Jenni Gilbert SPA+CLINIC is at risk of sounding like a broken record here; that the global wellness industry, the cornerstone of aesthetics, is tracking at $3.72 billion annually.
Savvy operators are looking at ways to embrace wellness and fitness opportunities into aesthetics businesses, and vice versa, and strategic ways to collaborate: to not just increase revenue but to enhance the client experience, trust/loyalty factor and overall results for both parties.
Major international retail outlets have taken this on board and have launched wellness cum aesthetics hubs in-store.
These are not just beauty salon bolt-ons offering facials, waxing, nails, tanning et al – standard fare for big department stores for the past century.
This is the full monty of inner-outer beauty that represents the guts, as it were, of our industry.
Shopfront retailers – department stores, chemists, supermarkets – as well as e-tailers stole the march on our industry for the longest time in terms of skincare, courtesy corporate conglomerate big marketing spends and glossy ad campaigns steering consumer spending.
But this came at a price to consumers. Without “prescriptive” skincare, such as the service offered and products recommended by you as industry professionals, people were being swamped with products that were either basically ineffective or at odds with the buyer’s skin = skinflammation in many cases.
The tide has been turning over the last 2-3 years especially and discerning consumers are now realising they need to entrust the health and appearance of their skin – ergo, their looks – to professionals in the field, not counter spruikers or by randomly cherry-picking products from the shelves prompted by, say, a marketing claim or blogger review.
Our industry, however, is now not only in a position to reclaim this lost ground but forge new territory by embracing ways to incorporate wellness into the client offering, whether it be by collaborating with/cross referring clients to allied health professionals to enhance overall outcomes, or introduce products and services within your own space to that end.
Here’s what’s happening overseas in the retail space that might give you some ideas for your own business:
London’s iconic department store Harrods has opened The Wellness Clinic on the 4th floor of its Knightsbridge site, working with experts across the aesthetics, wellness and dermatology/medi-cosmetic spectrum, according to UK spa bible, Spa Opportunities magazine.
The near-1000 square metre Wellness Clinic is in addition to the existing Urban Retreat spa at Harrods, and features 14 treatment rooms, two personal training studios designed for one-to-one training, a private consultation room, and a photography studio featuring a Vectra 3D Scanner System.
The space also includes a full-body cryotherapy chamber, intravenous vitamin infusions from The Elixir Clinic, and weekly clinics with chiropractor and posture specialist Dr Ben Carraway and acupuncturist Ross Barr.
Harrods has partnered with the London-based PHI Clinic, which will operate within The Wellness Clinic and offer aesthetic procedures from injectable procedures to facial rejuvenation and body contouring.
Louise Parker, known for her six-week program, The Method, and her team of dieticians and personal trainers offer nutritional and fitness advice.
Brands from Harrods beauty halls have created products specifically for the clinic, including the Lunar 28-day treatment from 111Skin and Lancer’s Youth Recovery Elixir.
Additionally, The Wellness Clinic has an exclusive partnership with personalised skincare service Gen Identity, whose treatments involve a medical consultation and DNA test.
Another legendary London department store, Selfridges, last year launched FaceGym (pictured at top of page), that it says is the UK’s only gym studio for the face.
“Our face trainers perform a range of lifting and sculpting workouts designed to train the 40+ muscles in the face,” says Inge Theron, FaceGym founder and Spa Junkie columnist for the UK Financial Times’ How To Spend It.
“Results are amplified with high performance skincare products and non-invasive technology.
“Our signature technique is a new take on an ancient practice that introduces facial muscle stimulation to a new generation wanting to age gracefully without needles for fast, effective, natural facelift solutions with instant results.
“The thinking is simple. We have 600 muscles in the body and 40+ in the face with the exact same physiology.
“Our customers already understand working out the body muscles in the gym so we have recreated the same familiar routine for the face.
“This ultimate natural facelift uses vigorous knuckling movements and high energy whipping strokes to stimulate blood circulations, collagen production and cell renewal to lift, tone and tighten the face.
“I saw a huge increase of invasive procedures with little regulation being put in place. Suddenly you could get Botox at the hair salon, skin fillers at the dentist and I was seeing more and more men and women destroy themselves.
“When a new face lifting procedure performed at a top spa left me house bound, I decided it was time to act and create a non-invasive, zero-risk, face lifting solution that really worked”.
FaceGym has created a bootcamp that works from the inside out combining face workouts with delicious, nutritious recipes to nourish skin, as per its menu:
- Given up animal products and noticing a loss of elasticity in your face? Choose Veganface to boost collagen.
- Spend your life on a plane and your skin is dull, dehydrated and tired? 5am Flight Face is for you!
- Screenface is the ultimate digital detox
- Winterface will combat the side effects of cold weather and too much heating.
- Looking for a complete face transformation? Instaface is the FaceCamp that allows you to choose your own Face Fix. Whether you just need to zone in on a single problem area or you need a total face transformation we have the tools to help you create your own customised FaceCamp.
“Each camp provides a vast array of holistic and hand massage techniques, the latest in advanced aesthetic technology such as cryo,lLaser, radio frequency, ultrasound and EMS current paired with our organic custom blended skincare and potions from our range of doctor-branded products,” says Inge.
“Each plan also includes supplements from GP Nutrition designed to accompany the wellness journey.”
Meanwhile New York’s famed department store Saks Fifth Avenue has opened The Wellery, a new concept shop dedicated to wellness.
The 1,486sq m space is located on the second floor of the flagship store on Fifth Avenue, and will be open through October 2017.
The space includes 22 spaces offering skincare products and treatments, fitness classes and equipment, women’s and men’s activewear and athleisure apparel.
A Saks Wellery concierge will help customers determine which offerings best suit their needs.
The Wellery includes a Skinney MedSpa, which ffers non-invasive body contouring and high-tech facials; a Sundays nail studio, which specialises in two-in-one manicures and meditation; a Breathe dry salt therapy room; Blink brow bar; and Bodyism fitness lifestyle space.
Overall it houses 22 spaces offering skincare products and treatments and will also host Reiki healing, meditation and massages. Studios offering fitness classes in dedicated studios include ConBody, a prison-style boot camp using only one’s body weight; and Bendable Body, a specialised stretching method.
