memBer PersPectives
Kramer, spa director of Talking Stick Resort & Spa, recalls
how running a thorough analysis of sales and costs led
her to replace a high-cost retail product line against the
gut feeling of her staff. “Our cost was high, and the retail
price point was too high to sell well, but everybody
thought we would lose money if we lost those products,”
says Kramer. Replacing the products with lower-cost,
higher-margin offerings resulted in a net gain in profit.
Spa Manager Trudy Smith of the Spa at Kilaga Springs
likewise went against her gut and followed the data to
improved retail sales. “I had a good experience at
another spa with a product, so I brought it in,” Smith
says. Due to Kilaga Spring’s primarily older clientele,
however, the product “just started dying off.” When data
proved that the product’s sales were slowing, Smith
made the decision to cut losses and switch to a different
product.
the remedy day spa utilizes guest profiles to provide a tailored experience.
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SEPtEmbEr 2019
At AquaVie Spa, Kies doesn’t rely on data to inform
purchasing decisions. Due to the small size of their retail
offering, the spa doesn’t offer anything that isn’t used in
a service and therapists’ product preferences are
therefore the determining factor. However, Kies does
track treatment providers’ sales data and keeps tabs on
each provider’s product preferences. “If we need to sell
‘Product A’ and a provider prefers to sell ‘Product B,’”
says Kies, “we use that data to inform them and coach
them to sell the product that we need to move.”
adding the Personal touch
Just as today’s marketing companies can buy (or build)
sophisticated customer profiles, so too are today’s spas
taking full advantage of customer data to provide an
improved guest experience.
(CONtINUED ON PAgE 26)