For Séan Harrington, Managing Director of British spa brand Elemis, 2014 is going to be one of the brand's most high profile years to date with the launch of Biotec, a new equipment based treatment range, a new bath and body collection celebrating the work of Elemis Director of Treatment and Development, Noella Gabriel, and the complete relaunch of the brand's iconic day spa in London's Mayfair. He talks to Cosmetics Business about the future.
You've just won a CEW (UK) Special Industry Award, congratulations. How do you think the spa industry has changed since you started out?It's evolved tremendously. Today half our business is spas and salons and the other half is retail, online and TV shopping. Fifteen years ago only 2% of the population visited a beauty salon, now that figure is substantially more. The standard and the offering is just so good; there is not a luxury hotel today without a spa and resorts have evolved their offerings to become real destinations. The day spa was a whole new component when it launched which gave rise to medispas, owner/occupier businesses and the new more fast paced grooming salons. Elemis is now one of the leading beauty brands with a turnover of £75m and a presence in 53 countries.
Why has Elemis decided to launch Biotec?We are seeing a technological evolution in all industries so why not in beauty too? Treatments need to evolve. There hasn't been any efficient combined use of machines and spa therapies so we decided to create our own. Elemis Biotec is inspired by mobile technology and has taken three years to create. The machine is capable of offering five different technologies in one unit so it's much more compact compared to machines in the past, which were large and cumbersome.
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