Ricky Daniels / Photo: Trybe

We’ve found wellbeing remains a priority despite the tightening of purse strings. But there is a noticeable change in consumer behaviour when it comes down to the type of treatment they book and how much they’re willing to spend.

Spas with lower price point offerings – such as facility access with afternoon tea – have seen a 15 per cent reduction in average spend from June 2022 to April 2023, but a 32 per cent increase in footfall. This indicates guests are looking for access to facilities but not necessarily indulging in add-ons that augment their bill.

We’ve also noticed that spas with an increase in average spend have subsequently seen a decrease in how far in advance guests are booking. The more a spa package costs, the less likely people are to commit to it ahead of time.

In addition, spas that are increasing their prices are seeing a reduction in the number of people through the door.

Gift cards bring in a notable number of new guests, according to Zenoti’s recently published 2023 Beauty and Wellness Benchmark Report. It found that one out of every five cards sold by spas and salons (21 per cent) is redeemed by a first-time guest. For businesses using Zenoti software, that amounts to more than 890,000 new guests from 2020 through 2022.

The report aggregates the performance of spas, salons and medi spas across North America to determine benchmarks across 12 metrics.

Other findings show that overall the spa segment saw nearly 19 per cent more customer visits in 2022 than the previous year and that barbershops and full-service medi spas led in appointment growth – up 28.5 per cent and 22.5 per cent respectively.

Interestingly, numbers indicate that membership models yield greater results. In 2022, the top 10 per cent earning membership-based spas had 22 per cent higher revenue than their non-membership peers.