The goal of this master thesis is to identify and meet the unique needs of customers with sensitive skin to develop an innovative business model in the skincare industry. This thesis thereby focuses on the identification of customer needs and developing a business model canvas according to the lean approach. Developing products and services are not in scope of this thesis. This study follows a rather practical approach by showing the business development process with a lean approach.

Knowledge about sensitive skin itself and the current skincare market with its technologies is collected within secondary data to get an in-depth understanding of the topic. From this, interviews are held with individuals with sensitive skin to understand the problem itself properly and create the first lean business model canvas that may solve the customer problem. To identify the market demand for the solution and get a deeper insight on the customer needs, a survey has been conducted with a focus group at the University of Applied Sciences in Northwestern Switzerland. These insights support the lean business model canvas development by focusing on customer orientation and customer experience.

Several research studies show that the number of individuals with perceived sensitive skin is increasing. The biggest causes are changing environmental factors like increasing air pollution and different weather conditions that are affecting the skin. While sensitive skin is defined in different ways, individuals with perceived sensitivity experience similar negative sensory effects such as stinging, burning, itching and dryness. Many students within the focus group indicated that they have the perception of having a sensitive skin. Surprisingly, it is the second most chosen answer after normal skin.