregnancy exercise instruction certificate. She is affiliated with a maternal and child store next to the maternity hospital to take private orders. Many customers leave after hearing that she has no medical background and leave after asking a few questions. The money she makes every month is not as much as she did with ordinary yoga classes before.
To put it bluntly, there is no industry that is absolutely promising. If you can really concentrate on polishing your professional skills, meet the real needs of users, and hold on to the bottom line, you will naturally reap the dividends of the industry.； If you only want to make quick money by taking advantage of the trend, and dare to work without even knowing the most basic knowledge of pregnancy care, then no matter how good the industry is, it will be nothing more than a loss-making pit for you.
