The Golden Glow of an All-in-one Solution:
Sun Tan City® Franchisor Glow Brands Focuses on Performance with Customized Communication and Business Management Solution.
The Numbers
92 Store Locations
More Than 1,100 Employees
Saved over $219,700 Annually
A Unique Solution For a Unique Company
Tanning can be a relaxing, spa-like experience complete with personalized service. Sun Tan City is a leader in tanning and wellness — providing an all-in-one destination for a quick, natural-looking tan and ongoing support to maintain that tan. As the nation's fastest-growing chain of privately owned tanning salons, the brand is dedicated to providing outstanding client experience and excellent results in a clean, tranquil environment.
To provide a superior experience at the 92 salons owned and operated by Sun Tan City, the company wanted its employees to spend less time on administrative tasks, which would allow even more time to focus on providing excellent client service. Sun Tan City leaders adopted Woven for its comprehensive capabilities that enabled better visibility into salon performance, improved and streamlined communication, allowed any-time access to company documents and announcements and fostered employee accountability. Cost savings across all 92 salons totaled nearly $220,000 annually.
"We love Woven because it really is a one-stop shop for our staff and managers. I hesitate to use that phrase because Woven is so much more than that," said Susie Butler, Sun Tan City Sr. Vice President of Operations. "Employees are more efficient, communication is easier, and the ability to look at a salon’s performance trends on items such as audits and SVC has been a nice addition."
Shining Light on Management Challenges
Corporate-operated Sun Tan City salons faced several challenges:
- Too much time spent switching between different platforms.
- Manual and time-consuming audits.
- Multiple lengthy process created time management challenges.
- Fragmented communication.
When employees must access multiple programs to complete basic tasks, not only is it inconvenient — it takes time away from customer service and environment-enriching tasks like cleaning. Equipment and supply ordering was hosted separately from the system receiving orders. Communication took place on an entirely different platform, and policy dissemination and acknowledgment were difficult to manage. To improve performance and profitability, Sun Tan City needed a solution.
A "Glow Up" with Woven
Sun Tan City began using Woven for loss prevention reporting but quickly realized the solution's potential as a central hub. Woven provided a solution to address the brand’s specific needs for its multi-unit, frontline operations, and the company gradually rolled out additional functionalities, including auditing, chat, and communication.
The communication capabilities proved to be incredibly valuable. Private team chats enable employees to securely and professionally communicate with their co-workers and supervisors to foster a team environment. The announcement feature helps leaders convey weekly communications and other company initiatives more efficiently and effectively.
Company policies are shared directly with all employees and are readily accessible through the Knowledge Center and the mobile app. The availability ensures no one misses imperative information and minimizes confusion. Through the reporting function, team leaders can create urgency and build accountability by identifying employees who have not acknowledged policy documents.
Location audits certify salons are following mandatory practices and reassert expectations for salon staff. The resulting insights help identify trends to establish areas for improvement and highlight strengths.
"Woven's audit functionality is a wonderful tool to help us improve customer service," said Butler. "We can evaluate performance over time and more easily enhance specific aspects at individual locations."
Based on Woven’s success at the corporate-operated locations, Sun Tan City is rolling out Woven across all 256 brand locations in 2023.
Executive Overview
Industry: Beauty, Service
Locations: 92 corporate-operated locations
Employees: ~1,100
Use Cases: Communication, location audits, knowledge management, policy acknowledgments, loss prevention, incident reporting.
Products Used: Woven
Key Results:
- Saved store and regional managers two hours a week and district managers four hours a week.
- Cut annual costs by $3,380 per salon — $219,700 across all Sun Tan City corporate-operated locations.
- Improved ability to evaluate performance and identify improvement opportunities.
- Streamlined communications with more than 1,000 employees in 92 salons.
- Increased employee accountability with policy notifications, accessibility, and acknowledgments.
Key Discoveries:
- Woven combined multiple administrative programs into a single platform.
- Performance audits provide managers with an overall picture of store performance, success, and areas for improvement.
- Private and team chats provide a professional communication channel and encourage a teamwork-oriented environment.
- Woven enables company communication and initiatives to be delivered universally and efficiently.
- The Knowledge Center helps build better accountability and minimizes confusion by ensuring no staff misses imperative information.
- The mobile app houses the most crucial aspects of the desktop site for employees to engage anytime.
