The Art of Merchandising
By Dori Soukup

Is your boutique peaking your guest’s interest and generating a profit? If you answered no, it’s time to assess your boutique’s effectiveness. Calculate your profit per square foot and your volume per guest.

A profitable boutique takes planning, managing and tracking. The following 7-steps will help you create an attractive and a profitable boutique!

1. Inventory Management

• Check your merchandizing mix performance.
• Run reports to identify your product mix performance. This report should be generated by product, by brand and by type to identify your best, medium and low sellers. Then, identify the most and least popular price point to determine how much your guests are willing to spend on products and merchandise. Read more

Training and Growth – Yelo NYC
By Dori Soukup

“After only one month, our team achieved the following during the month of January 2009:
• Increased retail sales by 48%
• Increased service upgrades by 45%
• Increased revenue per ticket by 36%
Yes we are in tough economic times but investing in innovation and training paid off!”
-Nick Ronco, President Yelo NYC

I first met Nick Ronco at the Spa Exec event in New York City; he was telling me about his spa, Yelo! I was so intrigued by his unique concept because Yelo is not your typical spa… it’s a napping and reflexology spa in the heart of NYC. The one concern Nick proceeded to tell me was that they are doing well delivering and selling services but the one area they needed improvement was retail sales and merchandising. Sound familiar?
Read more

Shifting the Retail Philosophy from Selling, to Recommending!
By Dori Soukup

Therapists: You want me to do what??

The number one battle facing your business is the lack of retail sales and upgrade opportunities. As a manager or owner, you know how significant retail sales and upgrades are to your profit line. Unfortunately, your team may not share that same understanding. What can you do to improve revenue generation especially during these difficult economic times?

Hold a team meeting and explain the following to your team:

Fact 1: The Difference between Selling and Recommending.
Selling is convincing someone to buy something whether they need it or not. Recommending is providing a solution to a specific problem or a concern. Read more

What type of added value should we expect from our suppliers?
By Carol Leavitt, MBA

One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves about each of our spa suppliers is: Are they a “true partner?” Certainly our vendors provide us with the skin, hair, and nail brands and accessories that keep us treating and selling – that’s to be expected. We assume their products are of sound quality, perhaps hope that their ordering process is simple, and wish for a flexible return policy. We can also take advantage of their brand recognition and the goodwill and reputation that we may enjoy through our use of their products. Read more

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