Over the years, the aesthetics or “beauty” industry has developed something of a bad reputation because of unscrupulous practices like confusing pricing models, hard selling packages and the time tested bait and switch. But one aesthetics spa is trying to change that.
Nestled on the third floor of Orchard Gateway is the quaint little aesthetics spa, Kosme Aesthetics. A favourite go-to spa aesthetics that offers affordable spa treatments like their Korean Aqua Peel or the Black WaWa Charcoal Facial that uses carbon powder and state of the art light technology to help eliminate acne, even the ones hidden deep in our dermis.
But what’s unique about Kosme Aesthetics are the noticeable absences of packages, free or discounted trials and other marketing gimmicks that have become a dubious hallmark of aesthetics spas here in Singapore. “Our prices are competitive but they aren’t the cheapest because we believe in delivering a high quality service at an honest and transparent price.” explains Trisha Lim, Managing Director at Kosme Aesthetics.
Over the years the aesthetics industry here in Singapore has become infamous for underhanded sales tactics like offering trial packages, for free or at steep discounts, only to pressure you into expensive packages as you lie in a vulnerable state on the treatment bed. To make things worse, ever so often one of these aesthetic spas would close up, taking along whatever unused portion of your reluctantly bought spa package and leaving you feeling just a little bit sillier.
According to CASE, the beauty industry took the top spot in terms of the number of complaints in 2021 and made up a staggering one-tenth of all complaints that were received by them. The beauty industry also took the lion’s share of prepayment losses caused by the hard selling of prepaid beauty packages that were potentially forfeited when the businesses went bust.
One reason for this is the highly competitive landscape of the beauty industry that drives many of these businesses to offer cheap trial packages that bait customers in before they use hard sell tactics and convoluted pricing models to close a sale. In many instances, the aestheticians themselves are not paid a sufficient hourly rate and have to earn their income through selling packages thus affecting the entire experience.
“It’s the minority of beauty spas and salons that are giving the rest of the industry a bad name but its still a big problem and that’s why we founded Kosme Aesthetics as a way to disrupt the industry and show to people that you can run a beauty business honestly, transparently and successfully.” says Trisha.
Kosme Aesthetics offers a wide variety of spa aesthetic treatments such as facials, hair removal, teeth whitening and even fat freezing. Interestingly, all their services are charged at a flat fee of $200 nett regardless of the service you select and there are no packages, top ups or upsells since the fees are flat. To top it off, they guarantee a wait time of no more than 5 mins.
“In order to maximise profitability many beauty salons book back to back treatments and even double book them leaving clients on the treatment beds waiting for long periods of time.” explains Trisha, “This affects the whole experience because if you come in for a relaxing treatment but leave frustrated then something is wrong. That’s why we guarantee no more than a 5 minute wait every time you visit us.”
The only attempt it appears that Kosme Aesthetics makes in trying to retain and build repeat customers is a membership that bills you $150 every two weeks but gives you the choice of any one treatment on their ala carte menu which saves you $50 per treatment. So if you are a frequent client of aesthetic spas, you might find this worth the money!
The whole concept of Kosme Aesthetics is an interesting one. Whether you are new to aesthetics spas but wary from all the horror stories or a regular looking for a quality service without all the sales pitches and marketing gimmicks, Kosme Aesthetics offers up a no nonsense, high quality service that everyone can enjoy.
If you’re interested in giving Kosme Aesthetics a try, you can book your service here and get a one time $50 voucher exclusive to our readers or subscribe to our newsletter today and stay tuned for our future reviews of some of Kosme popular services.
About the writer
Rachel spent five ascetic years as a vegetarian before discovering spicy chicken wings are, in fact, a delicacy. She’s also a bit of a snob about fancy whiskey. Rachel writes early in the morning, then spends the rest of the day trying to impress her Maine Coon.
