Interview with Mr. Georgie Yam, CEO of Venus Concept China
Born in Hong Kong, Georgie spend years in London and Singapore running his hair and beauty salon business. Then in 2003, Georgie ventured into the spa business in China and opened his award-winning day spa Dragonfly with 27 retreats throughout China.
In 2016, Georgie joined Venus Concept China as Director of Marketing, his aim to build Venus Concept as the most sought-after aesthetic device in the market. Georgie was promoted to VP (Marketing) China in 2017. SpaChina interviewed him.
What is Venus Concept’s current business strategy? And what are the trends in the spa equipment business in China’s wellness and spa market?
Venus Concept has always been a leader in the skin care management and body contouring business. With our unique and patented MP2 technology from Israel we have been working with many top dermatologists worldwide, and this great experience enables us to know what the market needs and create different types of models to cater to different needs.
We position China as a key market within our company, as the Aesthetic industry in China has been growing more than threefold every year, Spa and Beauty Salons are constantly looking for non invasive, safe, painless and effective beauty equipment to service their client needs. We have been seeing more and more end-users switching from traditional facial treatments to equipment-based treatment, as the latter can provide much faster and effective results within a shorter period of time. Spa and Beauty Salons owners also prefer to use more devices as this will reduce labor costs and at the same time they see more return customers.
VC not only provides devices, but also actively works on client education, marketing and promotion, create interesting events and good business studies, use knowledge KOL and trainers to help spas and medical centers to do business.
Why do you participate in the marketing activities of your clients? And what kind of feedback and business results do you get?
As a manufacturer, we know our devices and how to create the best results for the end users, and the best way to share these great technologies to Spas and Medical Centers is through very intensive training and education. It is our responsibility to maintain the high standard requirements that we set up to meet our expectations, therefore we put a lot of effort into education programs. We work with a few Beauty Academies as well as universities in China to put our training programs into their curriculum. By doing so, we can then uplift the whole industry standard to international levels.
We are very fortunate that several doctors in China are big fans of Venus Concept and are willing to share their experiences and their testimonials with others. Our team members in China have also had many experiences in Marketing as well as Beauty Salons and Spa operations, therefore we have a lot of advantages in assisting and guiding our clients to do better business. We place our clients success as our pride as this will reflect on our reputation. So far we have received very positive feedback from our customers.
What are the best selling VC devices? What kind of results and effects do they have?
Venus Legacy is still the best seller in our company, as most Spa and Beauty Salons prefer to have a device that can both cater for the face and body. The advantage of Legacy is that it has a vacuum that works wonders on the face and body contouring. It is great for skin tightening, removing fine wrinkles, and body shaping with instant results.
Every year, Venus Concept has plans to launch new models into the market. For 2018, we are planning to launch Venus Freeze Plus which is not only a device, but a whole concept on balancing our face structure. All of us have different face structure, and this concept involves some special skills to do fine adjustment on the face together with our device, creating a more balanced facial structure. This for sure will be a big hit in the market.
Also in the pipeline, we will launch Venus Fiore, a device specially for Vagina Rejuvenation. It has three applicators with disposable tips for Labia, Mona Pubis and Internal. There is a huge demand in the China market for this kind of services for ladies.
What kind of business benefits can VC bring to spas?
First of all, Venus Concept offers business solutions to our clients. From an easy financing stand point, we take away a lot of the burden from all owners and operators. We also provide very thorough tailor-made treatment menu suggestions to our clients, and with our vast experience in marketing and event organizing, we support them a lot on these to assist our clients to bring in extra revenue. These are all added value things we can provide, and is a very different approach from all other competitors.
For hotel spas, what kinds of VC devices are good for them? And what are good for day spas?
Every spa has its own needs and in different markets they require different treatments. Our devices can cover the face and body as well as wellbeing. In general, most hotel spas are hoping to bring in extra business from the local community. They understand that in the long run, a spa in the hotel cannot just rely on room guests, and a spa in the hotel must be a profit center rather than a place to pamper their guests when they make any complaints.
In order to attract the local community they need facial skin management programs and body contour treatments, which are effective, painless and safe. These treatments will increase the return rates from local guests; moreover, hotel spas have more advantages in their overall environment, which is more appreciated by the rich and famous.
In my opinion, Legacy is more suitable for hotel spas, as Legacy can perform excellent results on skin management such as skin tightening, mini eye lifting, V shape results, removing fine wrinkles and improving skin texture etc. At the same time, it also does wonders in body contouring within 25 minutes, and this is very effect driven. Legacy can provide a Deep Sleep therapy and hotel spas can sell this treatment to in-room guests on top of any Aroma massage.
On the other hand, Day Spas can opt for Venus Versa, which is a multi-application platform, excellent in skin rejuvenation, with the IPL technology. Venus Versa can correct Melasma and freckles and also improve skin pigmentation. At the same time, Venus Versa is able to deliver a battery of non-invasive aesthetic procedures, like hair removal, body contouring, and cellulite and wrinkle reduction.
From your point of view, which of them are doing better, hotel spa or day spa?
From a business point of view, Day Spa operators are giving Hotel Spa a big challenge, because Day Spa have lots more local clientele and the return rates are much higher than Hotel Spas. The revenue side can be as much as five times difference. Of course, Day Spa does sell a lot of memberships to maintain their cash flow, and the downside is that if these Day Spa does not manage these prepaid sums well, it will cause very serious financial problems.
Hotel Spas from my own point of view can do a much better job than they are doing. The biggest obstacle is that Hotel Spa are not flexible, and very conservative and slow in their reaction to market needs. Most of the time, Hotel Spa Directors are frustrated when it comes to implementing new services as these need to go through different departments for approval and support. On the other hand, Day Spa has total advantage on decision making.
Any business advice for hotel spas?
Day Spas overall in China have improved their service, ambiance and facilities to be close to Hotel Spas, therefore it is difficult for many Hotel General Managers. I can see there is a great opportunity for Hotel Spas to make a turn around on spa revenue, but this involves a lot of support from the top management team in the hotel, starting from the General Manager, Room Director, Marcom department and even the Concierge. Hotels have lots more database and resources than any Day Spa. But personally, I do not think they are maximizing these advantages at this moment. It would be great to see some new changes in the near future, as Venus Concept are now working with a number of 5-Star hotels very closely to assist them to reach out to a new height.
