Hey, you just thought you were in the spa business?  What does that mean?  Well it means that you are also a retailer.  How much is retail? What percentage is right?  What is the correct mix of business? When you suddenly realize the magnitude of running a retail operation, it will hit you squarely between the third eye.

Retail is your chance to make an okay or really great profit.  Retail is your opportunity to brand your spa in the eyes of the spa guest.  So where do you start?  What is your mix?  How does this thing called retail actually happen?

The first thing on your list is to plan…and maybe you could call this bottom up planning.  If you are an existing spa, you have the data on your services and current retail.  If you are a new spa, you are going to have to pull a guestimate on services and retail.  What percentage of your business is skin, hair, nails, or massage?  What percentage do products in those categories sell?  Cross analyze.  For example, if you have a strong skin department, this might account for 40% of your service sales, but 60% of your retail sales.  Keep up with this exercise until you can quantify your top services, your top retail, and most important, your clients that purchase retail.

Retail is a numbers and experience game.  People today love to go to spas for the experience and they will remember the experience by what they take home from the spa.