Balluun Heads Into Digital Spa Marketplace

With more than 150 people visiting spas in 2013 alone, the segment offers significant potential for growth. Now, SaaS, social networking and e-commerce platform provider Balluun is entering the spa B2B industry with a new partnership.

Balluun announced Thursday (Feb. 19) that it has reached an agreement with Live Love Spa to build a digital marketplace for businesses within the spa and wellness industry.

Live Love Spa, itself a B2B site that offers a digital directory of thousands of spa brands, said its new partnership with Balluun will take advantage of its cloud Software as a Service platform Balluun 365. According to Live Love Spa CEO Lisa Michaelis, Balluun’s resources will allow the company “to bring more benefit to the spa and wellness industry with digital commerce and social networking services for our business-to-business ecosystem.”

“This way we are able to deepen our client relationships in the spa and wellness industry, which will lead to long-term growth and success for all players involved,” she added.

The digital B2B marketplace and social networking portal will integrate into livelovespa.com, reports say, strengthening the connectivity between spa buyers and sellers.

The venture marks the latest foray into B2B services for Balluun, according to co-founder and chief product officer Peter Koch. “We are excited to be expanding B2B e-commerce and, in particular, to be working with an industry leader in the spa and wellness vertical,” he said, adding that Balluun already services digital B2B operations within the fashion and toys industries. “Balluun 365 is not a platform to replace trade shows with virtual events but to be the social commerce partner for wholesale trade,” Koch added.

The companies say the new marketplace will launch in June and strengthen Live Love Spa’s position in a growing spa industry, which saw $94 billion grossed in 2013.