Bliss’ spa business – selling treatments and products – accounts for 50 per cent of its turnover


SH: Te really big opportunity is in selling Bliss products and treatments in other spas – at the moment this is only done via Bliss branded facilities. Elemis is certainly doing big business this way. MI: It’s still early days on this, however, as we’re only just starting to think about who we want to partner with and we need to be very careful about this to ensure we protect our brand equity.


What are your plans for selling bliss online and on TV? MI: Te Bliss website is very sales-orientated at the moment, so we want to develop the online experience for our customers and create more of a relationship with them by offering beauty advice and giving them access to the expertise of our technicians. As for TV sales, QVC is working really well for Bliss in the US and we want to launch on other QVC channels worldwide. SH: Elemis is the highest performing beauty brand on QVC in the UK – we sell about £12m (us$18.9m, €13.6m) worth of products annually – we have a fantastic team of peo- ple managing this side of the business which Bliss will be able to take advantage of. MI: Direct response television is another path we’re considering.


How will you grow your retail business in department stores? MI: Bliss retails in around 90 department stores globally. We’re in the high-end stores,


SPA BUSINESS 4 2010 ©Cybertrek 2010


Debenhams [a key account for Elemis] in London and Glasgow, UK, with a rollout of self-select areas across the country to follow. In retail, Elemis’ sales are therapist-


driven and the focus is on bringing the spa experience to the counter. We think this is something that Bliss can learn from.


Bliss Spa at W Doha


such as Sephora and Blue Mercury in the US and Harrods and Harvey Nichols in the UK. We mainly operate within a self-serv- ice environment, which cuts out the cost of beauty advisors. However, it does mean that our merchandising and point-of-sale material must be exceptional and we’re cur- rently reworking this. Of course, we plan to increase our number


of retail outlets in department stores too, but we’ll do this at the right pace to ensure that we pick the right partners. SH: Elemis is sold in 170 department stores globally, so there’s an opportunity for com- mercial deals with Bliss there. In late 2010, it will launch a flagship Bliss retail area in


What new products can we expect from Bliss? MI: When Marcia set up Bliss, it was her belief that the spas and website would act as curators in introducing customers to third- party product and equipment brands that they might not see otherwise. We will still continue with this, as it’s an important part of our business. However, where’s there an opportunity to introduce more Bliss-branded products, we will. We’re now reviewing what personal care and wellbeing categories Bliss should be developing products in.


What is your goal over the next 12 months? MI: To strengthen Bliss’s core business – across spas, department stores, online and on television – by making sure that we have the same look, feel and brand message in everything that we do. I would also like to ensure that we have the right infrastruc- ture internally which will enable us to do this. Tis will then set us up for big growth in the long-term. Tis company is going to have such an amazing run and I’m so excited to be a part of it. l


Read Spa Business online spabusiness.com / digital 61


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