BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 64

Wellness

Clarins spa strategy

Spa-centric
An insight into French beauty group Clarins’ strategy for developing its spa business
by Alissa Demorest

F

rench beauty group Clarins is out to boost its spa business, which today accounts for less than 2% of sales. The company has several different spa models and sees growth for them all. Currently, the company operates 50 wholly owned branded Skin Spas, mainly in Asia; 100 spa corners offering services in department stores, mainly in the UK, but also in France and the US, and six Clarins boutiques that provide treatments. It also is present in hotel spas, where the company has around 50 branded locations and is present in another 15 hotels as one of the treatment and retail brands on offer. Developing the luxury angle Clarins began putting a renewed focus on its spa business in 2000 and last year the company opened its most ambitious project to date: a 1,500m2 (16,000ft2) spa in the revamped luxury Royal Monceau hotel in Paris. Branded My Blend by Clarins, the spa is the company’s first location to bear the name of the upper prestige skincare brand launched by Clarins in 2008. This is also the only hotel

Clarins spa business

Wholly owned Clarins Skin Spas: 50 Hotel spas: 50 Clarins brand spas + 15 non-branded spas My Blend spas: 1; 5 in development Airport spas: 4 (3 at Charles de Gaulle, 1 at Heathrow) Treatment rooms in department stores: Around 100 Treatment rooms in airport duty-free stores: 3 locations (Gatwick, Dublin, Beirut) Clarins boutiques: 6
64

spa that the company manages directly. (In its other spas the management is overseen by the hotel, while Clarins is responsible for all training initiatives.) The My Blend brand is seen as a good fit with the spa experience as it is based on the idea of personalized skincare— a booster formula is added to creams and serums in the line depending on the consumer’s needs. Spa-goers undergo a skincare assessment before receiving a treatment. The My Blend spa concept was tailored to five-star hotels, and there are a string of openings planned in the coming year in France—at the Intercontinental hotel in Marseille and in St Tropez at the Hôtel de Paris. Other projects in the pipeline include a hotel in Cannes, France and locations in Dubai, Istanbul and Singapore. “Today some hotel spas are closed to Clarins because the brand is widely distributed, but My Blend’s upscale positioning has opened doors. I didn’t launch the brand for that specific purpose, but it has allowed us to enter into a selection of luxury hotels,” Clarins managing director Dr. Olivier Courtin-Clarins tells BW Confidential. In the long term, the company aims to have between 20 and 30 My Blend spas and it also plans to offer the brand and treatments to certain spas that already offer Clarins. The My Blend brand is still a small part of the business—just €1m out of the group’s €1.3bn sales, according to Courtin-Clarins. Projects like the My Blend spas represent a

hefty investment, but what is the return for the company? “For a hotel today it is indispensable to have a spa. If it doesn’t, it will be less profitable, but is a spa a profit center? It’s very difficult to be profitable, and I would venture to say that the spa is more of an image vector. At the Royal Monceau, for example, we have a staff of 50 people, just for the spa. Profitability is not a priority; I just want to break even,” Courtin-Clarins explains. A spa that succeeds in breaking even also means having strong retail sales. This, according to the company, is an area in which it has above-average rates for the industry. At the Royal Monceau, for example, 30% of the spa’s turnover comes from retail, with an average of 28% for its other hotel spas. This is a very high ratio, given that the average hotel spa struggles to reach the 7% mark. Clarins says this is due to its training initiatives as it trains all of its aestheticians on both treatments and retail sales on a regular basis. In its Skin Spas, Clarins’ retail sales can be up to 40%, says Courtin-Clarins. In-store opportunity The company’s treatment rooms at its department-store counters are also performing well and Clarins is developing this concept in markets worldwide. At its corner at the Printemps department store in Paris, the company has seen 27% growth since it opened last year in the revamped beauty floor. In some

November-December 2012 - N°12 - BW Confidential



BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012

Cover
Comment
Contents
Update
- Brand & retail news recap
- Companies on the move
Take note Market facts, figures & trends
Best of BW Highlights from our e-publication
Launches The latest in fragrance, skincare & make-up
Interview L'Oréal Luxe president Nicolas Hieronimus
Insight: Fragrance
- Category overview
- Regional breakdown
- Retail strategies
- Sampling
- Launch roundup
Wellness
- Clarins' spa strategy
- Spa case studies
Retail
- Chinese shoppers abroad
- Direct sales
- Store concepts
Digital
- QR codes
- Selling beauty online
- Marketing strategies
Market watch: South East Asia
- Regional overview
- Thailand
- Indonesia
- Vietnam
Travel retail
- Industry analysis
- Retailer viewpoint
- New niches
- Retailer factfile
Emerging markets Company profile: Dabur
Radar Up-and-coming beauty brands
Packaging
- Sustainable packaging in the BRICs
- Packs for Chinese consumers
- Luxe Pack preview
Last word Uber founder Sarah Cross
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - Cover
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 2
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 3
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 4
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 5
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 6
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - Comment
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 8
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - Contents
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 10
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 11
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Brand & retail news recap
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 13
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 14
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 15
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 16
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 17
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Companies on the move
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 19
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 20
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 21
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 22
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 23
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 24
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 25
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - Take note Market facts, figures & trends
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 27
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - Best of BW Highlights from our e-publication
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 29
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 30
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 31
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - Launches The latest in fragrance, skincare & make-up
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 33
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 34
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 35
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - Interview L'Oréal Luxe president Nicolas Hieronimus
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 37
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 38
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 39
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Category overview
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 41
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 42
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - EC1
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - EC2
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 43
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 44
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Regional breakdown
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 46
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 47
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Retail strategies
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 49
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 50
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 51
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 52
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Sampling
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 54
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 55
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Launch roundup
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 57
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 58
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 59
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 60
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 61
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 62
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 63
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Clarins' spa strategy
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 65
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Spa case studies
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 67
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 68
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 69
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Chinese shoppers abroad
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 71
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Direct sales
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 73
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 74
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 75
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 76
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 77
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Store concepts
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 79
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 80
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - QR codes
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 82
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 83
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 84
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Selling beauty online
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 86
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 87
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Marketing strategies
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 89
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 90
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Regional overview
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Thailand
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 93
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Indonesia
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 95
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Vietnam
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 97
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Industry analysis
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 99
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 100
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 101
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Retailer viewpoint
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 103
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - New niches
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 105
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Retailer factfile
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 107
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 108
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 109
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - Emerging markets Company profile: Dabur
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 111
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - Radar Up-and-coming beauty brands
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 113
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 114
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 115
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 116
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Sustainable packaging in the BRICs
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 118
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 119
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 120
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Packs for Chinese consumers
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 122
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 123
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - - Luxe Pack preview
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 125
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - Last word Uber founder Sarah Cross
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 127
BW Confidential - Issue #12 - November/December 2012 - 128
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