The FINANCIAL — At a first glance, the beauty industry could be assumed to cater only to the glamorous, or perhaps the vain, or maybe just those under the media spotlight. And it does – along with every single one of us! The Global Wellness Institute (GWI) has estimated the worldwide wellness market at greater than USD 3.4 trillion, of which beauty and anti-aging offerings account for USD 1.026 trillion.
In a country where people consider acceptable to suffer through serious skin burns just to get that perfect suntan – fig broth rings any bell?? – one ought to make educating youngsters a number one priority. “Correct and harmless beauty habits formed at youth make all the difference”, reiterated CEO and Partner of Oxygen and its daughter company Beautify, Mrs. Ioana Nakashidze.
The industry is built on the products and services that help us look our best – whatever that best may be. It takes a lot of effort to keep us looking and even smelling well. As a matter of fact, a sheer army of products and services: shower and shaving products, cosmetics, hair styling, hair coloring, hair removal, nail salons, skin care, tanning salons, massage spots, luxury spas, perfumes, colognes, and as if that wasn’t enough, a whole lot more.
The complex convergence of beauty, nutrition, fitness, psychology, technology and even spirituality that comprises today’s wellness landscape is evolving rapidly, creating new opportunities for already established industries. This rapid development creates gaps that agile innovative entrepreneurs try to quickly fill in with state of the art products and solutions. Mrs. Nakashidze identified one of such gaps in the Caucasian market and has founded Oxygen in 2012 positioning it as a wellness expert – “We present the modern way of running business by building strong relationships with our clients and partners. The client can count on our professional help in the challenging process of creating Spa and Fitness zones from A to Z in their facilities.” Moreover, Oxygen represents such modern brands of the world pertaining to the fitness, wellness, beauty and aesthetic domains as Ellipse A/S, Maya Beauty Engineering, Brera Medical Technology, Sports Art, Lemi Group and Game Ready in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Needless to say, all of them meet the CE, ISO, FDA certification requirements. Oxygen’s aesthetic studio Beautify was founded in 2015. The entity offers such innovative technologies as carboxytherapy, oxygen therapy, RF Technologies, Ellipse SWT laser systems, micro currents and ultrasound.
Consumers worldwide are seeking alternative options to conventional products. They try embracing a Beauty from Within, or Internal vs. External approach towards their beauty regimes. Admittedly, Georgia still has too many young ladies with tons of heavy makeup trying to conceal the irregularities rather than attempting to combat the cause to cure the skin. It is high time Georgian consumers started connecting what they eat and how it affects them externally and understanding that one’s skin is a mirror to what’s going on inside. We are catching up with this notion slowly but steadily.
In the skin care industry, dermatologists and plastic surgeons prescribe customized skin care routines for their patients. Often, several products are suggested to solve multiple skin care concerns for one consumer. Skin care will remain the category in beauty, but future consumer spending on skin care is expected to be distributed differently than today. Most likely, consumers’ skin care spending will include solutions that were originated outside the conventional beauty box, including medicine, wellness and technology. Skin care shall be viewed as Care and Maintenance, rather than as Cosmetic. Consumer skin care behavior is as much a health care regime as a beauty regime. If you take a closer look, men and women around us talk a lot about feeling good and looking good as being the same thing.
The beauty house Le Soleil has been operating on the Georgian market for the past two years and has already managed to obtain an honorable place in the Georgian beauty industry. Mrs. Ketevan Lezhava, Director of Le Soleil believes that one of the fundamental causes for achieving such success is that they offer the highest quality service to customers with prices adjusted to the Georgian reality. In mere two years the beauty house has become the benchmarked favorite place for the sophisticated consumers seeking relaxation.
Le Soleil provides a wide range of customized health and beauty services to meet specific demands of each client, including: visage, cosmetology, laser hair removal, numerous types of corporal massage, etc. Moreover, Mrs. Lezhava states that the renowned ancient Indian Ayurveda massage which allows for immediate and impactful corporal results is offered only in their beauty house in Tbilisi. “In the near future we plan on expanding our services and offer novelties to our valuable consumers. Le Soleil is in active negotiations with the leadership of renowned brands and we aim to further strengthen our cosmetology line”, revealed the Director.
The beauty house Manager, Eka Megrelidze has been observing that customers have started paying great attention to quality products and services and that provides additional stimulus for Le Soleil to excel: “Our professional team cares for the pleasure and beauty of our customers. Especially during the hot summer Tbilisi days our guests have the opportunity to use our beautiful terrace to relax and enjoy time in between beauty procedures, drink refreshments and chat with friends. Our beauty house is associated with luxury, quality, elegance and style at the same time.” Le Soleil’s Professional Masseur Mr. Zezva Jaiani offers the highest quality massages to clients, including: wellness, anti-cellulite, slimming, relaxing as well as so called Indian procedures. These procedures do help a person restore energy, remove stress and fatigue and increase the tonus of body and muscles. The fact that one needs to reserve a session with Mr. Jaiani several months in advance speaks of the master’s popularity as well as demonstrates a trend that consumers do increasingly care for wellness.
Returning to Oxygen, the entity has equipped private houses and apartments in Georgia with fitness equipment and saunas and steam baths; gym of International School in Dilijan, Armenia; gym of the seaside hotel Golden Fleece in Anaklia, Georgia and beauty and spa center Beauty Line in Tbilisi, Georgia to name a few. “Right now we are working on two major projects – ultramodern Gym in Yerevan, Armenia and Mgzavrebi Wellness Center in Bakuriani to be launched by the end of the year” – concluded the Founder of the company.
As already announced in The FINANCIAL, King David, incorporating residential space and a business centre in two towers, will open to the public in December 2016. With USD 70 million the company is introducing a new A-class residential and business centre that meets international standards. The developers have not forgotten to focus on wellness either: a spa center, fitness center, swimming pool, beauty center, wine cellar, restaurant, and garden on terrace will all be located within the complex. A recreation zone spread over 1,400 square meters will be located on the evergreen terrace with a space for children as well as a healthy food cafe.
Whatever the case, the beauty/wellness industry is known to be resistant to economic downturns – even coping well during the Great Recession of 2008. After all, it is every product and service dedicated to helping us look, feel and smell the way we want, or the way we believe we should for professional and personal reasons. Our definition of beauty is flexible and ever changing – providing never-ending opportunities for the industry to innovate.
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