The Challenge: The EvelineCharles Salons Spas website was maintained by an outside graphic design firm. The site looked great, but it wasn't user friendly. Much of it was built in Flash, which made it difficult for search engines to find them. And it was extremely difficult to get changes made in a timely manner. The site looked good but constantly felt out of date.
The Solution: Because the company had a graphic designer and marketing director on staff, they knew that they could do much of the updates themselves if only they had an application that simplified the process. "We set about looking for more of a programmer than a graphic designer, someone who could create a site that we could maintain ourselves," says Sarah Roberts, Marketing Director for EvelineCharles Salons Spas. "Our developer made a complete content-management system for us that we can use to change pages or make new pages." The system, which looks much like Microsoft Word, allows EvelineCharles staffers to input content and graphics into one of a series of flexible templates. "Whatever the imagination can create we can do."
The Future: They continue to tap their web developer for customized applications, including an e-commerce section and customized newsletter system. They are also launching a new POS system, which is capable of integrating with their online system to handle appointment booking and more.
Key Insight: "Your site can be attractive, but don't sacrifice functionality for the look of it," advises Sarah. "We are always changing, so it's important that our online presence reflect our stores. The easiest way to update the site is to have the control. We probably change something on the site almost every day now."
Idea You Can Steal: EvelineCharles launched printable gift certificates in time for Christmas last year, and they were extremely popular. "Clients said, 'Thank you for helping me avoid the madness and do it all from home,'" says Sarah. This year, they are building an entire marketing campaign around them.
The Challenge: Repêchage, a line of professional skin care products, recognized the potential of Internet sales early on. "If you don't sell online, you're going to miss out on a huge opportunity, especially in the skin care arena," says Shiri Sarfati, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Sarkli-Repêchage. "More and more customers are shopping online and looking up spas online. It's definitely a first place to research products and treatments." Yet many of Repêchage's partner spas were slow to build their websites and even slower to incorporate e-commerce, which left an important sales tool untapped.
The Solution: Repêchage developed a co-branded website concept for top-selling spas that carry their full line of products. Repêchage's in-house team provides a shopping basket that can be incorporated seamlessly into the spa's existing website. They can even create a website presence for spas that don't have one. The company also committed to using its own website to build its partners' businesses. When visitors go to the Repêchage website, they are asked to enter their zip code and are redirected to spas in their area that carry Repêchage. "This gives the spa an opportunity to market itself and bring in a new guest," says Shiri. "We encourage them to wrap the product in beautiful tissue, include a spa menu, perhaps a coupon." To protect its brand, Repêchage keeps close tabs on the program and makes sure that all products bought online are shipped by their partner spas within three days.
The Future: For Repêchage, it was important to support all channels of distribution with the program, so they created a CD about the program that DSCs can show potential clients. "Our distributors love it. They can tell salons that they'll get a free website if they sell Repêchage," says Shiri. "It's another selling tool for DSCs."
Key Insight: "Spas are definitely ready for this. Our industry is ready for this. This is a way to compete against the mass retailers out there," advises Shiri. "You want to get product to your consumer accessibly. This is a chance to reach that market potential."
Idea You Can Steal: Be ready for success. Repêchage alerts partner spas before doing its bimonthly promotions so that they are sure to have the highlighted item in stock. And when Repêchage knew that their seaweed baths would be highlighted on Dr. Phil, they encouraged partner spas to stock up on that product. "As soon as the program hit the air, we could track sales on our cobranded sites and watch as it rolled out to different time zones," says Shiri. "This could have been a missed opportunity if we weren't prepared. Instead it was such a success. Our partner spas were able to reach new clients and get spa menus in their hands."