Catch the WAVE – Product Innovation & Distribution Center Is Dedicated to Franchisees
WAVE helps small business owners through innovation, demand planning, enhanced buying power and distribution.
WAVE – Wellness and Vitality Exchange LLC – is the product innovation and distribution arm of WellBiz Brands Inc., whose portfolio includes Amazing Lash Studio®, Drybar®, Elements Massage®, Fitness Together® and Radiant Waxing®. Located in Phoenix, WAVE serves as a consumer goods packaging business, distribution center and supply chain lifeline for all the brands in the WellBiz Brands portfolio. WAVE stocks 21,000-plus square feet of furniture, equipment, décor, supplies and retail products – everything necessary to open and operate a location of any WellBiz Brands portfolio franchise.
“We support all of the WellBiz Brands portfolio franchises with products and furnishing needs. We have products that are used for services, retail and promotional events,” says Sheila Ullery, president of WAVE.
Ullery, whose background is in marketing and innovation, previously worked in consumer product marketing at Disney, in global marketing at Aveda Corp. and was vice president of retail and merchandising at Massage Envy before opening her own salon and day spa. She returned to wellness marketing as senior vice president of marketing and innovation at Amazing Lash Franchise, LLC, before being named president of WAVE four years ago.
“I love what I do. I’m lucky because I have an amazing, diverse team, and what we do is fun. We get to work in product all day long,” Ullery says.
What Does WAVE Do?
For franchisees, the beauty of WAVE is twofold: First, WAVE is exclusive to WellBiz Brands portfolio franchisees and dedicated to providing products that fit the brands and their business models. Second, WAVE helps leverage buying power across the franchise systems managed by WellBiz Brands.
Ullery’s robust team works on a three-year calendar to produce mostly proprietary products for all the WellBiz Brands portfolio franchises. One example of how WAVE innovates and creates savings opportunities is what WAVE did with a product that owners needed for services and that was sold only in bulk containers. The WAVE team knew that the product would go bad before the containers were empty, which would cost the franchisees money. So, they repackaged the product in single service units – in other words, a fresh package is opened for every customer.
Other products, like those used in massage studios, are purchased from vendors. WAVE works to source those products from vendors that allow them to beat or at least match market pricing. That saves the franchisees time; they don’t have to compare vendor pricing because WAVE does it for them – and gives franchisees the best price.
“When the supply chain world was having all these issues, Amazon may have been out of a product that we could get. We are smaller and more nimble, so we could work faster,” Ullery says. “Like the nitrile gloves for studios – they were really hard to get. But we build relationships with our suppliers, and so they are more willing to help us. We were able to tap into that and get what we needed for franchisees.”
What WAVE does for WellBiz Brands is no different than what a lot of restaurants do for their franchisees. They provide proprietary and branded products at distribution centers to ensure brand standards are maintained and to make life easier for franchise owners.
And if franchisees can’t find something they need at WAVE? They just need to ask their brand’s operations team, which will turn to WAVE for a solution – a challenge that Ullery’s team is happy to take on as an important part of the support provided to franchise owners by the WellBiz Brands support system.
Disclaimer: ©2022 WellBiz Brands, Inc. (“WBB”). Each franchisee location of a WBB portfolio brand is independently owned and operated. Franchise owners (or their designated hiring managers) are solely responsible for all employment and personnel decisions and matters regarding their independently owned and operated locations, including hiring, direction, training, supervision, discipline, discharge, compensation and termination of employment. WBB is not involved in, and is not responsible for, employment and personnel matters and decisions made by any franchise owner. All individuals hired by franchise owners’ studios are their employees, not those of WBB. Benefits vary by independently owned and operated studios. Amazing Lash Studio®, Elements Massage®, Fitness Together®, Radiant Waxing™ + designs are trademarks owned by each of their respected company or their affiliates. Drybar® + design are registered trademarks owned by Helen of Troy Limited and used by DB Franchise, LLC under license.
