PROFILE Mike Indursky & Séan Harrington
ship spas. Tat was just business waiting to happen and we did that pretty much right away – we’re now on 95 ships and growing. SH: Interestingly, Elemis sales haven’t declined on cruise ships since Bliss came on board, so it’s only been incremental. MI: We’ve also integrated the e-commerce sides of both the Bliss and Elemis businesses. In addition, Bliss Spas in the US and UK now retail a selection of Elemis products and offer two of its treatments. We’re focusing on how Elemis spas might further incorporate Bliss and will be looking into possibilities in the Mandara and Chavana spas.
How else will you gain efficiency in the group? MI: Bliss has already been moved to Steiner’s warehouses in the US and Elemis’ ware- houses in the UK. We’ll also look to share distributors where appropriate. Next, we’ll be looking at other ways to make the sup- ply chain more efficient, especially in the purchasing of ingredients, laboratories and research and development. SH: It’s inevitable that we’ll share best prac- tice such as the formulation of products and ideas gathered from raw material. MI: Bliss has a hard core expertise in the US and we want to use this to make Elemis more successful there. Tere’s a big differ- ence being ‘in the market’ and ‘of the market’. To sell into another country you need to be of the market – you need to understand the culture, consumers and how to talk to them – Bliss can do that for Elemis in the US.
{ we work together }
What challenges have you faced with integration? MI: It’s all happened very quickly and quite seamlessly actually. Moving fast has been key and we – me, Sean and Leonard [Flux- man, president and CEO of Steiner] – have worked closely together as Steiner employees. Yet we’ve also been able to wear our brand hats without being territorial and that takes a certain level of maturity. It also helped to have a strong team in place, although I have already narrowed down my direct reports from 20 to eight. Tose who still report into me include the head of sales, brand develop- ment, e-commerce, HR, our CFO and our two heads of spa operations (one focusing on the east and the other on the west).
What new territories will Bliss be targeting? MI: An overwhelming majority of our busi- ness is in the US at the moment and our main strategy is to grow internationally. We have constant requests from distributors all- over the world. It’s great to have so much choice, but we need to be very deliberate about our expansion. SH: Te UK is obviously a key market for Bliss: clients are crying out for something different. Although it was already sold here, the business was managed directly from New York and was still at entry level in the UK and generating about £5m (us$7.9m, €1.1m). Now it has a strong UK base, we’ll look to double the revenue by tapping into Elemis’ 1,000- plus doors of spa distribution.
PERSONAL FILES MIKE INDURSKY
Favourite book
Favourite film Food you love How you relax
Favourite non- Steiner spa
Preferred treatment
Best advice Most admire
Bliss’ funky image will go down well in English-speaking countries
60 Read Spa Business online
spabusiness.com / digital The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
Breaker Morant Sushi
Play the guitar very loudly or exercise outdoors
The Umstead Hotel & Spa in North Carolina, US
A great, long (75-minute) massage
MI: Bliss has also just launched in Australia in 50 of its Myres department stores. Some Asian and Eastern European countries are very appealing too. Our strategy is to look at markets in
terms of size, barriers to entry and regu- latory issues. We’ll also consider countries where Bliss will resonate best – such as Eng- lish-speaking nations where customers can relate to its quirky American image or Asian countries, especially Japan, where America has a strong appeal. For every new territory, it’s important to have a supply chain that can support the growth and to have some kind of Bliss Spa service or presence.
What’s Bliss’ best selling channel? MI: Our spa business, where we sell treat- ments and products, is the strongest – it generates 50 per cent of our turnover.
How will you improve the Bliss spa business? MI: Bliss is the preferred third party spa partner for Starwood’s W hotels, we’re in 17 of them, and this model works perfectly for us. Previously, however, we’ve been quite selective over which W hotels we go into but as we do so well in them our aim is to launch in as many new future W hotels as possi- ble – although this is obviously dependent on W’s project pipeline. We would not open in any other hotels as we’re exclusive to W. However, there is the opportunity to develop more standalone Bliss Spas and we’re work- ing with our distributors on this.
SÉAN HARRINGTON
The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story, by Michael Lewis
The Sting Anything Asian Sail, ski and play tennis
The spa at the Four Seasons in Chiang Mai, Thailand
One where you can fit as many services as possible into 60 minutes – I don’t have the patience for anything longer!
Create your own future as no one else will do that for you
Ayn Rand, Teddy Roosevelt and Frank Zappa – people who have done whatever it takes to realise their vision
It’s sounds corny, but it’s ‘live the dream’
Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple
SPA BUSINESS 4 2010 ©Cybertrek 2010
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