What connection do waxing studios have with Satellite Office?
WAX IN THE CITY is now a lifestyle brand. It exudes glamour, high quality and has a must-have character for beauty fans. How did the experts for professional hair removal with warm wax just manage that? They started in the market twelve years ago and now have over two million customers. And actually, waxing is a very private matter…I’m looking forward to an exciting conversation with WAX IN THE CITY’s head office press officer, Nana Nkrumah.
When Nana Nkrumah cheerfully tells me about the latest waxing trends for men and women, I have to smile for a moment. A topic we at Satellite Office have not – and will not – report on before, I must disappoint you if I have now piqued your curiosity…. What is the connection between WAX IN THE CITY and Satellite Office? We met when WAX IN THE CITY was planning its most important meeting! It should be an environment that is stylish and prestigious, exclusive but not sterile. In the best location in Berlin. Several times a year, WAX IN THE CITY invites its franchise partners to the big networking event. It should be a beautiful experience, one that everyone looks forward to. This year, the focus on the agenda was the topic “Marketing”. Around twenty franchise partners from Germany, Ireland, England, Hungary and Switzerland traveled to Berlin. The WAX IN THE CITY headquarters was looking for the right setting – and found it at Satellite Office on Ku’damm. “This was the perfect location for us; Satellite Office’s space is just a stone’s throw away from our corporate training center on Ku’damm and the WAX IN THE CITY studio at Walter-Benjamin-Platz 5.” In the large conference room with a fantastic view over the roofs of West Berlin, the franchise partners were able to exchange experiences, hear updates from headquarters and learn a great deal about marketing.
If you now think that all participants of the WAX IN THE CITY conference were female, you are mistaken. “More and more male customers are coming, this market is becoming more present,” Nana Nkrumah said. The interest of male franchise partners is also growing, she reports. In March 2017, the first male franchise partner has already taken over the management of a WAX IN THE CITY studio in Frankfurt. More and more male interested parties are joining. WAX IN THE CITY is open to the professional background of franchise partners. From the management consultant to the dental technician to the business economist. “Diversity of people and locations matters,” Nkrumah reports. The partners learn the know-how on the subject of studio management in extensive training courses. “Many join between the ages of 35 and 45, seeing the studio business as a second career” describes the company spokeswoman. The WAX IN THE CITY franchise model is also a good fit for women who are thinking about starting a family and are looking for a balance between their job and their private life. The same goes for people who are already in the beauty industry and want to take the next step in their career, Nkrumah adds. After all, you have a good perspective without a big entrepreneurial risk, you benefit from a proven business model and an existing network. “We need people who are passionate about beauty and want to make a difference,” Nkrumah concludes. “All the other know-how they can learn from us.”
The company “WAX IN THE CITY” was founded in 2005 by Christine Margreiter and Sibylle Stolberg in Berlin. Both still manage the business today. They have pioneered, popularized the hair removal method waxing in Germany. Today, the brand is still managed from Berlin, with all brand activities controlled from the headquarters. This includes being a strong brand on all channels and providing marketing tools for partners. Franchise partners can draw on a catalog of measures and materials for marketing campaigns in their region. The topic of online marketing is also in vogue among the “experts”, and is even the main focus of their activities. The aim is to reach customers – or potential customers – where they are. And it’s on the web, according to Nkrumah.
We swing into the satellite office world, talk about Work 4.0 and the ongoing digitalization. “Flexible workplaces and increasing mobility are part of everyday life today. Beauty service providers must adapt to people’s new lifestyles and create offerings for this,” emphasizes Nkrumah. The topic of digitization is right at the top of WAX IN THE CITY’s agenda. The Q waxing app has just been launched – as the first online check-in in the beauty market, a real innovation: “The landline call was in the past, today there is our app, with which customers can check in live and mobile from anywhere, when and in which studio it suits them best.” In the past, you could either just walk into the waxing studio of choice and just wait your turn. Or you could call the landline and ask how crowded it was and what wait time you should expect. Today, the app can be used at any time to check when there is a free time slot and to book in directly for this purpose. “Although we only recently launched the app, we’re already miles away from landline calls,” the expert knows: “In record time, 6,000 customers have already downloaded the app. Which shows that we’ve hit a nerve.” Digitalization will continue to occupy the company and spur it on to remain a pioneer as a beauty company in the future. Over 5 million waxings have been performed in the last twelve years, there are currently 23 studios and another is opening in Vienna in November. We are already looking forward to many new, exciting, colorful franchise partners, Nkrumah concludes our conversation.
We are delighted that such exciting, innovative companies are hosting their most important meetings at Satellite Office! Thank you very much for the interview, dear Nana Nkrumah!
www.wax-in-the-city.com
franchise.wax-in-the-city.com
The interview was conducted by Annette Kissing for Satellite Office.
