Boost your Retail January 6, 2015 17:27
According to the most recent ISPA survey, 4% of US spas still do not have a retail area. Gina Preziosa observes that “A relaxing, refined spa culture is not compatible with anything hard-sell. It’s not like a department store, where you’re being grabbed for forced makeovers and sprayed with perfume as you run the gauntlet. So as a result, a lot of spas have a fear of retailing when, in fact, it is the key to success.”
This challenge highlights red-flag aspects of other classic spa management problems, particularly lack of planning and lack of expertise. The most successful retail products in a spa relate to treatments the client has just had, and connect with the individual on a deeply experiental—even emotional– level. This is the reason that books, darling earrings and cat-coffee mugs do not sell in spas. When selecting inventory, link what’s on the shelf with what happens in the treatment room. One of the most powerful persuaders: aroma. Science demonstrates that fragrance creates associations in the deepest part of the human brain known as the limbic system, and that these associations are potent drivers for actions and behavior, including product choices.
Not surprisingly, aromatherapy products and essential oils top the list of items sold by massage therapists to their clientele. In this way, aromatherapy products may be used build bridges between treatment and retail, and allow the scents to initiate interaction between your team-members and customers. This strategy also will allow massage therapists, often shy types who typically spend their day in a semi-darkened room in semi-solitude, to become more social and engage with clients on the floor. Allow easy success: incentivize these team-members to sell one product a day, perhaps an innovative, new aromatherapy diffuser, and reward this accomplishment with a beverage card or other small but useful acknowledgment.
According to the most recent ISPA survey, average spa square footage has increased 60% over the last 10 years. But is a bigger spa always a more profitable spa? Examine your floor-space mercilessly. Is there a big old sofa and a coffee table stacked with old magazines by the entrance? Out they go: every inch of floor space, which ranges in cost from $75 to $300 per square foot in a spa according to ISPA, has to earn its keep. In the place of furniture which simply takes up space, create tester / sampling area where guests check out an array of products with no pressure to buy. Provide mirrors, cotton swabs and hair bands for use by the customers as they “play” in this area. This spot can become a central hub where team-members may comfortably approach and greet customers, and easily strike up a conversation. Encourage a party vibe! Coach sales people to smile, look busy and happy, and not to stand against the wall, hands folded, like undertakers at a funeral home.
Take a step back and train your eye to continually view your space as if you’re seeing it for the first time. Experts agree that “eye-level is buy-level”, so rack your inventory accordingly. And if you feel the Feng Shui just isn’t clicking, bring in a spa retailing pro. Whether you take an Eastern or Western approach, the floor plan of your spa must function like an old-fashioned pinball machine: the merchandising design, from the front window to the treatment room to the cash register, must seamlessly guide guests through a series of hot spots where a hot product, treatment or promotion is featured. Every touch-point is an opportunity for your team to build loyalty, and to fortify your bottom line—and seizing every touch-point is essential to avoid what’s known these days as “epic fail.”
- See more at: http://blog.essioshower.com/aromatherapy/top-5-reasons-most-spas-fail/#sthash.jOpH4BXA.dpufAccording to the most recent ISPA survey, 4% of US spas still do not have a retail area. Gina Preziosa observes that “A relaxing, refined spa culture is not compatible with anything hard-sell. It’s not like a department store, where you’re being grabbed for forced makeovers and sprayed with perfume as you run the gauntlet. So as a result, a lot of spas have a fear of retailing when, in fact, it is the key to success.”
This challenge highlights red-flag aspects of other classic spa management problems, particularly lack of planning and lack of expertise. The most successful retail products in a spa relate to treatments the client has just had, and connect with the individual on a deeply experiental—even emotional– level. This is the reason that books, darling earrings and cat-coffee mugs do not sell in spas. When selecting inventory, link what’s on the shelf with what happens in the treatment room. One of the most powerful persuaders: aroma. Science demonstrates that fragrance creates associations in the deepest part of the human brain known as the limbic system, and that these associations are potent drivers for actions and behavior, including product choices.
Not surprisingly, aromatherapy products and essential oils top the list of items sold by massage therapists to their clientele. In this way, aromatherapy products may be used build bridges between treatment and retail, and allow the scents to initiate interaction between your team-members and customers. This strategy also will allow massage therapists, often shy types who typically spend their day in a semi-darkened room in semi-solitude, to become more social and engage with clients on the floor. Allow easy success: incentivize these team-members to sell one product a day, perhaps an innovative, new aromatherapy diffuser, and reward this accomplishment with a beverage card or other small but useful acknowledgment.
According to the most recent ISPA survey, average spa square footage has increased 60% over the last 10 years. But is a bigger spa always a more profitable spa? Examine your floor-space mercilessly. Is there a big old sofa and a coffee table stacked with old magazines by the entrance? Out they go: every inch of floor space, which ranges in cost from $75 to $300 per square foot in a spa according to ISPA, has to earn its keep. In the place of furniture which simply takes up space, create tester / sampling area where guests check out an array of products with no pressure to buy. Provide mirrors, cotton swabs and hair bands for use by the customers as they “play” in this area. This spot can become a central hub where team-members may comfortably approach and greet customers, and easily strike up a conversation. Encourage a party vibe! Coach sales people to smile, look busy and happy, and not to stand against the wall, hands folded, like undertakers at a funeral home.
Take a step back and train your eye to continually view your space as if you’re seeing it for the first time. Experts agree that “eye-level is buy-level”, so rack your inventory accordingly. And if you feel the Feng Shui just isn’t clicking, bring in a spa retailing pro. Whether you take an Eastern or Western approach, the floor plan of your spa must function like an old-fashioned pinball machine: the merchandising design, from the front window to the treatment room to the cash register, must seamlessly guide guests through a series of hot spots where a hot product, treatment or promotion is featured. Every touch-point is an opportunity for your team to build loyalty, and to fortify your bottom line—and seizing every touch-point is essential to avoid what’s known these days as “epic fail.”
- See more at: http://blog.essioshower.com/aromatherapy/top-5-reasons-most-spas-fail/#sthash.jOpH4BXA.dpufAccording to the most recent ISPA survey, 4% of US Spas still do not have a retail area. Gina Preziosa observes that,
“A relaxing, refined spa culture is not compatible with anything hard-sell. It’s not like a department store, where you’re being grabbed for forced makeovers and sprayed with perfume as you run the gauntlet. So as a result, a lot of spas have a fear of retailing when, in fact, it is the "key to success.”
This challenge highlights red-flag aspects of other classic spa management problems, particularly lack of planning and lack of expertise. The most successful retail products in a spa relate to treatments the client has just had, and connect with the individual on a deeply experiential, even emotional– level. This is the reason that books, darling earrings and cat-coffee mugs do not sell in spas. When selecting inventory, link what’s on the shelf with what happens in the treatment room. One of the most powerful persuaders: aroma. Science demonstrates that fragrance creates associations in the deepest part of the human brain known as the limbic system, and that these associations are potent drivers for actions and behavior, including product choices.
Not surprisingly, aromatherapy products and essential oils top the list of items sold by massage therapists to their clientele. In this way, aromatherapy products may be used build bridges between treatment and retail, and allow the scents to initiate interaction between your team-members and customers. This strategy also will allow massage therapists, often shy types who typically spend their day in a semi-darkened room in semi-solitude, to become more social and engage with clients on the floor. Allow easy success: incentivise these team-members to sell one product a day, and reward this accomplishment with a beverage card or other small but useful acknowledgment.
According to the most recent ISPA survey, average spa square footage has increased 60% over the last 10 years. But is a bigger spa always a more profitable spa? Examine your floor-space mercilessly. Is there a big old sofa and a coffee table stacked with old magazines by the entrance? Out they go: every inch of floor space, which ranges in cost from $75 to $300 per square foot in a spa according to ISPA, has to earn its keep. In the place of furniture which simply takes up space, create tester / sampling area where guests check out an array of products with no pressure to buy. Provide mirrors, cotton swabs and hair bands for use by the customers as they “play” in this area. This spot can become a central hub where team-members may comfortably approach and greet customers, and easily strike up a conversation. Encourage a party vibe! Coach sales people to smile, look busy and happy, and not to stand against the wall, hands folded, like undertakers at a funeral home.
Take a step back and train your eye to continually view your space as if you’re seeing it for the first time. Experts agree that “eye-level is buy-level”, so rack your inventory accordingly. And if you feel the Feng Shui just isn’t clicking, bring in a spa retailing pro. Whether you take an Eastern or Western approach, the floor plan of your spa must function like an old-fashioned pinball machine: the merchandising design, from the front window to the treatment room to the cash register, must seamlessly guide guests through a series of hot spots where a hot product, treatment or promotion is featured. Every touch-point is an opportunity for your team to build loyalty, and to fortify your bottom line—and seizing every touch-point is essential to avoid what’s known these days as “epic fail.” Article Source: http://blog.essioshower.com/aromatherapy/top-5-reasons-most-spas-fail
This same concept also applies to Yoga related products. If you are a yoga studio, sell products related to your customer's yoga practice (mats, bags, apparel, blocks, eye pillows, books). Expanding your inventory to include jewelry or food is a distraction to your customer from your main core of products. Stick with your brand...or start a new one next door.
This challenge highlights red-flag aspects of other classic spa management problems, particularly lack of planning and lack of expertise. The most successful retail products in a spa relate to treatments the client has just had, and connect with the individual on a deeply experiental—even emotional– level. This is the reason that books, darling earrings and cat-coffee mugs do not sell in spas. When selecting inventory, link what’s on the shelf with what happens in the treatment room. One of the most powerful persuaders: aroma. Science demonstrates that fragrance creates associations in the deepest part of the human brain known as the limbic system, and that these associations are potent drivers for actions and behavior, including product choices.
Not surprisingly, aromatherapy products and essential oils top the list of items sold by massage therapists to their clientele. In this way, aromatherapy products may be used build bridges between treatment and retail, and allow the scents to initiate interaction between your team-members and customers. This strategy also will allow massage therapists, often shy types who typically spend their day in a semi-darkened room in semi-solitude, to become more social and engage with clients on the floor. Allow easy success: incentivize these team-members to sell one product a day, perhaps an innovative, new aromatherapy diffuser, and reward this accomplishment with a beverage card or other small but useful acknowledgment.
According to the most recent ISPA survey, average spa square footage has increased 60% over the last 10 years. But is a bigger spa always a more profitable spa? Examine your floor-space mercilessly. Is there a big old sofa and a coffee table stacked with old magazines by the entrance? Out they go: every inch of floor space, which ranges in cost from $75 to $300 per square foot in a spa according to ISPA, has to earn its keep. In the place of furniture which simply takes up space, create tester / sampling area where guests check out an array of products with no pressure to buy. Provide mirrors, cotton swabs and hair bands for use by the customers as they “play” in this area. This spot can become a central hub where team-members may comfortably approach and greet customers, and easily strike up a conversation. Encourage a party vibe! Coach sales people to smile, look busy and happy, and not to stand against the wall, hands folded, like undertakers at a funeral home.
Take a step back and train your eye to continually view your space as if you’re seeing it for the first time. Experts agree that “eye-level is buy-level”, so rack your inventory accordingly. And if you feel the Feng Shui just isn’t clicking, bring in a spa retailing pro. Whether you take an Eastern or Western approach, the floor plan of your spa must function like an old-fashioned pinball machine: the merchandising design, from the front window to the treatment room to the cash register, must seamlessly guide guests through a series of hot spots where a hot product, treatment or promotion is featured. Every touch-point is an opportunity for your team to build loyalty, and to fortify your bottom line—and seizing every touch-point is essential to avoid what’s known these days as “epic fail.”
- See more at: http://blog.essioshower.com/aromatherapy/top-5-reasons-most-spas-fail/#sthash.jOpH4BXA.dpufTips from a Spa Retail Expert