Large retail area versus limited retail space
The space available will determine if a spa can carry more than skin care. In a large boutique retail area, create sections for different types of items and display the product in clusters. Separate gift items, bath items, skin care, makeup, and so on. If the space is small, focus on the bread and butter of the industry: skin care; since skin care products are consumables, they generate repeat sales and build loyalty with clients. Gift items, accessories, and many makeup lines do not generate repeat business and long-term customers.
Resist decorating the shelves with non-retail items. As an example, I often see glass beads, shells, flowers or other decorative items placed between retail products to fill in space when the inventory of retail items is low. This signals that the shelves are decorative and items are not for sale. Furthermore, a consumer will most likely not purchase a product if it is the only one left on the shelf; subconsciously consumers may think that it is a left-over product. If you have only a handful of products for sale, place them close together in a well-lit area to create focus.
Keep shelves and display units free of dust and have clean testers at all times. Replace the tester products every six months (even the most chemical-laden products will begin to smell bad after a while).

Focus on skin care, the spa’s core business
Have an area solely dedicated to skin care. Separate products by brand and skin conditions if possible (many lines have sub-brands for acne, pigmentation, anti-aging, body care, sun care, and more). Resist selling only a few products of many brands; it confuses customers and makes it difficult to focus their eyes on something in particular. It is best to carry a full line and offer all of the products needed to follow the steps of the manufacturer’s recommended home program. Retail the products that the spa uses for facials and body treatments. Since clients have already been exposed to the products and enjoy how they feel on their skin. Your services will pre-sell the home care products. While performing a service, the practitioner explains what products and brand are used and why they are beneficial, recommending products to purchase for home use. Once the service is completed, the practitioner leads the guest to the retail area, picks the recommended products off the shelf and hands them to the guest to take home.
Retailing is an integral part of skin care in order to prolong results. Skin conditions cannot improve unless long-term appropriate skin care products are used morning and night at home; not selling those needed skin care products can set the spa up for failure – not only in retail, but in services. In other words, failing to sell home care products that deliver true results leads to loss of clients for services.

Build retail for a secure future
If you read this article, you are most likely searching for answers and have probably already decided to increase your retail sales and profitability. Let us look at a few numbers: according to multiple spa sources, most spas focus on service sales and only generate about 18 percent of their sales in retail. Putting things in perspective, all spa clients use skin care products at home. It just so happens that they do not buy them from their aesthetician. Why not? Generally, facials can run anywhere from 80 to 200 dollars. The use of a cleanser, toner, serum, cream and an eye product can run from 200 to 500 dollars. Those home care products will be used in two months or less; this generates retail sales of 1,200 to 3,000 dollars per facial each year. Putting those numbers in perspective, it is not too difficult to generate at least as much in retail than in services. The more expensive your retail products are, the easier it is to generate a high percentage in retail sales. If you are concerned about selling more expensive products, note there is a significant shift in consumer behavior. Clients become less price conscious and spend more money on skin care products than they are used to. Even drugstores who have traditionally carried inexpensive products that cater to a more price conscious clientele are now selling expensive products in addition to the lower priced ones. Companies selling in those markets, such as La Roche Posay, Vichy, Neutrogena, L’Oreal, or Procter & Gamble, recently developed high-priced creams and serums to respond to market demand for higher priced items and enhanced performance. Drugstores do not sell more expensive department store or spa brands but the mass-market brands expend their offerings to include high priced items. This leads your price-conscious clients, who likely purchase their skin care in drugstores (while coming to your spa for facials), to get used to higher skin care product prices; slowly they will accept to spend more. If you convince them that the products that you carry are better for their skin, you will have a chance to win their product purchases and stir them away from mass-market brands.
At the other side of the spectrum, your clients who currently do not purchase retail from you may shop for upscale and pricier products in retail chains, department stores, or online. Offering upscale and performance oriented products may win their business.

Carry products that work
If your clients have skin concerns that their current home care does not address, it is time to change their program. They may object to buying new retail but it is important to establish trust for the brand you sell. Clients want to be convinced that what you are selling is going to work for them and that you believe in the brand as well. If you sell the same or similar brands your competitors sell, your clients may not differentiate your expertise from others; in other words, your credibility will be established if you can support why you are recommending particular products and what outcome the client can expect.

Retail does not increase your fixed costs
Generating additional revenue from your existing clientele by selling to them is very profitable. New client acquisition costs are high; instead of looking for new clients to build business, retail to clients who already come for services. You do not increase your fixed costs, but generate immediate high profits. Buy the inventory, stock the shelves, and set up a display unit with testers at the check-in counter. Engage your staff to buy into your plans to retail and set sales goals for each employee. You can incentivize your team generously with sales commissions, free products for their own use, and team bonuses. Last but not least, check results against goals weekly with each team member.

Stock products that work
Be in the business of selling skin care products. Stock products that work. Make sure that your inventory is displayed well and that your staff buys into your retail plans, and follow up on your weekly sales. Following these steps will allow you build a secure future for your business without changing your fixed costs.

Catherine Atzen’s progressive approach to skin care and product ideation stems from her upbringing in a French spa town and the creativity of the San Francisco Bay Area where she resides. Her recently launched reformulated ATZEN line was chosen for the Academy Award’s celebrity gift box. She serves as skin care advisor to stars such as Lindsay Arnold, Kirsten Nelson, and Kimberly Caldwell. She also developed the LymphMed® device for lymphatic drainage. Atzen holds an MBA from UC Berkeley, CA, an MBA from Columbia University, NY, a CIDESCO diploma, and is NCEA certified. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.