Coldwater Creek is taking multichannel retailing to the next level with yesterday’s announcement that it will test Coldwater Creek day spa locations next year.
The spas will be adjacent to or near existing Coldwater Creek stores in six markets. They will average 5,000 square feet, offer a full menu of spa treatments such as massage, facials, manicures and pedicures and feature wood accents and ambient lighting.
The strategy involves cross-marketing the retail and spa locations to drive sales and traffic for each.
For example, the spas will carry an assortment of sport apparel from the Coldwater Creek line as well as a line of personal-care products for women. The company expects the spas to provide a chance to expand the sport portion of its apparel collection.
In addition, the company will use its stores, e-mails and catalogs to promote the spas.
“All of these channels provide an extremely effective and cost-efficient vehicle for promoting the Coldwater Creek spa test,” Coldwater Creek chairman/CEO Dennis Pence said in a statement.
Coldwater Creek has 174 retail store locations, a customer e-mail list of 2.6 million addresses and will send out about 110 million catalogs in fiscal 2005. The brand caters to women ages 35-60 with an average household income exceeding $75,000.
Lending support to the new strategy were focus groups conducted by Coldwater Creek in which customers and non-customers showed a strong familiarity with the brand name and a broad consensus that the brand is suited to provide spa services, according to the statement from the company.
The company also thinks that its reputation for customer service will prove beneficial.
“As a company, we have more than two decades of exceeding expectations for both quality and service, and that will be particularly important for customers in the spa environment,” Pence said in the statement.
Chantal Todé covers catalog and retail news and BTB marketing for DM News and DM News.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters
