Category: Interview

An interview with Ms. Jaclyn Yan, General Manager of Swissline, China

Originating from Switzerland, Swissline is known as an anti-aging expert inspired by advanced cell therapy and pure alpine plant ingredients. With “GLAMSCIENCE” philosophy at its core, Swissline perfectly integrates cutting-edge science with glamorous touches to meet all kinds of skin and beauty needs. Recently, the brand has launched a new concept which combines beauty treatments with health food, with the aim of providing customers with a more personalized total solution. 

Jaclyn Yan, who is responsible for Swissline’s business in China, has more than 20 years’ experience in the retail industry. With rich experience and innovative management approaches, she inputs vitality, higher efficiency and stronger passion to Swissline team, and gives this classic Swiss brand a more stylish image. SpaChina invited her to speak about the unique concepts of Swissline.

Lately, a new term has prevailed in China, namely the “rising wave”, referring to the passion, courage and creativity of the younger generation. But surely we shouldn’t define the term by age alone. Do you deem yourself a part of the rising wave?

I have nearly 21 years of experience in brand marketing. I began to operate Swissline in 2015. We started as a group of three members and now we have 60 in total. It is still a small team compared with many big agents in China. However, we take pride in our firm foundation. Swissline has teams in Switzerland, Hong Kong and Taiwan. 

I definitely deem myself a part of the rising wave of the beauty industry since my team and I are quite open-minded to all the new concepts and updated messaging in the beauty and SPA industry. We boldly break with the traditional way of thinking in our daily work and keep trying innovative business patterns such as cross-border cooperation. For this reason, I also have the chance to make many friends and learn from them. There are truly many excellent teams in the industry. 

Swissline always stays aligned with the latest trends and recently, it introduced a new concept combining treatments with health food. Could you share more of this concept?

Before joining the beauty industry, I was involved in the food business for many years. At that time, I already was interested in visiting spas and beauty salons. I also bought from them a lot of supplements that they recommended. But I soon discovered that the range of supplements offered by the spas in China were quite limited and they didn’t give me a comprehensive guide, namely a total solution, to improve my long-term health and beauty. In contrast, overseas counterparts such as the high-end spas or rejuvenation centers in Switzerland feature not only advanced beauty equipment and medical devices to improve your appearance and skin conditions, but also supplements and nutrients packages as part of the total solution, for you to take home for long-term maintenance. In the domestic spas and salons, however, we invest heavily only on the treatments and skincare products.

I am forty years old now. I often go to spas for body and facial treatments, and I do exercise regularly. But I find that these are not enough for me to keep a quite optimal body, mental and beauty condition. Likewise, when customers come to you, whether they are the 1990s generation, or 1960s, 70s, 80s, they expect you to give them a total health and beauty solution. It means that you not only solve their skin problems or give them a better body shape, but also help them to embrace a better physical and mental status in the long run.

Having been involved in the food business for long time, I understand the great contribution of nutritious foods to the health of both body and mind. Our holding company is a food expert with almost seventy years’ history and has strong R&D strengths all over the world. In addition, the products we develop precisely target our customers’ needs.

We are very clear who the target is – the same customers who come to our spa and beauty salons. We are also clear about their age and needs. So we develop the products precisely accordingly instead of making common products or casually throwing them online for the massive public to purchase. We take into consideration every safety factor and work on a total beauty solution that suit individuals. It’s also a good way for us to improve our cohesion with our customers and upgrade our services.

How do you interact with your team members, especially the young team members?

I have two kids. The older son was born in 1998. Many times, I have learnt a lot when talking with them. Most of my team members are 1990s generation. So they share much in common with my older son. I always share with them the things my son told me. Gradually, they feel that I am a quite fashionable and an approachable leader. As result, they are happy to work with me – a rising wave much older than they.

An interview with Ms. Jenny Lo, General Manager – China,
CatchOn, a Finn Partners company

A younger generation increasingly prevails in the consumer markets of China. Ms. Jenny Lo, with rich experience and expertise in brand development, research and marketing communications, has developed a deep insight of Chinese young customers’ consumption habits and needs during her eight-year stint in Shanghai as the General Manager of CatchOn – China Region. Jenny and her team have been dedicated to carrying out independent market research and analysis for clients and help international brands to have a stronger presence in the China market. She has worked with renowned hospitality and luxury lifestyle brands including Six Senses Resorts Hotels Spas, Dorchester Collection, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Shangri-La and Fairmont Raffles. Jenny is also the founder of Ups A Daisy, a social enterprise created to make a difference in the lives of underprivileged and marginalised women. SpaChina interviewed Jenny on the wellness concerns and consumption trends of Chinese young people.

How do you define the popular term of “front wave” and “back wave” in China’s society today? Which category do you fall into?

I come from Hong Kong and have been working for CatchOn for sixteen years. Our company’s main business is making brand strategies and doing marketing for our clients. I came to Shanghai eight years ago to open the company’s Shanghai branch. I have stayed here since then.

It’s very hard for me to say which category I belong to, especially when I take into consideration the characters of the business I am engaged in. If you ask me to define “front wave” and “back wave”, my answer is, the “front wave” is the group of people with experience and the “back wave” is those with creativity. However, China’s consumption market keeps changing all the time. As we know, in the retail industry, a big transformation occurs every ten years. So I place myself somewhere between the front and back wave because I believe experience and creativity are equally essential to me and my team.

Our company has been involved with a variety of wellness and beauty-related programmes for major hospitality clients; Shangri-La and Six Senses are two of them. The original concept definition and brand planning of Qi SPA of Shangri-La are our work. We also make brand strategies for many overseas clients who want to enter the China market. Our aim is to better link them with Chinese customers without compromising their brand DNA. 

What are Chinese young customers’ needs in regards to wellness nowadays? What future trends can you predict? What consumption revolution will these new consumption habits trigger? 

Our company always stays sensitive to young people’s consumption trends. Since I myself have lived in Shanghai for many years, I have a better understanding of what young Chinese consumers like today. They view health from a 360° all-round perspective.

Take fitness for instance. In the past, people went to gym in order to lose weight. But now, people are eager to achieve a comprehensive health goal including weight loss, body shaping, muscle enhancement, cardio-pulmonary function boost and more. Young people also regard it as a way to challenge themselves and make new friends. So outwardly, they are still doing the same thing, like going to the gym, but their understanding and motivation have become totally different.

Among Chinese young people, a new group has arisen called “Wellness Punk”. They go to play hard on one hand and have some wellness awareness on the other. For example, they party all night, and the next day, they go to have a foot massage for balance. They do drink alcohol, but they will put some wolfberries in the drink, convincing themselves that they are doing a somewhat healthy activity. So they try to use such methods to compensate for their unhealthy behavior. It’s indeed a unique phenomenon among Chinese young people since I don’t see such things in any other countries. It’s very interesting.

I also find that when young people view health today, they no longer focus on “I”, but “we”. They care more about the environment and sustainable development. I recently read a book written by a professor from the University of Cambridge. To begin the book, he invites us to ask ourselves: Am I a good ancestor? The answer is no. Because the environment we leave to our descendants is one that requires them a lot of toil to repair and improve. The younger generation today is very clear of the effects the environment has on them. So they always say: I only eat local ingredients and plant-based meat. I only want organic products. They say this not because they want to seek fashion but because they want to exert the least harm on the environment. Maybe outwardly, there isn’t much difference between their consumption habits and ours, but the motivation behind their actions is completely different. I can deeply feel that more and more young people today are trying to find out the meaning of life. When they graduate from school and enter society, they are facing an ever-changing world full of uncertainties and competition, they are looking for a goal of life and a way to fulfill their self-value in this society. So when they choose products, they care not only for the products’ functions, but more importantly, the value, the concept, the content of the brand and the lifestyle that it advocates. So when we are developing our product, we must take into consideration these consumption motivations of the younger generation.

An Interview with Mr. Manoj Mehta, CEO of naked Group

With over 10 years of innovation and development achievements in high-end hospitality and the tourism industry, naked Group is famed for its ability to create high-quality customer experience, carry out systematic operation and management procedures and continuously promote the brand value. The group CEO Manoj Mehta joined naked in 2012, since when he has led several innovative change initiatives, and instituted numerous programs to strengthen and optimize naked operations. These include leading the growth of naked by setting up the strategic direction, recruiting a seasoned executive management team, restructuring the organization, expanding naked’s China footprint, incorporating technology to both enhance guest experiences and improve business processes, as well as anchoring the company’s culture to the core values of naked. Under the leadership of Manoj, naked Group has created a diverse lifestyle brand that covers travel – naked Retreats, work – naked Hub, now under the wework brand, and wellness etc. SpaChina interviewed Mr. Mehta on the current situation of the hospitality industry and measures needed to be taken during the post-covid-19 period.

Since May, China’s domestic tourism has been recovering, how about for the hotels of naked Group?

China has been an example to the world in terms of how quickly it has controlled the pandemic through effective control, contact tracing and through preventive measures. These efforts have allowed various industries to restart their operations and return slowly to the new normal.

naked has played its role in ensuring the health and safety of our guests and staff as the top priority and we only restarted our operations at the end of March / beginning of April. When we re-opened our resorts, we launched an industry first “contactless service” that provided peace of mind to our guests and our staff. Also, this innovative approach allowed us to build confidence with our guests and the business started to flourish rapidly. We are seeing a 10-20% increase in the business on our leisure sector – i.e. individual families, friends etc. However, the corporate sector is still in the process of recovering given the pressure on 2020 budgets and corporate restrictions on large events.

What kind of guests are visiting the naked hotels now?

The majority of our guests come from Shanghai and the Zhejiang area with a small fraction coming from Jiangsu and Beijing. Post covid-19 we are experiencing that a large majority of the guests are couples and families who want to spend time together in pure nature in a safe and healthy way. All of our rooms are detached units which not only provide privacy and intimacy for our guests but also added safety by not sharing close spaces with others. naked is a leader in creating experiences for our guests and now more than ever – guests enjoy simple natural activities like horse riding, hiking mountain trails, outdoor archery, yoga in nature, relaxing time in our heated swimming pools or in their private jacuzzies. And of course a relaxing body massage at the end of the day is always popular.

Has naked launched any health-related or wellness packages including outdoor activities, spa treatments or others in this post epidemic era?

Yes. Since the re-opening, we have launched three packages that focus on wellness, outdoor activities, whisky tastings, meals in our signature restaurants and of course a massage in our naked leaf spa. The current package “Splash Fun Summer Package” which is valid until end of August, focuses on many water activities and other summer outdoor activities and refreshing food. We also launched naked family summer camp package which allows parents to leave the kids with us for the whole day so we can teach them various fun activities – like calligraphy, painting, lawn bowling, archery competition , pottery, swimming lessons etc. while the parents can relax with a drink at the pool or get a treatment at the naked leaf spa!

What do you think of China’s domestic tourism consumption outlook?

We believe that the China’s domestic tourism consumption has returned to pre-pandemic levels at least for the leisure segment. Some of this demand is being fueled by the complete absence of international travel due to continued border closure. Additionally, friends and families may prefer short distance drive travel over destination tourism by flight/high-speed train. It may take a while for the corporate segment to return to pre-pandemic levels.

Do you think the pandemic will change people’s lifestyles?

We are already seeing changes in the people lifestyle with a significantly higher emphasis on safety, health and enjoying lifestyle with those you love. These changes are impacting the decisions these individuals are making – for example a detached villa or a unit is preferred vs choosing a room in a tall building as this allows increased peace of mind for health and safety in addition to privacy. These changes are very favorable for the product that naked has brought to market since its inception. Our emphasis has always been on friends and family spending time together in stunning natural environments, and our villas, bungalows, earth huts and suites which are all detached units that are well placed for guests to enjoy their city getaway vacations with total peace of mind.

These changes are also forcing hospitality management teams to deliver the service guests expect with minimum to no contact. naked’s innovative “contactless service” when we re-opened our resorts is an example of these new practices. We are incorporating what we learned during this period into our “new” normal process. Some example of this includes completing the check-in process prior to arrival at the resort including a QR code-based room key. These changes may make the “check-in counter” redundant in the future design of our resorts and the staff will spend their time interacting and serving the guests instead of wading through computer screens.

What challenges do you think the hotel industry will face in the last quarter of this year?

While no one knows if there will be a second wave of covid-19 in China or not, we are very confident in the capability of the Chinese government’s systems and compliance by the people, so we believe that the Covid-19 impact in Q4 will be minimal to none. We have learned some good lessons from the outbreak in the first quarter of 2020, and we will be prepared well to deal with these challenges.

What will you do next?

Specifically, for naked, we are planning to open at least one new resort (based on Tai Lake in west Suzhou) on Oct 1, 2020 and we expect to be busy with that. There may be another resort opening within Q4 2020, but I cannot share details yet other than the fact it will be in the north of China.

What do you think of the economic situation next year in China and worldwide?

We believe that by next year, a suitable vaccine will be in place and the economic situation in China and rest of the world will see a big boost, especially for rest of the world. That being said, emphasis on health and safety will remain strong and international travel / tourism will still be restricted. Domestic travel will continue to grow and corporate travel will start to grow in 2021. The lack of international travel and early stages of corporate travel recovery will hurt the city hotels world-wide. Sporadic outbreaks of the virus may happen in various places so the hospitality industry needs to be prepared for providing service in a manner that ensures health, safety and peace of mind for the guests.