OPINION: For those in New Zealand’s hair and beauty industry Covid-19 has caused all kinds of headaches and heartaches, with many salons, particularly in Auckland, shutting for good.
As the owner of Sable Fine Hair in Wellington’s CBD, our business hasn’t been in the same predicament as those in Auckland and the Waikato, but, like most other businesses over the last 20 months, we’ve also been confronted by the difficult challenges of living and running a business in a Covid world.
The biggest hurdles we’re facing in-salon are juggling the rebooking of clients after being in lockdowns, clients cancelling when unwell at short notice, lack of walk-ins, and cash flow issues.
Supplied
Anthea Digby-Smith is the owner of Sable fine hair.
Typically, we’ve had a big surge of bookings after each lockdown, followed by a lull. The CBD has generally been quieter, which means we’ve had fewer walk-ins, and a number of in-salon clients haven’t returned following the lockdowns. That could be due to their personal budget, or perhaps they’re now working from home and opting to use a local salon instead.
However, Sable’s online store has been our saving grace since Covid-19 reached our shores. Our online sales have increased since the first lockdown, and it’s a diversification which has helped to balance out the reduced numbers of in-salon clients. But it has also given us a real point of difference in the highly competitive hair and beauty industry.
Salons, spas, massage studios, and wellness clinics all around Aotearoa are making hard decisions on what their futures look like. If you’re wanting to stay in the game or venture out and establish your own salon, here are some tips that have helped us in recent months.
Online to the rescue
If your salon or spa sells retail products, keep your online store open during Covid-19. As long as you’ve got supply, your customers will bring the demand–after all, if they’re used to using your massage oil, shampoo, or essential oils, they’ll still want those familiar products at home, even when they can’t visit you in person.
Our online store helped us bring in much-needed cash during lockdown, but it was also great to have something to do for both myself and staff.
Find your niche
Ever since my husband, Brendon, and I opened our online store eight years ago, sales have grown exponentially.
Our unique selling proposition? We began selling niche, exclusive brands and hard-to-find products that I loved online. We also saw the potential to bring our products to people who weren’t our salon clients and did not have easy access to high quality hair care.
Invest in marketing and social media
We’ve grown our online store through the normal channels like Facebook, Instagram, email marketing, and Google AdWords, and we take part in fun giveaways with other small businesses. In addition to that we run an affiliate programme for industry specialists (for example, naturopaths and influencers) which incentivises them to recommend our clean and carefully-selected products.
We’ve also established a rewards programme for our online and in-store customers, and it’s resulting in great customer retention. We’ve even made friends with some of our online customers and talk often–even though we’ve never met!
It’s also the little things that make a difference, too, so we personalise every order with thoughtful gift wrapping and handwritten cards. We offer a haircare quiz to help guide people on what products to buy, and we invest time in our blog to answer the common questions we get from clients (which also helps with SEO quality for our website).
Think outside the box
After deciding to sell vibrators before the first lockdown in 2020 and seeing how successful they were, we started concentrating on extending our “non-hair” range. We want to be the go-to place for all things bedroom and bathroom.
We talk with clients and online customers about what they would want, and what they can’t find. For us it goes back to our values and the initial reason we opened–to take care of people the best we can in a relaxed environment.
So, if you can get your shampoo, vases and bedroom toys from the same beautiful store, why wouldn’t you?
Do your due diligence
Now that we know what lockdowns are like, it’s crucial to factor this into your lease negotiations. Know what your landlord will offer before you sign on the dotted line. Rent is usually your biggest outgoing cost other than wages, and a good landlord who will look after you during the difficult times is so valuable.
It’s also worth looking outside your main CBD to the suburbs, where rents (and parking for clients) can be cheaper, and those who’re now working from home can become your regular clients. Everyone needs their hair done but people want to be connected to their salon/stylist that understands and reflects them, which makes them feel comfortable.
No longer are people attracted to big salons where you are passed from one staff member to the next, so think about this as a starting point for your salon environment. I think clients want to find a salon that understands and reflects them, which makes them feel comfortable.
Plan, plan, plan!
With sales increasing during lockdowns, it’s hard to predict stock levels. We’ve had to do quite a bit more planning for Christmas this year anticipating demand, supply issues from our suppliers in Auckland and courier delays, and this has made budgeting harder.
We’re getting our stock in early and hoping we have enough to meet the demand.
Covid-19 has changed the way we all live, work and play. To be in the hair and beauty industry today, we all need to learn to live with this new normal; to be adaptable and prepared for any future disruptions to our businesses.
Our key learnings? Do your due diligence as you plan forward, think outside the box, and use your unique selling proposition to its full advantage.
Anthea Digby-Smith is the owner of Wellington hair salon and online store Sable.