Indians consumers have consciously and proactively moved towards a preventive approach to wellness and health. The progressively changing social context and hectic lifestyles in India have given birth to problems related to stress, eventually prompting people to shift towards awareness to self-care to ensure an energetic, extended and healthy life. Ultimately, the change has delivered an excellent prospect for the Spa business. Moreover, the domain of health and wellness has not only remained in women, but also men have increasingly begun to look at healthy living as an approach to a better physical state. This trend, however, has been primarily experienced in urban areas and upcoming cities. Additionally, consumers continue to be conscious of the prices although more are willing to pay a premium for convenience but are time-starved. Informatively, in 2010, the wellness industry grew 20% over the previous year thus reaching INR490 billion. Currently, the wellness section includes curative and preventive therapies, beauty care as well as physical enhancements. The curative, preventive and physical sections of the Spa industry are estimated at INR 4 billion to 5 billion. The expected growth of the wellness industry was to develop at a compound rate of 20% for three years and reach INR 875 billion in 2013.
The significant factors that were contributing to the growth of the wellness industry in India included demographic changes such as age and income. Other factors included evolving consumer lifestyles, growing trend towards nuclear families and consumers began experimenting with brands. Additionally, an emerging amount of employed females were struggling to equate home and work tasks. Moreover, Indian customers were becoming more mindful of their image, therefore turning their focus towards improving personal appearance and they felt the need to feel good. What caused the increase in awareness of health awareness was the use of media to pass this information, and wellness-related topics were being discussed more. The lack of time of consumers categorizes the Spa industry in India because of their work commitments. However, this has resulted in Spas being opened in shopping malls and high-end places to allow customers relish hurried massages at ago.
There is high competition in the wellness market. Additionally, the market is exceedingly uneven in relation to the wide variety of beauty goods and associated offerings. In contrast, to international markets, the Indian wellness market was blossoming. Despite there being an increase in day Spas for consumers wanting to take a break from their daily routines for the shortest time possible, the growth of destination Spas has been on the rise because it is becoming an option for those that want to take longer breaks. Premium consumers preferred premises such as hotels and resorts that provide Spa services.
According to the case study, consumers had a strong affinity with traditional products and services that included Yoga, Ayurveda, and homeopathy though new varied treatments were enjoying popularity. However, consumer acceptance for a fusion of traditional Indian and Western was genuinely increasing. The growth of the wellness industry encouraged Spa investors to turn to smaller, upcoming cities that had populations with growing incomes. However, these markets needed significant investments and long-term focus. Informatively, new age Indian customers preferred being associated with brands because established brands evoked trust and familiarity further resulting in loyalty. Ultimately, Spa investors had to keep communicating their prepositions to the consumers to remain active in the minds of the customers.
Evoe should find the types of Spa services being offered in the target city they are looking to start their business. Most importantly, they should find the perfect location to open their Spa. Usually, this depends on the demographics of the market they are targeting. Moreover, not all income groups want to spend on Spa services. Assessing the services and prices of potential competitors allows a business to conduct its market analysis. The business should find the perfect business idea and list out the service they provide that is unique from others(Avery & Gayle, 52). The most important part is to remember the shift of thoughts in consumers. They now see Spas as not only beauty spots but also wellness providing centres. The menu should include these new features appreciated by current consumers. The business should look to hire professionals who know how to perform their tasks to provide impeccable services and etiquette to consumers. Evoe should ensure its pricing is business sustainable though they want to offer affordable services. The prices should find equilibrium between existing market rates and exclusivities afforded. Evoe can practice layered pricing. This involves pricing essential services at affordable rates and keeping premium services at fairly higher prices for high-end clientele.
The business has to understand the consumer, identify consumer segments, and develop a consumer value proposition (Vasileios Davvetas, Halkias, Georgios, and Adamantios Diamantopoulos 3621). Thereafter, the business had to find concepts that they would use to sell their services ideas to consumers. Moreover, the right position to put the business should be located. Furthermore, qualitative research should be carried out to find the right place to put the business. The primary challenge is choosing the right sections and finding a significant and robust placing for the brand. The brand should understand its consumers by interviewing potential and uninterested Spa consumers employed in private or public companies, homemakers or self-employed potential consumers.
The most important part of the growth of Evoe should be the promotion of the brand. At this time, the most effective tool to reach your consumers is identified. Moreover, due to the scope of Spa growing by being accepted by men; also, the promotion of the brand should reflect that. Evoe should focus on promoting themselves through social media and directly engage with the customers to let them know of the offers and also provide updates on service provided. Moreover, the brand should look to grab the attention of consumers by highlighting the use of natural and organic products that have no side effects to gain the trust of potential customers.
The business was set to target working professionals that felt the requisite to de-stress but did not contemplateconsumingSpa services because of the exorbitant charges. Additionally, there was a negative perception that indicated Spas as beauty parlours or massage parlours which eventually led to negative references. Their main reason to start Evoe was that Indians had an increase in the necessity to de-stress and the confidence that Spas could become portions of consumer way of life if they could be made more affordable and address cultural barriers.
To understand their consumers, they divided them into categories. They categorized the first set of consumers as snails because this group was guided by habit, affordability, and convenience. The snails were reluctant to make significant lifestyle changes which could compromise their habits. Thought they highly regarded health and wellness information, they seemed to make changes to their lifestyle only when they got sick or had an apparent medical condition. Their consumption decision was highly determined if they could afford a service. The climbers, the second group, had different behaviours across age groups. The younger liked to experiment on new items principally swayed by movie stars. They looked for instant results and gratification. The third group is racers who showed a high brand affinity and were conscious of the brands they bought. They were inclined to spend on wellness if they were persuaded about the benefits. Finally, the sprinters are the group who had great levels of mindfulness on wellness and had an eye on global progression on health as well as awareness.
Evoe identified three positioning concepts that they would use in finding the perfect location for the business. The first concept was positioning the Spa as an affordable indulgence. This involved believing that people would visit Spas more often if they were made more affordable by lowering prices. However, the challenging thing would be to persuade customers that the previously costly service was now accessible at reasonable prices. The main point to be communicated was that Spas, once for the privileged, were being availed to everyone. The second positioning concept is positioning as affordable health. However, the biggest obstacle was the shortage of consumer mindfulness on benefits that are gotten from Spas on a wellness level. Regardless, the target consumers took health seriously and communicating to them was easy. Using this method would ensure that health benefits would be availed to attract new consumers as integrity was essential for customers to trust it. Therefore, the charges would be a lesser concern in the concept. To communicate this concept, an emphasis should be put on the awareness of scientifically proven health benefits of Spa therapies. Lastly, the concept of “a little vacation” was to be used. The assumption here was that consumers would seek a different kind of vacations to seek relaxation and rest away from their normal routines. However, this concept aims to change the perception that vacations could be taken during certain times of the year to increase the frequency of vacationing. The main message to be conveyed would be to promote Spas as vacation spots for relaxation.
I would recommend that the concept of affordable indulgence would be upheld. This is because Evoe’s primary purpose was to create affordable Spas where people of low incomes could visit. This would ensure that people who got relevantly sustainable income could visit a Spa without having to spend extravagantly. The position and affordability of the brand would resonate with consumers to motivate them to come to the business (Avery & Gayle, 52).By making Spa services affordable for the people with the low income they would help achieve the purpose of promoting the Spa as a health outfit.
Evoe would look to de-stress Indian consumers by offering spa services at affordable prices. The spa services that were available in the current market were expensive, and some were falsified services they provided. Another factor to be considered was the fact that Indians valued their social and cultural values. For that reason, massage parlours that allowed cross-gender massage services were culturally rejected. Additionally, competitors did not satisfy consumers fully as they posed as spas though they were massage parlours hence lost trust from the consumers. A trend identified was that the younger generation was looking to associate themselves with brands. This was because brands were associated with trust and offered high-quality services. Evoe would seek to build its reputation as a brand that was going to satisfy the needs of consumers fully. Furthermore, spas faced challenges that included lack of trust from the general public because of the ingenuity of some massage parlours businesses displaying themselves as spas. Evoe had the task of convincing consumers that they would provide genuine spa services at affordable prices though there was a perception that spa services were for the rich and supposed to be expensive. Also, many spa centres were perceived to be intimidating because of the general aura of wealth and indulgence of the people that visited them. However, this would be changed by Evoe who would consider people of all incomes.
A SWOT analysis carried on Evoe outlined the following: the strengths of the business are such that the owners of Evoe knew what the market needed after carrying out research such as the need to change the perception that spas were only for the elite in society. Moreover, Evoe would offer affordable spa services to consumers of low and medium incomes. The opportunities that Evoe saw in the market included knowing that people preferred traditional treatment-based methods after researching the market. Moreover, the wellness industry was predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 20% to reach INR875 billion. This is an encouragement to spa businesses looking to open shop. They also found out that consumers were beginning to accept the concept of fusing traditional and western therapies. This meant that they would look into the idea of offering different types of services to the consumers. The main threat that would face the business was the perception of people viewing spas as places where the rich visit only. Moreover, the sector had zero regulations meaning that there are no laws and regulations to guide the spa sector. The weakness of many spa businesses in the market had the weakness of masquerading massage parlours. Moreover, the industry is filled with unqualified service providers that are whey many businesses provide massage services regarding them as spa services. Spa businesses should look to employ qualified personnel to provide services of the highest quality. They can also train their employees if they had already employed them without any qualification.

References
Avery, Gayle C. “Positioning the business for a sustainable future.” Strategy & Leadership 46.6 (2018): 52-53.
Halkias, Georgios, Vasileios Davvetas, and Adamantios Diamantopoulos. “The interplay between country stereotypes and perceived brand globalness/localness as drivers of brand preference.” Journal of Business Research 69.9 (2016): 3621-3628.