Thought Leadership Tracey Stapleton, The Spa PR Company
Five ways to increase festive gifting spend
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Tracey Stapleton EXPERT CONTRIBUTOR
our spa may currently have a healthy block of bookings, but are you doing enough to maximise your business in the last quarter of the year? After all, largely due to gift voucher sales this is one of the highest revenue-generating periods. While for some, Christmas marketing starts in July, it’s never too late to review your strategy and implement key drivers that can make an immediate difference to your business. Here are five marketing initiatives that could boost your business into the New Year.
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Define your goals
Having a plan in place that includes specific and measurable goals is the key to achieving the best business results. Typical aims might include making 2021 your biggest retail sale period ever, increasing the average customer spend per visit, filling up your booking schedule for the start of the New Year or raising brand awareness to maintain positioning and reputation.
After a decade and a half in consumer public relations, 16 years ago Tracey Stapleton began to specialise in spa and wellbeing. Now managing director of The Spa PR Company, she offers a targeted range of PR and marketing services to spa and hotel operators as well as beauty and wellbeing product brands and services. www.thespaprcompany.com
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Be smart with your software
Technology has been the saviour of many spa businesses this year as they have grappled to cope with the demand for staycation bookings while simultaneously dealing with the challenge of staffing. Spa software has come a long way in recent years and according to Steve Porter, co-founder of next-generation spa software, Trybe, more than 50% of
bookings are made out-of-hours. You therefore need a system that allows your guests to book when you’re not there to answer the phone. “You can increase your customers’ online spend by introducing smart up-sell technology at check-out,” adds Steve. “This can allow your guests to add a bottle of Champagne for their arrival or purchase a gift voucher, for example, with a single click.” With 75% of shoppers purchasing their Christmas gifts online, adding this capability makes perfect sense. www.europeanspamagazine.com
