Spread in an area of about 2,500 sq ft, Sevenseas Spa Pune was under construction when Wellness India bureau talked to Arpit Sharma, MD, Sevenseas spa chain. Designed with a vision to provide tranquil retreat to the guests wrapped in luxury at affordable price, the spa has 6 rooms with open to daylight showers clubbed with high-class facilities like facial rooms, oil massage rooms, Turkish Hamam, Thai room (for exclusively designed therapies), foot massage and Pedi-mani stations, member only spa suite and much more.
Founded in 2008, Sevenseas spa has a unique concept of offering a holistic wellness experience with a new refreshing outlook. The spa offers high-end services including body treatments, manicure and pedicure in an enriching ambiance, thus, showcasing the experiential face of the brand.
The spa is entering in the Pune market with the same set of holistic offering to the city crowd.
Why in Pune?
Commenting on the potential he witnessed in Pune city for wellness business, Sharma noted, “The huge potential is in II tier cities because in these cities, people have money but don’t have sources to spend, places to splurge on and we’ve realised after opening our spa in Bhubaneswar, our revenue was sky rocketing in the first year itself. We projected a certain amount of business, we got almost double the business in the first year itself and it’s the most profitable venture, if your get into profile percentage, is the most profitable venture we’ve ever done and that’s how we got an idea of targeting tier II cities rather than the top metros of India.”
“We want to keep it simple exceptional service with an affordable price, that’s our goal,” added he.
At present, the brand is employing over 200 technically and professionally qualified therapists and personal instructors. Nevertheless, to maintain the high quality standards, the spa manufactures all its aromatic oils, creams, lotions, face and body packs, wraps etc., in-house, monitoring all the ingredients and process of product formation.
What’s new the spa offers?
Defining the USP of his spa, Sharma unveiled couple of points which differentiate the Pune outlet with other spas existing in the city.
- Treatments offered at our new spa would be inspired from around the world. We collaborated with the best pastry chefs and mixologist’s to make the ultimate indulging menu like blueberry cheese cake massage which is inspired from New York, Virgin Mojito from Cuba, bamboo massage hailing from Thailand, Chocolate fondue from France) and Vintage Bourbon massages from Europe.
- Art in spa is the immediate impression to take the guest in a different zone of wellness, providing inner healing, tranquility and freshness.
- Open to sky showers would be an exclusive experience for those who never experienced open bath after a rejuvenating session of massage.
- First Turkish Hamam in Pune
- Make your own treatment: Under this, the guest may customize tailor-made treatments by mixing own concoctions or toppings which no other spa in the country has in its Menu to offer
- Special spa suite and members’ lounge would be a timeless experience for the members to relax in the comfort zone sipping complimentary herbal teas and beverages.
- The spa is selling Annual Memberships and 6 to 12 weeks programs on De-tox or De-stress under its exclusive opening offers.
Competition from existing brands
Confident over the exclusively designed spa menu and other offerings at Sevenseas, Sharma is confident that his spa would be a challenge for existing brands.
“We following a blue water strategy our concept, Menu, style of work is completely different than any other spa .We just part of the same industry that’s all we share,” shared Sharma.
Plans to sub-franchise
The spa chain has taken the franchising route to spread its reach across India. “Yes we franchise, in fact we are the first movers in the industry to adopt franchise for growth,” noted the young MD of Sevenseas.
Promotional stunt
Unveiling his plans to announce opening of the new Sevenseas spa in Pune, Sharma disclosed, “We are not doing a typical launch event. We are going to have a week-long opening event for our guests in which with special treatments, offers, give a ways and some great surprises would be revealed for the guests of a daily basis,” said he.
No plans of rapid expansion
With an aim to give adequate time to each of their outlets, the spa chain has no plans to rapidly increase its presence in the country or worldwide. Disclosing more, Sharma said, “We want to give time to each spa, select location and our partners very carefully and build a very strong credibility. Once we are satisfied with our performance than I guess, we will expand rapidly .Yes, we have two units in Johannesburg, South Africa and are coming up soon in Grindelwald, Switzerland .We are also talking to people in Las Vegas, USA.”
Money invested & ROI expected
“It’s a franchise so the total investment will be around a crore .Our usual ROI is 18 -20 months, which we expect to achieve here as well,” informed Sharma.
Revenue model
“We are expecting to achieve revenue of 12-15 Lakh per month,” added he.
Staff selection and training
Defining his critical procedure of staff selection and training, Sharma explained, “We are very particular about our staff training. Our staff goes through a three months intense training according to the custom menu of each spa. Regular training, staff motivation is the most important key to maintain service quality.”
Roadmap ahead
With an aim to continue chasing all the potent wellness markets present in tier II cities, Sharma concluded, “This year we have plans to open 4 more spas. After Pune, we are looking at Raipur, Jaipur, Udaipur, couple of places in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand because these are the places where people have money to spend and everybody is aware of wellness, spas due to social media people are willing to invest in wellness but they are not approachable to them. We looking at Indore, Nagpur, these are the cities where we really want to be present in.”
