28th January 2025
Note: It’s a bit cliche riddled.
It’s that time of the year when the big manufacturers put on their lavish shows and meetings where they make you (their ever loyal) customers feel all special and important to them. Somehow it just doesn’t sit comfortably with me when their main focus is on capturing and increasing their share of the mass market, at the cost of business in your salons. These events, of which I have been involved with quite a few over my many years in this industry used to be about confirming the professional nature of the hairdressing world and the symbiotic relationship manufacturers had with the salons that stocked their brands.
Now it feels like an ’emperors new clothes’ situation:
I might well be wrong, and it is just my opinion, but I can’t understand why salon owners have let what has happened actually happen! Years of loyalty were brushed aside as some of the big players moved into a different arena without so much as a ‘thank you’ to their very loyal customers; and (some of) those salon owners just rolled over and had their belly rubbed:
“who’s a good boy then”
Of course there are reasons why some salons decide not to change their brand, no matter what; incentives, stock deals (on chemicals), fear of change, paybacks etc. That’s about the cut and thrust of it, salons just let their suppliers rob them of retail business and they did nothing about it. And these big flash events that happen, well they never seem to look at or mention the obvious elephant in the room:
‘my salon retail sales are dying”
Don’t get me wrong, there is a value to events that manufacturers deliver, and fortunately there are enough salon professional suppliers who still value 100% the relationship they have with hairdressers, I just wish that there was more honesty from the companies that made the mass market move, about the reasons for doing what they did.
I’m fortunate enough to have been invited to present at some major events this year, and I have said yes to them all because the brands who have invited me are absolutely committed to helping salons grow their retail business and offer products that create a point of difference, something that has to be the way forward for any hairdressing or barbering business.
Shows and events are all about inspiring, entertaining, informing and helping businesses succeed in an ever challenging environment, from hairdressing services to products that are retailed, each aspect should be uplifting for salon owners, who in turn can then inspire their teams to be more productive in every aspect of their daily salon life. Parts of that must be quite challenging when clients state “I can get that cheaper in my local chemist store’.
We know that online shopping has had a massive impact on salon retail, but business owners at least could deal with this to a certain extent by setting up an e-commerce platform, it’s simply not possible to compete with the UK’s biggest chemist stores.
Shows and seminars, business events and exhibitions, all great, but even greater when they are for the good of the salons business.
As always I am happy to discuss Salon professional brands that can make a difference to your salon retail and services.
#SalonProfessional #ProForPro #BackOnTheSoapBox
