According to research from Phorest Salon Software, a massive 71% of British people are eager to buy retail products from their beauty salon of choice. Despite the enthusiasm, however, only 28% of people said that they frequently buy products from their salon. The majority of participants surveyed said that they usually purchase beauty products from online retailers (32%), supermarkets (19%), and pharmacies (16%).
The results were similar when Irish clients of hair salons were asked where they purchase their hair products. While 51% said that they would like to purchase retail products while in the salon, only 28% actually do. Most participants said they purchase hair products from their local supermarkets (44%), while online retailers (14%) and pharmacies (14%) were other popular choices.
We spoke to Verna Wall, Lead Researcher at Phorest Salon Software, about how salons can tap into this retail market and grow passive, recurring revenue through subscription services, which 56% of consumers surveyed wanted, but only 9% of salons provide.
“When asked how they would prefer to purchase products, 44% of beauty salon clients and 24% of hair salon clients selected online shopping. However, it’s also clear from the research that consumers are moving on to an even more convenient method of shopping – subscription refill services. This is a service that allows customers to have products automatically shipped to them as soon as their existing product is expected to run out – typically monthly.
39% said that they would be likely or very likely to subscribe to a product subscription service with their hair salon, while 56% said they would be likely or very likely to subscribe to this service with their beauty salon.
This is a key insight for UK salons and presents a huge opportunity to build a recurring revenue stream into your business. With so many businesses learning how to adjust to ever-increasing costs, having a stream of guaranteed income would lay a solid foundation to keep your business’ income on track.
As part of this research, Phorest also surveyed salons on their retail offerings. UK salons fell below many other regions for selling online, with only 50% of hair and beauty salons operating an online store. In contrast, 74% of Irish salon and 67% of UAE salons were selling online.
From our data, two things are clear; consumers want to buy products from their salons, but salons are not keeping up with modern ways to allow their customers to purchase from them. Clients want to be able to shop from the comfort of their own homes, or not to have to think about restocking at all! Are you missing out on sales, simply because you don’t have an online store or product refill service? If you’re eager to boost retail sales, having great products isn’t enough. It’s time to open an online store, start offering a subscription service, and give your customers multiple ways to purchase their favourite products from you, instead of the retail giants.”
About Phorest
Phorest Salon Software is used by over 155,000 hair, beauty and clinic professionals worldwide, freeing teams up to focus on their passion and business success. Known globally for providing the best salon marketing tools, Phorest touches every point of the salon experience, from custom salon apps, online bookings and inventory control to e-commerce and payments.
Read more about the Phorest Story here, or listen to Ronan tell the story himself here.
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