Sal Capizzi, Marketing Director at Book4Time and a former Director of Spa and Wellness at NEXUS Luxury Collection, shares his expert insight into your reader questions.
Send your queries about managing staff, operations, and anything else you want to know (challenge him!) to scapizzi@spaexecutive.com
Q. Dear Sal,
“We are looking to increase our retail sales, and possibly give our retail section a facelift to be more visually appealing. Any suggestions?”
A. Hi there,
Excellent question! I would say to start with the fundamentals; run retail reports and see which lines and items you sell the most of and where the areas of opportunity are. From there you will be able to get a better understanding of how your retail business is operating and why.
If you notice one serum from a particular line is doing really well, audit your selection and see if you are carrying the entire line from that vendor. When a guest is in love with a single item, they are likely interested in the benefits of the entire line, this could boost your sales from a 100 dollar serum to upwards of 500 dollars when you factor in a cleanser, toner and moisturizer as well.
To be aesthetically pleasing to clients make sure your display makes sense. If you’re looking to sell products from a vitamin-C or antioxidant line, purchase a decorative orange from Pier-1 and line it up on the shelf with those items. This happened in one of my spas. We did a big launch party of a vitamin-C line from one of our vendors, called it “Mimosas and Mini-Facials,” place bowls of real oranges everywhere, and served… mimosas. Whoops!
But, not only did we sell out of the product, but we were able to capture guests’ information during the event and created a running list for future events of people who were interested in attending. Nothing like a warm buyer who has already had a great experience with you.
Did your vendor supply you with a table brochure? These are likely designed nicely and are meant for display. They may even include a couple of key product benefits on them that catch people’s eye as well. Put those out as long as they align with your mission and brand standards.
I would also suggest strengthening the relationships with your vendors. Do not be afraid to reach out and ask for samples so that your estheticians can try out the products too. They are going to be a vendor’s biggest advocate and your biggest sales people just by making simple post-treatment recommendations. Be open with your vendors and see if you can promote a gift with purchase. Maybe it’s a deluxe item from their line, maybe the gift is an add-on to a treatment that has nothing to do with their line at all!
Get creative. It’s likely your guests are already going to have an exceptional experience at your spa, so why not make them feel like they won the lottery for receiving a gift, just because they purchased something? I’m not saying to do this all year round, but create quarterly promotions that make sense for your boomin’ business!
At the end of the day, vendors want you to have strong sales, because when you are doing well, they are doing well. So, they are always in a position to offer you support, training and tools to help grow your business.
You have a great insight on retails and I’m sure it will helps on our marketing strategies. Thank you for sharing it. Do you have any recommendations or suggestions on how a spa in an isolation area can improve their marketing knowing that the competition is so tough due to spa available nearby the city which very accessible than ours.
The exclusion of therapists in your response is disturbing. One of the primary ways to increase retail sales is to educate your team on how to apply their unique skills for product recommendations.
Vendors are not the best resource because their focus will always be on the product not the therapist.