Shared massage chairs, scattered across shopping malls and cinemas, have finally revealed their financial performance.

Lemoba, the industry leader commanding nearly 40% of the market, submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. By January this year, it had deployed over 500,000 smart massage devices, covering 31 provinces and 339 cities in China. It has entered more than 70% of large-scale commercial complexes nationwide and over 50% of cinemas with an annual box office exceeding 5 million yuan, serving more than 150 million users cumulatively.

However, for many consumers, using the price of a cup of milk tea to enjoy a massage often involves an inner struggle between relaxation and concern over the hygiene of the massage chairs.

Contrary to the public impression that they are only used for free seating and gathering dust, shared massage chairs have been quietly profitable. Lemoba's revenue has steadily climbed: 330 million yuan in 2022, 587 million yuan in 2023, and 615 million yuan in the first nine months of 2024. In the first three quarters of 2024 alone, Lemoba earned nearly 100 million yuan in profit.

At a time when the sharing economy has largely collapsed, has the shared massage chair truly become the rare survivor?

Young People Spent 600 Million in 9 Months on Mall & Cinema Massages

Over the past few years, shared massage chairs have been wildly deployed, becoming ubiquitous in people's lives. At the end of 2022, Lemoba had only 167,100 devices; by January this year, the number had reached 500,000.

Shared massage chairs need to be placed in high-traffic areas where people have fragmented waiting time — malls and cinemas are the "main forces," but brands must pay heavily to enter. Train stations and airports, meanwhile, are typically accessed through public tenders.

Da Mao, a regional partner of Lemoba, told Tech Planet that for shopping malls with good projected revenue, a rental model is adopted. In Beijing, monthly rent per massage chair has already intensified to 1,000 yuan, and deploying 20 to 30 devices incurs an annual rent of 200,000–300,000 yuan. If a mall's revenue potential is lower, such as in county-level areas, a revenue-sharing model is used, with the brand and mall splitting the actual monthly income at a 6:4 ratio.

According to prospectus data, Lemoba has entered 4,757 large commercial complexes (with a total construction area exceeding 30,000 square meters), accounting for more than 70% of such complexes nationwide.

"Behind this lies extremely high costs," Xiao Xiao, a former Lemoba employee, revealed to Tech Planet. On one hand, Lemoba hires employees with shopping mall connections at high salaries — base pay in Fujian headquarters can reach 50,000 yuan — and internal management is highly aggressive, regularly eliminating staff whose deployments fail to meet expected revenue. On the other hand, Lemoba skillfully caters to malls' needs: for example, when Wanda Group faced cash flow pressure, Lemoba could pay 20 months' rent upfront at once.

For other brands, conquering mall channels is no easy task. Usually, once a brand enters, it signs an exclusivity agreement. Another shared massage chair agent told Tech Planet that when inquiring about placement with a large mall's leasing staff, the response was extremely arrogant: "There is no bidding channel; only we (the mall) unilaterally choose the channels."

According to him, the higher the foot traffic of a mall, the stronger its bargaining power. Deployment first depends on connections, followed by the highest bidder.

Unlike shared power banks' agency model, 70% of Lemoba's equipment deployment is through direct operation, where the brand is fully responsible for placement, operation, maintenance, and other tasks.

Malls contribute the most to its revenue. The prospectus shows that in the first three quarters of 2024, Lemoba's massage service transaction value from commercial complexes reached 608 million yuan, accounting for 67.26% of total transaction value. This was followed by cinemas with 174 million yuan (19.28%), while other scenarios each contributed less than 100 million yuan.

This is not consistent with the proportion of equipment deployed. By consumption scenario, as of the first three quarters of 2024, Lemoba had 69,000 massage devices in commercial complexes, 320,500 in cinemas, 2,484 in airports, 1,338 in high-speed rail stations, and 8,752 in other areas.

This means that massage chairs deployed in cinemas account for about 80% of the total — 4.6 times that in commercial complexes — but contribute less than 20% of revenue.

Da Mao, the regional partner, told Tech Planet that according to backend data, 60% of the people willing to pay for shared massage chairs are young people. In terms of revenue per massage, airports are certainly the most profitable, but there are limited airport venues — Beijing, for example, has only two airports. In contrast, hundreds of malls and cinemas allow for more devices.

In terms of payment probability, users spend longer in shopping centers and have a greater need for massage relaxation after walking thousands of steps. Although Lemoba expanded aggressively into cinemas last year, the results were poor. One reason, besides the Spring Festival hit "Ne Zha 2," is that cinema box offices were weak last year, and attendance dropped, leading to fewer users for massage chairs. Da Mao revealed that many cinemas entered with high costs ended up losing money.

Payback in Half a Year — Who Is Really “Lying Flat” to Earn?

Shared massage chairs have long been considered a "lie-flat" lucrative business.

A rough calculation shows that the average cost of a Lemoba shared massage chair is 5,000 yuan. Each device serves 5 to 10 people per day on average, with an average ticket price of 10 yuan, generating average monthly revenue of 2,000 yuan. Assuming rent accounts for 30%–40% of costs, the payback period for a single unit is 6 to 10 months — the rest is "lying flat to earn."

Having been a regional partner for years, Da Mao enjoyed a payback period of just three to four months in the early days of the industry. But shared massage chairs are ultimately a business that depends on foot traffic and location. As competition intensifies, prime venues often come with high rents and maintenance costs.

Maintenance costs are different from what outsiders might imagine. Da Mao said, for example, replacing the leather cover of a massage chair costs more than 300 yuan, which may exceed the chair's monthly revenue. Currently, his maintenance team has more than a dozen people, and "the work orders are endless."

Therefore, even under the franchise model, Lemoba partners do not need to purchase the equipment. Instead, they bear the rent and maintenance costs, while Lemoba deducts a certain service fee according to the agreed ratio.

The prospectus shows that Lemoba's service point related expenses (including site usage fees and maintenance costs) increased year by year: 159 million yuan in 2022, 230 million yuan in 2023, and 257 million yuan in the first nine months of 2024. These expenses remain high as a percentage of revenue: 48.18%, 39.25%, and 41.86% respectively.

Correspondingly, as of September 2024, Lemoba's gross profit margin fell to 40.04% from 45.76% a year earlier. The prospectus shows that Lemoba's revenue for 2022, 2023, and the first nine months of 2024 was 330 million yuan, 586 million yuan, and 614 million yuan, respectively, with corresponding net profits of 6.481 million yuan, 87.34 million yuan, and 93.11 million yuan.

Although Lemoba's revenue structure also includes in-app advertising and direct-to-consumer sales of massage devices, more than 95% of revenue currently relies on users' scan-to-pay usage of shared massage chairs.

Therefore, deployment strategy becomes extremely important. Da Mao explained that before entering a venue, one must calculate the maximum probability of users using the device. For example, in cinemas, massage cushions typically occupy the prime viewing area because the audience choosing those seats is the largest, making them most likely to use the massage device.

Compared to the willingness to pay for a massage when tired from shopping, the massage cushions in cinemas are the most resented placement area. Consumers who pay a premium for good seats find their movie-watching experience severely compromised. Complaints and dissatisfaction about suddenly being "attacked" by the massage cushion during the movie are increasing.

But whether in malls or cinemas, the venue owners are the ones who truly "lie flat and earn" in this shared massage chair business. Regardless of users' willingness to pay or frequency, they receive a steady stream of rental income.

A staff member at a Beijing cinema told Tech Planet that all eight screening halls are equipped with massage cushions, placed in different locations within the prime viewing area, so the cinema cannot offer seat choices that avoid the massage cushions. In the past, when users complained about the massage pads, staff could help remove them, but now the massage cushions have been upgraded to be directly embedded into the seats and cannot be freely removed.

Peak Reached? Expanding to Lower-Tier Cities and Venturing Overseas

According to Frost & Sullivan data, Lemoba has ranked first among intelligent massage service providers in mainland China for three consecutive years (2021–2023), with its market share growing from 29.4% to 37.3% — double that of the second-ranked player.

A shared massage chair agent told Tech Planet that by 2024, Lemoba, through aggressive spending and land-grabbing, had successfully "outlasted" wave after wave of competitors.

Players in the shared massage chair space mainly fall into two categories. One is massage chair manufacturing listed companies, such as Rongtai Health, which created the "Mo Mo Da" brand through its subsidiary Shaoxi Technology, and OGAWA, which launched the "Mo Xiang Shi Guang" brand. The other category includes non-manufacturer brands like Lemoba and Top Cabin Internet.

After "Mo Mo Da" exited in 2023, 80% of its cinema venues were replaced by Lemoba. "Top Cabin Internet" ceased operations after running out of capital.

"Mo Xiang Shi Guang" also lags significantly behind Lemoba. The above-mentioned agent said that in the Beijing area, Lemoba has deployed about 5,000 devices, while Mo Xiang Shi Guang has only 1,000. Mo Xiang Shi Guang competes for market share in areas that Lemoba has not covered, such as hospitals and universities, and also quietly places devices in mall B1 levels.

But even as the quasi-industry leader, Lemoba is not without worries.

Da Mao, the regional partner, said market saturation is the biggest challenge. Currently, the carrying capacity for shared massage chairs in cities like Beijing has reached its limit. Last year, Lemoba accelerated its expansion into lower-tier markets. However, taking a northern county town where he deployed as an example, usage is high only during the Spring Festival homecoming period. A device's monthly income is only 200 yuan there, one-tenth of that in a first-tier city. The main reasons for the difference are foot traffic and spending power.

Moreover, Da Mao noted that high-quality locations in county towns are even more limited, usually only the top two malls, but projected revenue is often disappointing.

To find more consumption scenarios, Lemoba is expanding into office buildings, e-sports arenas, and other venues, and is also looking overseas. In its prospectus, it states that the IPO proceeds will be used to expand into Asian markets, especially Thailand and other Southeast Asian cities.

In the domestic market, Lemoba's challenge is whether it can retain users. According to the prospectus, as of September 2024, Lemoba's transaction count had reached 604 million, with about 402,100 massage devices. A rough calculation shows that the average daily transaction count per device is about 5.6 times.

But for shared massage chairs, which frequently trend on social media due to hygiene issues, hair entanglements, and other "accidents," product quality and service experience — not market saturation — are ultimately the keys to the longevity of this business.

(Note: All names used in the article are pseudonyms.)