Looking beyond one-time sales, spa retailers count on recurring revenue to provide a consistent, reliable source of income to manage expenses, plan for growth and navigate a sometimes uncertain market.
Programs such as autoship and valet services have a dual benefit: providing a consistent monthly income stream and building customer relationships to aid retention.
“Over the years, the goal with autoship was to pay your rent — if you could pay your rent, you were golden,” says Don Riling, president of Olympic Hot Tub in Seattle. “We’ve reached a point today where I think most of us could say this is true, or close to being true. It gives you peace of mind to have that revenue stream right at the beginning of the month, and you can just press the button and realize the money.”
For Scott Clark, owner/operator of The Spa and Sauna Co. in Reno, Nevada, autoship is critical for retaining customers who might otherwise turn to big-box stores or online competitors. “It is so easy to lose them, and it’s hard to get them back once they go to Amazon or somewhere else,” Clark says.
Simplifying customer needs
At Olympic, autoship revolves around essential, consumable spa products like mineral and salt cartridges — items with a predictable usage cycle.
“These types of things work the best because the hot tub is going to consume them whether the customer is using the tub or not,” says Rob Anderson, vice president at Olympic. “It’s hard to build an exact recurring schedule for products that are randomly consumed. So all of our programs are focused on those really defined items that have a finite life once you put them in the water.”
Clark echoes that sentiment but encourages retailers not to limit themselves.
“We’ve started adding more and more items to autoship in our e-store,” he says. “It’s like Amazon asking, ‘Would you like to set this up for recurring?’ It’s amazing how many products we’re sending that we hadn’t thought about before. More than anything, don’t limit yourself.”
Built-in convenience
Olympic further boosts retention by bundling a one-year autoship subscription into the initial spa purchase. When the year ends, customers are invited to continue the service. “People like convenience; they like things to show up on a schedule, and when it’s time to do something about it, they’re like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to lose that,’ ” Riling says.
That’s not to say autoship is always smooth sailing; Anderson says there are constant moving parts. Customers may need to pause deliveries, change addresses or make one-off adjustments. Still, the goal is to keep the customer engaged. “We certainly try to make it a pause versus a cancel,” Clark says.
Starting simple, scaling smart
Retailers interested in launching an autoship program shouldn’t be intimidated by the tech side. “Don’t let technology get in your way,” Anderson says. “You can use an Excel spreadsheet in the beginning, when you have 20 to 50 customers in the program. It takes time to build up these things, and you can incentivize your team to grow more quickly.”
But if you’re interested in a more tech-savvy approach as you scale, Olympic and others use industry-specific software like Evosus to automate and manage subscriptions effectively.
At The Spa and Sauna Co., Clark says they now audit autoship inventory every three months to reset reorder points. At Olympic, the system flags inventory needs one to two months in advance.
The valet advantage
Beyond product shipments, monthly valet services — routine cleaning and maintenance — provide another steady revenue stream. Long a staple in the pool industry, valet service can be adapted for spa retailers. Olympic has offered it for over 20 years. “It’s not a small amount of money that we generate from it,” Riling says.
In fact, Anderson notes, “Valet services is the only part of our business that has grown every single year, [even] through the Great Recession.”
Clark says while scheduling and logistics can be complex, tools like Evosus and Google Maps make route planning more efficient. “You can upload your valet customers to a Google map and see where they are, so you’re not going across town for one stop,” he says.
Valet visits also create opportunities for add-on sales from touchpoints like following up on a note about a worn filter or checking in with a customer ahead of the appointment.
“That’s more like a one-off than recurring revenue, but using those appointments to maximize revenue and at the same time offer a great service for a customer gives retailers the opportunity to make more money on a call,” Clark says.
Long-term payoff
By leveraging autoship and valet services, spa retailers can strengthen customer loyalty while creating consistent cash flow — and build a more resilient business in the process.
“The overarching thing with both of these programs is that, if we do it right and we take care of people correctly, they use their tubs more often,” Riling says. “That means, because we’re taking care of them, they will recommend friends to us, or when they’re ready for another product, they come here.”