For this week’s entry of “Quick Bites With“, we catch up with the founder of White Wood Green, an urban escape right in the middle of Ekamai, one of Bangkok’s most bustling areas. Walk in through those calming, white interiors and you’ll be transported to another state of mind.
However, with the latest restrictions issued by Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, spas have been ordered to close for the third time since the pandemic hit. White Wood Green actually only opened last year and have endured all three closures, however-this time has been the most challenging and also one without any government assistance.
Businesses have been ordered to close until 17th May, with a likely possibility of extension.
Today, we talk about how a spa had to pivot to sell goods online in order to generate cash flow. Let’s get to it!
1. Talk briefly about your core business & inspiration to launch.
While our core business remains in providing excellent services and treatments, we believe a day spa should be more than just a place for massages. We have always been inspired by the importance to ‘live well’ by taking good care of physical, mental, and spiritual wellbeing altogether in a place that encourages you to have moments of self- reflection and times of joy; a place retreat, and feel like home.
Our goal is to provide an immersive experience under the concept of nature and nurture; offering customers with non-toxic natural treatments and nourishing them with a pleasant atmosphere.
Ultimately, to create an impression in our audiences’ mind that will hopefully last long and ultimately evolve into a lifestyle.
2. Spas have been ordered to close 3 times. Tell us a bit about your initial reaction and what you did immediately?
The first thing we did was to come up with promotions to attract customers, to improve cashflow, and to minimize the effects on our staffs which is getting bigger every day. In parallel, we took serious care of our hygienic protocols to help us obtain customers’ peace of mind and trusts.
This third time has been the most challenging. We are now trying to be more creative by bringing our available products online. Our products help us carry our value of comfort into something more tangible.
Soon you will see us activate our own platforms, also joining larger platforms such as Lazada and Pomelo.
3. How did you pivot your business once spa was closed?
Our decision is to try sell products online to gain revenue. We re-listen to what customers want and speed up our production to answer to their needs.
Our customers appreciate comfort and relaxing feeling, and they love our bathrobes! – that’s how we decided to first launch ‘wwgwear’ Since we cannot rely on the physical store experience at this stage, we need to create as appealing experience online to lead to sales.
Our goal is for people to recreate the spa experience in their homes until they can come back to us.
4. Why did you decide to launch online shop? Any particular themes for the brands?
We have so many products in our pipeline. Our online shop aims to offer additional in-house products, as well as open up the space for our amazing partners/suppliers or other Thai brands under the new section ‘White Wood Green Selected’.
We want to be the online source of wellbeing goods, home-related products for everybody, for their homes, and for their loved ones going forward.
5. Advice to other business owners
Keep looking forward. Try everything without compromising your brand essence. Try to sell more products, possibly team up through collaborations to gain maximum audience as much as possible. Last but not least, stay calm 😊
Bonus Points
Promotions
- Enter coupon ‘BITESIZE’ before checking out to receive 15% off
-
-
- For a purchase up to 500 baht
- The promotion cannot be applied to spa vouchers.
-
2. Vouchers
- Purchase 10,000 get 13,000 baht to use in any treatments / 1 year
Top favorite items online
A must-have item for current situation. A 100% natural sanitizer spray will help kill germs, while protecting your hands from dryness.
2. Delilah Set
The most comfortable set made of 100% cotton fibres- incredibly soft and breathable. Perfect for hot days at home.
Re-organize your room and put your stuffs into these lovely baskets. Locally made at a very affordable price.
Find WWG Online shop here.
White Wood Green sits on Ekamai 12.
