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.

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.

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!

Mary Gostelow and Wahanda

I recently had a chance to get to know Mary Gostelow at WOW Travel.  She is a legend in the travel industry and when you meet her you understand why — full of energy, enthusiasm and deeply knowledgeable of the industry.  She is exactly the kind of woman I really like… direct, too the point and really doesn’t fail to let you know where she stands.

Fortunately, the feelings are mutual and she shares a real enthusiasm for what we are building at Wahanda.  She recently published a great profile on Wahanda here.  We are going to following this up with a monthly spa feature in the WOW newsletter and she is going to write a monthly feature for Wahanda.

I get the feeling we will do lots of interesting things with us so watch this space.

The joys of 3G

It was not that long ago that people wondered if 3G would ever live up to its promise — was it just another over hyped technology that no one would use? Well, those of you who are still skeptics will love this one…

I returned from holiday this morning to find that faced with a long wait for BT to set up an ADSL internet connection at our new office, the team had gone downstairs to the local mobile phone shop and purchased a basic 3G dongle (which seem to be taking over the UK), connected it to faithful “Aunty Dorris”, which is our baseline testing machine (Aunty Betty unfortunately died a few weeks back), and were running the entire office internet traffic through the one device. Genius.

Aunty Dorris... another piece of sexy wahanda hardware

I have to admit, that its not the fastest or most reliable connection (the three DO NOT TOUCH post it notes are somewhat of a giveaway) but given that we have 8-10 people sharing the bandwidth it really isn’t bad (in fact, I am using it right now). I am not sure this is what the nice people at the shop had in mind when they sold us the dongle but its better than waiting for BT and certainly better than no connectivity at all.

BT is supposed to be coming tomorrow, and alas, wires are still faster and (slightly) more reliable and so we have to retire Aunty Dorris’s dongle (errr!) shortly but it makes you realise that that fast, always on, mobile connectivity is not that far away. In the meantime, if I am a little slow to reply to emails (no big images please!) you will understand why.