UK spas report strong May trading

According to exclusive research by our sister magazine Professional Beauty, business for UK spas was strong in May.

Of the spas questioned in Professional Beauty's Insider survey, 63% said treatment bookings for May 2018 were better compared to the same period last year.

The average treatment room occupancy rate for the month was also reported at a healthy 60%.

Interestingly, 44% of those surveyed said that their retail figures were better in May 2018 in comparison to May 2017 and a further 50% said they were flat on last year, with only 6% of spas reporting a drop.

The majority of respondents said they incentivised staff to sell by offering them discounts on services or products if they reached their monthly sales goals. The second most popular incentive used was comission on each sale, followed by commission based on targets, then "softer" rewards such as days out. 

These results are encouraging, with the issue of retailing in spas being an ever-challenging problem for the sector.

In addition to therapists lacking sales skills, most recently, professional skincare suppliers, whose traditional sales outlets have been spas, are developing e-commerce strategies and both in-house platforms and partnering with online distributors such as Feelunique, Glossybox, Amazon and LookFantastic.