Aged care is growing because of Australia’s ageing population, De Britt says.
A recent Productivity Commission report says that the number of people aged 75 years and more is expected to rise by 4 million from 2012 to 2060, increasing from about 6.4% of the population to 14.4%.
“Demand is going up for services for aged people,” De Britt says.
Growth in online retail spending has also seen growth in demand for services to deliver people’s purchases.
According to the National Australia Bank’s Online Retail Sales Index, Australians spent $14.4 billion online in the 12 months to October, equivalent to 6.4% of traditional retail spending.
“The boom area there is the courier business,” De Britt says.
“They’re all actually struggling to keep up with the demand at the moment.”
With Australia ranked among the fattest in the world, health services that aim to address the issue will remain popular.
De Britt says the fitness industry, and particularly personal trainers, are likely to continue to thrive.
A report by market researcher IBISWorld says the personal trainer industry turns over $390 million a year and has seen annual growth of 11% between 2009 and 2014.
Work life balance/home services
De Britt says as workers seek to develop a better work/life balance, they’re outsourcing tasks such as home cleaning, gardening and pool cleaning.
Food, and particularly fast food, is a mainstay of the franchise industry.
“They’re always going to be very popular,” De Britt says.
He says two trends that have swept through food franchising are Mexican food outlets and frozen yoghurt.
Mexican food is big in the US and Australia generally tends to follow the trends there while yoghurt is seen as a healthy alternative to other snacks, De Britt says.
He says he recently attended a conference in Dubai and the “two big kids on the block were yoghurt and Mexican food”.
This article first appeared on StartupSmart.
