Wahanda goes stateside

I haven’t updated my blog in a while but its been a manic summer and I simply haven’t had a moment.  A big part of the reason for my silence was that we have been busy focused on the US launch of Wahanda.

Its only been 18 months since we first launched and 12 months since we went transactional so this first step outside the UK is a big step early in our history. The fact of the matter, however, is that the US is a huge unified market and we have strong ties back there through our investors and team.  Most of all, our suppliers and customers kept asking us when we were coming over.  They loved what we were doing in the UK and we hate to let our fans down!

Our launch coincided with our keynote presentation at the Spatec conference in Vegas which was really well received.  We launched with more than 3,000 US spas, salons and studios and more than than 8,000 worldwide.  That makes us the largest health, beauty and wellness website anywhere. Pretty cool.  Of course, we’re adding more all the time so watch this space.

We decided to launch the site without a spa voucher and a limited amount of spa day and spa break offerings but over the next few months those will build quickly.  Although we will continue to base our technology development out of the UK, the US is a core part of growth strategy and we will be building a strong team on that side of the pond.

The reality is that we simply don’t see other people doing and we keep getting a great response from suppliers and customers so we’ll keep pushing on.  If you see anything that can be improved on the US site please let me know.

AdWords in Google type-ahead?

This one really surprised me.  I was searching for a company of a friend of mine (http://www.travelintelligence.com/) and had typed in “Travel Intel” when the type-ahead gave me what looked like a AdWord. Curious, I clicked on it and sure enough it went straight through to the site and never gave me a SERP (search result page) for Google.

I noticed recently that Google has made some changes to the way type ahead works in a number of places but this was the first time I had seen this.  In fact, I tested it on a couple of other travel brand names and got the same thing.  Not sure if Google is charging for the keyword as they do a normal one but interested to learn more.

What’s wrong with newspapers

It just doesn't add up

I went by my favourite newsstand on Saturday to pick up the weekend papers and had a chat with the nice lady who is always there.  She told me that my weekend FT had gone up in price to £2.50.  Then, she tells me that the weekday issue was going to £2.00 as of Monday.  Sensing my obvious sense of disapproval, the sweet newsstand lady shakes her head in commiseration and tells me that she thinks the FT is trying to simply shift sales from the newstand to subscriptions and online…

If only it was that logical.

Even though I live and breath internet media, until less than a year ago, I used to buy the FT at newsstands 3-4 days per week.  But as the price went from £1 to £1.80 in just a three years I found it completely unjustifiable.  At £2.00 it’s robbery and certainly bears no relationship with financial climate or the prevailing rate of inflation.

So, perhaps I am one of those quaint newsstand customers who is being intentionally squeezed into a subscription… buy a subscription, you say.  Well that is where the problem really begins.  The price of an FT home subscription in central london is £416.  That’s a lot of money but its a complete farce when you realise that the EXACT SAME service would only cost me $348 in New York — that’s £234!  In fact I can get two years of FT subscription in the US for the price of one year subscription here in London and still have enough change left over to subscribe to a bunch of magazines.  There is no justification for that especially as so much of the cost of producing that particular newspaper is in the UK.

It gets worse.  The website only subscription with all the same content as the paper cost £207.48 which is more or less the same price as the US home delivery option.  Think about that: no paper, no delivery, no fancy plastic wrapping and the FT wants me to pay the same amount for a web subscription as I would get for the paper delivery in NYC?  If the guys at the FT are listening, I have some news for you:  your online product isn’t worth what you think it is.

I am sure someone out there will argue that it costs a lot to produce this content and that its worthwhile paying for it.  That’s true, but its important to remember that media is a competitive industry.  I have a choice of where I can get my news and information and as Fred Wilson pointed out, there is someone else out there willing to fill the space and I don’t mean just the internet.

My friend Toby Constantine at the media advisory group Market Evolution recently pointed out that the FT’s pricing model makes it more expensive than SKY.  Think about that for a second.  A subscription to the FT costs more than a subscription to Sky which includes hundreds of channels, movies and throws in internet access and VOIP calling as well!  It makes no sense.  The newspaper industry is completely out of touch with reality.

I often hear people hold up the FT as one of the success stories in the newspaper industry — they have great content, a loyal customer base and will survive the transition to digital.  If that is the case, I think the newspaper industry is in more trouble than they know.

What I’m getting this valentine’s day

The economy seems to be getting worse by the moment and like many people, my wife and I have cut out spending in a number of places but one thing that we are not cutting is on our wellbeing.  We have kept up our gym memberships (in fact I just signed-up for a new one), I still go for my yoga lesson and I still have my weekly tennis lesson.  The fact of the matter is that I would rather cut down on restaurants than to cut back on the things that keep me happy and healthy.

The interesting thing is that I don’t think we are alone.  Almost everyone I speak to is saying the same thing and many of the businesses, therapists and trainers that we speak to at Wahanda are saying that they are actually remaining quite busy through this period.  It seems that in this recession people may lose a lot of money but they don’t want to lose their health.

Which brings us to Valentine’s day.  I have never been a huge fan of Valentine’s day and the drive for mass romance — even during boom years I hated overpaying at restaurants filled with other couples.  So this year, I am taking my new credit crunch spending priorities and skipping the restaurant and simply booking a massage with my wife at one of our favourite local spas.

If you are worried about not spending too much Wahanda has some great spa deals and exclusive offers which are just perfect for Valentine’s Day.

The Truth About Gyms

This release came through to me today from the Fitness Industry Association and thought it was quite amusing in that it challenges a lot of the assumption we have about gyms:

Despite the fact that more than 7.2 million people (almost 12% of the population) are members of a gym or leisure centre and the average length of membership is almost one and a half years many myths about the health and fitness industry still persist.

But the truth, underpinned by independent research debunks these inaccurate perceptions.

MYTH ONE: January is the most popular time to join a gym – as part of the traditional ‘New Year Resolutions’ frenzy.

FACT: September is the most popular month: many believe that the catalyst is a desire to sustain the sense of healthy wellbeing experienced during a summer of activity and fun.

MYTH TWO: ‘New Year Joiners’ tend to stop attending gyms within four-six weeks.

FACT: People who join in January and February are no more likely to quit than those who join at any other time in the year. Almost 66 % of members retained their membership for at least 12 months-up from 61% in 2001. While the average rate of member cancellations per 1000 is 36, down from 103 in 2000.

It takes 23 months for 60% to cancel their membership. But this is no indication that they are not joining another gym, relocating to a new area, or starting a new job with a new membership scheme.

MYTH THREE: People are avoiding gyms as a result of the ‘Credit Crunch’ and membership numbers are falling.
FACT: The total number of new fitness facilities opening throughout 2008 has totalled 122, and highlights the fact that demand still exceeds supply in this sector.
Andree Deane, CEO of the Fitness Industry Association, which represents some 2,500 public and private gyms, said: “There is no evidence that there has been a downturn in membership numbers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the rate of new joiners this year is the same as for the similar period as last year.

“For most gym members, membership is not a luxury, but an integral part of peoples’ lives.

“Today it is as fundamental to their way of life as eating brown bread – and, despite the current economic climate, people do not seem to be trading in healthy brown bread for a white slice.  For many, going to their gym or leisure centre relieves the tensions of their work and domestic pressures and a short period of ‘me-time’ is vital to their psychological and emotional, as well as their physical well-being.”

I think Andree Deane is right.  People’s attitudes to fitness and wellness is changing and that is why we are building Wahanda.  Oh, and by the way, if you still one of those peole looking to join a gym in Janury as part of your detox then you can find a list of fitness centers near you here.

Subprime and microfinance

That must be the problem

As the economy  goes from bad to worse, the general consensus seems to be that the trigger (although not necessarily the cause) of our current predicament was unwise lending to the subprime market.  There is plenty of debate as to who is to blame for this lending but at nearly every dinner conversation I have heard consensus on one thing: “making loans to the poorest parts of society is a bad idea.”

Like so many things, much of that statement is true but I am concerned that oversimplifying it will leave those most in need shut out from the power of well used credit.

Muhammad Yunus

In 1983 Muhammad Yunus started the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh (if you not read his book “Banker to the Poor” I strongly recommend reading it) and showed the world how lending to the poorest of society, those without credit history, with no collatoral, and with seemingly no ability to repay made not only good financial sense but was a powerful tool to raise people out of poverty.  Dr. Yunus broke every traditional rule of lending and showed that it worked. He loaned tiny uncollatoralised amounts, to groups of women,  in the poorest part of Bangladesh, at a modest rate of interest and found that not only did they repay with astounding certainty but that in the process his loans transformed their lives and helped raise them out of poverty.  Keep in mind that these customers of the Grameen bank would make the subprime consumers of America and Europe look like they were right off the set of Dynasty.

Its with Dr. Yunus in mind that I have been revisiting the early lessons of today’s Credit Crisis.  Immediately you realise that there are some important differences in the way Dr. Yunus lends money and how we did it in the sub-prime market:

• The Grameen bank loaned the money help people make a living.  We loaned it for non-income generating assets like homes or, worse-still, for frivolous consumer spending.
• The Grameen bank loaned tiny amounts.  We generally loaned large sums.
• The Grameen bank makes sure people pay their first loan before they receive another. We just kept lending.
• The Grameen bank loaned to groups of people who would help each other and share responsibilty for the loan.  We loaned to individuals and relied on their self-assessment forms.

The more I look at it, the more it seems to me that the lesson of the subprime crisis should not be to stop loaning to the poor but rather to change the way we loan to the poor.  Lending to to poorest parts of society is not only important but a crucial tool in helping families rise out of poverty — to stop lending to this segment of society would be a terrible mistake.  On the other hand, to take the painful events of today and create a new model for lending to the poor in the developed world which is based on the principles of the Grameen bank would be a wonderful lesson.

Last.fm finally available on the Sonos and I’m in Love

It was my good friend Stefan Glaenzer (also investor in Wahanda) who several years ago, as Chairman of last.fm first turned me onto the service — I was blown away.  Here was a powerful way of creating communities and sharing information around a topic that people feel passionate about — music.  Moreover, it had a built in recommendation engine that worked really well and a personal radio station to boot!  Best of all, through the use of its scrobbling technology, it collected this information and build these communities with virtually no effort from the user — it simply monitored the music that you listened to.  Could it get any better?  Well, actually, yes…

At first, the issue was that the scrobbling only worked on your computer.  This was an issue as I actually rarely listen to music on my Mac… I have always preferred using the iPod as I found the navigation through my library easier than iTunes. Then, last.fm sorted that out by enabling scrobbling on my iPod so that when I synched the device to my Mac it tracked all I had listened to.

But that left a bigger problem.  I actually don’t use my iPod that often.  I rarely listen to music in the office (I hate not hearing what is going on and believe that it sends the wrong message to the people around me) and so I really only use it when excercising or on a plane.  But I am a have a big collection of music and am a huge consumer of music at home through my Sonos system.  I was so frustrated that my musical tastes weren’t being tracked fully.  Moreover, I was frustrated that I couldn’t listen to my last.fm radio when I was at home.

Well, someone at last.fm has been working hard and after several years of saying it was coming its now available on the Sonos!  This means that not only can I access my last.fm radio stations at home but it’s also scrobbling my music at home which means it has a much better understanding of my taste. Nothing has transformed my use of last.fm and my view of it as an essential resource in my music library more than that simple step.

One unforseen issue is that my wife happens to use the Sonos as well and we don’t always share the same tastes (I’m still working on that one) but so far that hasn’t affected my recommendations too badly (yet).

So now there is only one thing left for Sonos to sort out.  I wish they measured the degree to which I like a song based on how long I listen to a song not just the number of times I listed to the song.  Like so many people, I often listen to things on shuffle and a song may come up which I listen to for only a few seconds before forwarding to the next. Unfortunately Sonos seems to track that as if I played the whole song.

Then again you can’t have everything… at least not yet.

The perfect wellness gift

The perfect Spa gift - The wahanda gift voucher

All of us have struggled on what to give people on their birthday, valentine’s day, mother’s day or Christmas. Its often hard to find the right present.  And if you are anything like me, you hate wasting your money on something that just gets wasted or forgotten… you want to give something meaningful.

Well, Wahanda has just launched the Wahanda Gift Voucher and it could be exactly what you are looking for.  The voucher (or gift certificate if you prefer) can be purchased in a number of denominations from £25 and up.  It comes in a beautiful gift envelope that really makes the gift feel very special.  And, best of all, it can be used at hundreds of luxury day spas, destination spas, salons, yoga centres, Pilates centres, and power plate studios across the UK.  In fact you can use it to get pampered at some of the best spas in the UK such as Champneys, Dove and The Sanctuary to name just a few.

There is a big trend towards giving people experiences rather than just material goods that I love.  The fact of the matter is that most of us have enough stuff — what we need is more experiences and to live life fully. The Wahanda voucher does that perfectly for me and I can tell you its what everyone in my family is getting this christmas!

Wahanda is top 10 travel site to watch

We’ve received some great news here at Wahanda.  The London Times has named Wahanda as one of the top 10 travel site to watch.

The feedback from the article has been tremendous and given that we are still only a few months old it feels pretty great.  The best news, is that we have so much more cool things to come so keep checking!

Wahanda goes transactional

It’s been a really exciting couple of weeks at Wahanda.  After several month’s of work we launched a new transactional engine which allows consumers to but vouchers from hundreds of spas around the uk.  There is nothing else like this online.

We also launched the Wahanda gift voucher which is the perfect christmas gift.  It comes in a gorgeous package and is available in several denominations and can be used nationwide at the top spas, luxury day spas, yoga, fitness and pilates centres in the country.  It’s the perfect wellness gift and I plan to give it to all my friends and family this christmas!

I have been thrilled so far by the response we have had from our partners.  Every wellness business we speak to tells us that they love the site and are excited about what we are doing to promote the industry.  They all agree that there is really nothing quite like Wahanda anywhere.  As proof, we are getting some great deals and offers which we have launched on the site under our new “Shop” section.  Many of the deals are exclusive to us and we have a special section with our very best deals.

We’re still just at the beginning of of this element of the site but it’s encouraging to see how good the response is so far and am looking forward to the christmas season!