Inside Retailing for Beauty Salons

The Art of Up Selling

Turn Every Appointment into Retail Opportunity!

Walking into a salon is always an exquisite experience – the ambiance, the services, and the skilled professionals all come together to provide a sense of luxury and relaxation. But there’s one often-overlooked aspect that can further enhance the salon experience for both clients and owners alike: RETAILING.

Retailing Strategies Every Salon Owner Should Know!

By offering products for sale and creating visually appealing displays, salons can not only increase revenue but also elevate the overall customer experience.

Offering products for sale and creating visually appealing retailing displays, not only elevates the customer experience but also provides a real opportunity to increase revenue. Unfortunately, the task of selling often feels awkward or uncomfortable as we may feel pushy, we might perceive the products to be expensive, or have been conditioned to shy away from selling as a cultural thing.

Never fear, it need not be this way!

Why is Retailing Important for Your Salon?

Salons typically generate revenue through service offerings such as haircuts, styling, colouring, beauty treatments and so on. However, relying too heavily on services, limits the potential for ongoing growth and profitability. Here are 3 great reasons why you need to up your retail game!

Increase Your Revenue

By incorporating retail sales into your business model and learning to excel, you can tap into an important stream of additional revenue which can significantly boost your bottom line. Selling products allows salons to diversify their income streams and generate additional revenue beyond service-based earnings. This can help offset slow periods in service bookings and create a more stable financial foundation for the business.

Enhance Your Customer Experience

Providing clients with the opportunity to purchase professional-grade products that complement their salon services enhances the overall customer experience. Clients also appreciate the convenience of being able to buy the same high-quality products that you used during their visit so that they can maintain their appearance and improvement at home.

What’s more, at-home care is usually a daily occurrence for your clients and therefore has a massive impact on the results that they achieve in tandem with the care that they receive in-salon. As an example, if a client visits you every 3 weeks while applying an at-home regime every morning and night, that equates to 42 treatments at home for every 1 in the salon. This obviously means they need to have the right products from you to ensure success!

Build Loyalty to Your Brand

While you very much want your clients to get great results from their salon visits and at-home care, doing so also has another positive effect.
Retailing products gives salons the chance to strengthen relationships with clients by recommending personalised solutions for their makeup and skincare needs. By offering expert advice and tailored product recommendations, you will build trust and loyalty with customers, thereby encouraging repeat business.

The relationship you build translates into loyalty for your salon brand and the product lines that you stock and promote. If these happen to be more exclusive and not readily available from other outlets, you can be sure your clients will keep coming back to you for professional advice and to re-stock their beauty drawer.

The Power of Threes!

In real estate the old saying goes; “location, location, location”. In retailing it is “presentation, presentation, presentation!”

You must always create visually appealing displays that showcase products in an attractive way and in the best light possible. A great retail display has the power to capture your clients’ attention and entice them to make a purchase. Have you ever noticed how the last item on the shelf at any shop is often overlooked and may never get sold? One effective strategy to combat this is the ‘Rule of Three’.

Put simply, you should always have a minimum of 3 examples of each product you sell on display and grouped together for maximum impact! This will usually overcome the instinctive urge to avoid the last one on the shelf.

Visual Balance in Retailing

Grouping products in threes also creates a sense of visual balance and harmony, much like the very same thing that attracts your clients to your salon in the first place. The arrangement of three is aesthetically pleasing and draws the eye, making it more likely that clients will notice and engage with the displayed items. You could say it is the ‘Goldilocks’ zone – not too many and not too little!

Product Interaction

Now that you have enough products on the shelf, this will further encourage clients to pick up, handle and examine the items. This hands-on interaction will lead to increased interest, while giving you the opportunity to discuss and promote the product, ultimately driving added sales.

Be sure to place some of your products close to the register or payment location which gives you one more opportunity to entice a sale, while the client is in ‘payment mode’. Make this display attractive and desirable while ensuring that you regularly rotate products for a fresh, new look each time your clients come in.

Cross-Selling Opportunities

You can further extend the rule of three’s to groups of products too! Displaying product groups in sets of three (i.e. 3 x 3) allows you to showcase complementary items together. This presents an opportunity for up-selling or cross-selling related products, as clients may be more inclined to purchase additional items when they see them grouped together.

How to Encourage Buying From You!

It’s very important to highlight the unique benefits and value that in-salon purchases offer your clients. Here are 8 strategies you should consider:

1. Personalised Recommendations

First up, train your staff to provide personalised product recommendations based on each customer’s needs and preferences. By offering expert advice and tailored suggestions, you are showcasing the value of shopping at the salon.

These recommendations are best formulated by knowing what products your client already uses and gets benefit from – so you will need to keep records, or have a fantastic memory! Enquire into the results they are getting now, do they like what they are currently using and if there is anything about that product or the results they don’t especially like.
Pay attention to their needs and their conversations, your clients will often mention something important in general talk which is a potential gold mine of information and opportunity.

You should also offer suggestions based on popular products that you know work and are getting results for other clients.

2. Hands-on Experience

In general, most customers love to sample and test products in the salon. Provide demonstration stations and testers or offer mini makeovers to give clients a hands-on experience with the products. This will help them visualise the immediate benefits and results of using the products. You can also look at providing take home samples. Work with your suppliers to get suitable sample sizes at a lower cost to make it viable and ensure that you are not impacting potential sales of full-size products.

Clients that unsure may react well to a free sample and the opportunity to try it at home, in private.

3. Educate & Motivate

Aside from instructing your staff in providing recommendations, it is equally important to invest in ongoing training to ensure they are knowledgeable about the products you carry. When customers trust the expertise of your team, they are more likely to make purchases in-store. Your staff should discuss suitable products with your clients and attempt to find out what problem they are trying to solve. This information can then be used to identify and recommend the best product to use. The time of undivided attention available during a service is such a great opportunity to assist your clients in this way!

Finally, on completion of the service, be sure to show the client and comment on how fab they look – they will very likely want to take that feeling home with them!

4. The Benefits of Salon Products

While you as a salon professional are well versed in the benefits of the products you sell, do not assume your clients are. We are constantly bombarded with advertising which usually focuses on two main points – quality and price – while suggesting that you can have both.

Your salon exclusive products will beat retail consumer beauty products hands down on quality, however the price you need to charge is unlikely to match a large-scale retailing outlet. Educate your customers on the benefits of using professional-grade products as recommended by you and your team. Continually emphasise the quality, effectiveness and long-term benefits of your products compared to generic or ‘cheaper’ items available elsewhere.

It takes effort, however your clients will appreciate your persistence once they get real results as opposed to empty promises from somewhere else.

5. Exclusive Offers and Promotions

While this is one of the oldest marketing techniques, it does still work or course!

Create exclusive promotions or discounts for in-store purchases to encourage customers to buy from your salon. Highlight the added value they receive by shopping with you, such as personalised service, immediate availability and the facility to ask questions supported by professional answers.

Bundling products is one of the most successful promotional offers that we can use. You can bundle services with products or different products together. Bundling enables you to add significant value with only a small decrease in the amount charged. This method also has two side effects that directly help your business. Firstly, you are not decreasing income by providing a sales discount on a single product or service. The second is that stock is moving which might otherwise sit on the shelf.

It is extremely important to attempt to add-value instead of decreasing income when providing promotions and discounts!

6. Customer Loyalty Programs in Retailing

Customer loyalty programs are an excellent way to encourage repeat custom.

Implement a loyalty program that rewards customers for making in-store purchases and services. These programs can be highly complex, requiring a dedicated platform or as simple as a reward card that clients carry in their purse – be creative and develop something that you find easy to use and is effective.

Programs sometimes offer points for each product or service purchased which can be redeemed for items in the future. Levels can be added which grant additional benefits (think frequent flyers), and you can link these to dedicated promotions, discounts or exclusive events etc.

No matter the system you choose, make sure you know who your best customers are and reward them appropriately, and fairly! Last thing here, keep a track of the costs associated with your loyalty program. It must bring in sufficient added income to make it worth the effort.

7. Unique In-Store Retail Experience

As retailing becomes more sophisticated, the in-store experience is constantly improving and providing customers with new and exciting ways to interact with products. We know of a nail salon in Melbourne that has combined a full-service drinks bar with nails!

Make your salon retailing area inviting and engaging. Consider displays, interactive elements and a welcoming atmosphere that makes shopping in the salon a pleasant and enjoyable experience – this being the key word here.

Ensure too that your products are relevant, on trend, in season and so on. This means regular rotation of products and re-arrangement of your retailing area, especially the front of house.

By focusing on providing exceptional customer service, personalised recommendations and a compelling in-store experience, you can encourage more customers to purchase products from the salon, while also fostering loyalty and building stronger relationships with your clientele.

8. When the Reply is “no thank you”

We have all been in this situation, which can be uncomfortable and potentially even embarrassing!

Never fear, in many cases “no” does not usually mean ‘definitely not’! Most importantly, remember that your client is not saying no to you. Generally, the sales objection comes about due to the ‘idea’ of making a purchase right now.

Our clients all have lives with other things going on and so it might be that something else is playing on their mind. Perhaps they have bills to pay or it might just be they need to get used to the idea of changing from some other product they are used to.

Keep your focus on helping them, not making ‘the sale’. Your job is to look after your client’s beauty needs and ensure they get the best results possible. If you insist on becoming their trusted beauty professional, you will be rewarded in time.

The Bottom Line in Retailing

The potential revenue from retailing in salons can vary depending on factors such as the salon’s size, location, client base and product offerings. However, industry experts all agree that retail sales should make a significant contribution to your salon’s bottom line.

On average, studies show that salons can aim to generate as much as 30% of total revenue through retail sales. For example, a salon that generates $100,000 in annual revenue from services could potentially increase its revenue by up to $30,000 through implementing effective retail sales strategies into their business model.

By effectively promoting and selling professional-grade hair care, skincare, and beauty products to clients, salons can enhance their profitability and create a more robust financial foundation for their business. Additionally, retailing can help salons improve customer loyalty, drive repeat business, and differentiate themselves from competitors.

Good luck in your retail journey and Happy Selling!

This article has been written by Rose Bolam and Geoff Yeatman from MBI Jessica Cosmetics. Rose has previously owned and run beauty salons with effective retailing programs in place and Geoff provides business improvement consulting services to organisations, large and small.

You may also enjoy this video about retailing in your salon!