The year 2020 has seen businesses of all kinds face unprecedented new challenges, with restrictions having to be placed on the way we all live our lives and also go about our work day to day.
With the national lockdown imposed throughout the Spring and most of the summer, we at MySpa have had to find and develop new systems and processes in order to be able to continue to serve the needs of our customers and also continue to grow. There have been many business sectors that have struggled during this pandemic and at the beginning of it all back in March we wondered if we too may find the path ahead closing in on us.
Fortunately for us and many others in the hot tub and swimming pool industry, we have seen an absolutely huge amount of demand for our products and services, with people stuck at home and trying to find ways to relax and entertain themselves when limited to their own home and garden.
With some fantastic and consistent warm weather allowing people to get out into their gardens, those lucky enough to already have a hot tub or swim spa found quality time like never before to enjoy them, and those that didn’t became suddenly aware of the benefit of having something that is relatively easy to install, as well as healthy and fun to use in their own back garden. The nation went hot tub mad!!
At MySpa we were inundated with phone calls, texts and emails from customers asking for more chemicals and new filters. In the first 3 weeks of lockdown we had sold and dispatched 25% of our annual sales of chemicals and filters and our warehouse was starting to empty rapidly. The problem we found was that with most of our staff either furloughed or working from home, the volume of orders was really difficult for the team to manage and process so we needed to simplify it and make the completion of our e-commerce site our main priority.
NEW ONLINE SHOP!
With all shops closed, shoppers have been finally forced online to find anything they want or need. In turn, business such as ourselves have had to really embrace the online shopping world and find ways to make it easy for our customers to communicate with and purchase from us.
We were able to launch our new online hot tub chemical shop, www.myspadirect.co.uk in April and immediately this automated process helped ease the workload and at the same time increase sales. Selling Hot Tub Chemicals online is not a straightforward process to set up with many health and safety hoops to jump through, but having started the development of the online chemical shop for all things hot tub related at the end of 2019 we were already on the way. We will continue to build and develop the site to increase our offering to customers and make the process as simple as possible.
FREE DELIVERY ORDERS OVER JUST £30 OR CLICK AND COLLECT IN STORE
Since launching the www.myspadirect.co.uk website we have seen a massive return of customers who we hadn’t seen for quite some time, shopping with us again due to the convenience of having access to all of their hot tub chemicals, filters and accessories online at the click of a button, and with a contactless home delivery or collection option.
We built in the option to ‘Click and Collect’ from our Leicester store and also reduced the minimum order quantity to qualify for free delivery to just £30, to make it easier for customers to stock up on exactly what they need simply and also without the need for human contact, protecting both staff and customers alike.
The click and collect option has also now been added for hot tub owners in Cheshire and surrounding areas, who can place their hot tub chemical order online and collect from 11am the following day at our new hot tub showroom in Macclesfield, MySpa Cheshire. Located on the Old Mill Lane next door to the Pickups Direct showroom, this hot tub store carries stock of hot tub chemicals, filters and some accessories and is open 6 days a week from Monday to Saturday.
QUICK DELIVERY SERVICE WITH OUR COURIER PARTNERS APC
Orders placed online via our website will be picked and packed the same day by our team in store. Those customers who have selected delivery to their door should receive their package within 24 to 48 hours depending on the time the order was placed. Our last collection time can vary with APC but is usually around 2pm so orders placed after this time will be collected the following day.
EASY PAYMENT WITH PAYPAL AND GOCARDLESS
Customers visiting our online shop will find an easy payment system in the form of the well known PayPal check out. You don’t need to have a PayPal account to use it, you can simply use a normal credit or debit card using PayPal’s checkout platform which is built into the site.
 |
Those wanting to make the process of re-ordering simpler for the next time they need something, customers can create in the website a GoCardless account, which once set up, will allow them to purchase whatever hot tub chemicals they need, without having to re-enter their card details each time by simply using their connected GoCardless account for direct debit payment. This has been a really popular feature so far and makes it easier to place an order on the go for customers and is fully automated in store for our team to pick and pack their order ready for dispatch, with out the need for checking payments have been made or any delays caused by having to chase payment prior to goods leaving us.
MYSPA CLUB MEMBERS DISCOUNTS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
Although not ready for when we launched the new www.myspadirect.co.uk website, a feature we have now successfully managed to integrate is the ability for our MySpa Club Contract customers to apply their Membership discount at the checkout on the goods they order. Each member has now received a unique discount code, assigned to their account, which will automatically apply their discount at the check out point within the site. Members will also shortly receive a new membership card to keep with them which also details their unique code, to use online or eventually when it is safe to do so, when making purchases in store with us. This will make it easier to identify members and which package they are on for our teams in store and also ensure the correct discount is applied to the correct person. We are all really proud of the work done in setting this up, with most of the credit going to Sarah and Jenni for making it happen!
SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES WITH LIMITED STOCK AVAILABLE
One of the biggest struggles we have faced this year has been actually getting hold of and maintaining stock levels, almost across the board from hot tub chemicals, hot tub filters, hot tub accessories and even hot tubs themselves!
As a long standing and proactive company we have very good relationships with all of our suppliers and even ones we don’t use as regularly as they might hope. Because of these relationships, whilst we have struggled like many of our competitors, we have managed with most of our products to maintain supply, especially with hot tub chemicals, hot tub filters, cover lifters, steps and other accessories, despite national shortages, either by overstocking on core lines where possible or using different suppliers, so long as they have been able to provide products of equal quality. Often this has meant losing some profit margin and buying at higher prices whilst trying to maintain the consistency and competitiveness of our pricing for our customers.
Ongoing we are now in a position where we have pretty much a full range of hot tub chemicals and filters, steps and cover lifters in stock with more than double our usual stock holding. This has meant we have had to invest heavily in not only additional stock, but also in new storage facilities and develop new stock control systems to ensure we can maintain supply for our customers throughout the duration of this pandemic, however long it may last.
We are also looking to increase our range of accessories on offer within the www.myspadirect.co.uk website platform with hot tub fragrances, water toys and other fun gifts and useful hot tub tools in the coming months.
In the beginning when a product such as Chlorine Granules (a national supply shortage became a real concern during the summer) became ‘Out of Stock’ it was simply removed from the site temporarily so that orders couldn’t be placed for it. We have now built in the ability to mark a product as out of stock or indeed In Stock without the need to remove it all together which should take away the confusion this caused. We will also endeavour to try and give an indication of when we expect a product to come into stock and of course therefore once purchased the item will go onto a back order list we keep internally. Once that product is available again, back orders will be processed before new stock is added to the site and treated as a priority.
HOT TUBS FOR SALE ONLINE
Within the new online hot tub chemical store we have also built in the ability for customers to research and purchase their very own hot tub from our incredibly popular MySpa Wellness Collection of hot tubs. With plug and play hot tubs from just £4,995 in the Wansee and Spandau up to the best selling 7ft square single lounger Tegal Hot Tub, all seater Spree hot tub and dual lounger Havel hot tub, all available from just £7,995. We also have two new models in the range, now on display at our brand new hot tub showroom in Cheshire, MySpa Cheshire proudly showcases the Karo and Dahlem hot tub models.
In the coming months you will see more content added to the pages for each model with videos attached and more installation imagery. The Wellness Collection is now our best selling range of spas in store and we are looking forward to seeing how this develops online!
BOOK YOUR HOT TUB OR SWIM SPA SERVICE OR REPAIR ONLINE
Within the www.myspadirect.co.uk website you can also now request a Hot Tub Service booking either with or without a Wash and Valet. In time we hope to build in a facility to select your date and slot for this but for now the service request form will send our team a message to contact you and get you booked in for either a Hot Tub Service, Hot Tub Repair or Breakdown response.
BUY HOT TUB PARTS ONLINE
At MySpa we stock over 300 lines of spare parts for hot tubs and swim spas. Within the www.myspadirect.co.uk website now we have started the process of adding these parts in order of commonality first, and will continue to build more in as time goes on.
Hot Tub parts are a little more confusing for customers to search for and we are also very cautious when people are looking to purchase and install parts themselves, simply because we have seen over the years many customers who have tried this, have misdiagnosed the fault they have, and ended up wasting money on incorrect parts rather than saving the money they had hoped to by installing it themselves. For help and advice customers are welcome to contact us via email to info@myspashop.co.uk, call 01164 645 870 or use the live chat facility on our website for more information and guidance. Our team of Certified Hot Tub Technicians and knowledgable sales advisors are on hand to help.
We do stock some common parts for a few of the big brands we work with such as Artesian Spas, Jacuzzi Hot Tubs, Marquis Spas and of course Sundance Spas!
Having worked with Sundance Spas for nearly 23 years, we stock around £50,000 worth of genuine Sundance Spas parts, covering the generations of different models we have sold and maintain. Therefore most of the parts we will be offering through the website will be for Sundance Spas or our current range of Jacuzzi Hot Tubs and our own range of Wellness Collection Hot Tubs by MySpa.
Items we will offer will include replacement hot tub cushions, hot tub covers, hot tub pumps, air blowers, hot tub control panels and Printed Circuit Boards as well as temperature sensors, flow switches and many others.
HOT TUB ADVICE ONLINE WITH LIVE CHAT
Our team live chat system is also available online at www.myspadirect.co.uk . This facility gives customers the ability to chat via online text and ask questions about our products and services whilst searching the site live. You can request a call back to chat over the phone for assistance during working hours 7 days a week, or out of hours customers can leave a message for us and a member of the team will respond the following morning.
This facility is helping our hot tub and swim spa customers find the answers to their questions much more easily and seek advice with how to maintain hot tub water and what hot tub chemicals to use, or even check that they are ordering the correct filter or part for their hot tub or swim spa. However customers wish to contact us, our team will be more than happy to help.
Purchase Online 24/7 at www.myspadirect.co.uk
Call 01164 645 870
