21st June 2021
We have learnt some difficult lessons about retailing throughout the last 18 months, online sales have surged because consumers still wanted to shop and they couldn’t visit your business so they did the next best thing, went to an online shopping channel.
In the first instance, unless you already had an e-commerce platform of your own, this could be viewed as a negative as your clients suddenly found somewhere else to get their products, whatever those products might be.*
Secondly, online platforms are great at encouraging repeat visits to their pages, repeat visits invariably lead to repeat business, that’s what they want, they are after all of [your] customers retail purchases.**
Third, it gave lots of people who don’t enjoy selling the perfect opportunity to ditch the sales pitch and focus in on the creative aspects of their daily working life once the doors of businesses opened up again.***
It’s all doom and gloom, the end is nigh, pack up those retail products and give up!
BUT WAIT….. Competition, be it from a business next door to you selling the same products, or an online shopping platform that you can get almost anything from has to be good, good for enhancing consumer awareness of what’s available to them.
We can moan and groan about the competition, but we can’t necessarily change it, so take the negatives and turn them into positives that can help you maximise your retail opportunity.
*In the first instance, unless you already had an e-commerce platform of your own, this could be viewed as a negative as your clients suddenly found somewhere else to get their products, whatever those products might be.
SETTING UP YOUR OWN E-COMMERCE PLATFORM ISN’T AS CHALLENGING AS YOU MIGHT THINK, AND IF YOU DON’T WANT TO GO DOWN THAT ROUTE (WHICH I BELIEVE YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO) THEN USE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA TO TALK ABOUT THE PRODUCTS YOU HAVE AVAILABLE AND MAKE YOUR CLIENTS, AND POTENTIAL NEW CLIENTS AWARE OF WHAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER IN YOUR SALON, AND LET THEM KNOW THEY CAN CALL OR VISIT TO FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION.
**Secondly, online platforms are great at encouraging repeat visits to their pages, repeat visits invariably lead to repeat business, that’s what they want, they are after all of [your] customers retail purchases.
WE CAN TAKE THIS AND THANK ONLINE PLATFORMS FOR ENCOURAGING CONSUMERS TO PURCHASE MORE THAN THE ORIGINAL SEARCHED FOR ITEM. IT’S NOW THE NORM TO BUY MORE THAN ONE THING ONLINE, SO MAKE IT THE NORM IN YOUR SALON. MAKE SURE YOUR TEAM TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING THEY USE ON THEIR CLIENTS HAIR. DON’T SELL ANYTHING, SIMPLY EXPLAIN WHY IT’S BEEN USED AND WHAT IT DOES. ALSO, MAKE SURE YOUR TEAM TALK ABOUT OTHER PRODUCTS THAT MIGHT BE OF BENEFIT FOR DIFFERENT STYLES THEY MIGHT LIKE TO EXPERIMENT WITH AT HOME. AND DON’T MISS OUT ON REPEAT PURCHASES, KEEP A RECORD OF WHAT THE CLIENT PURCHASED AND WHEN, THEN REMIND THEM, EITHER IN AN EMAIL OR TEXT, OR WHEN THEY ARE SAT IN THE CHAIR THAT THEY NEED TO ‘TOP UP’.
***Third, it gave lots of people who don’t enjoy selling the perfect opportunity to ditch the sales pitch and focus in on the creative aspects of their daily working life once the doors of businesses opened up again.
TALKING ABOUT PRODUCTS SHOULD BE SEEN AS A CREATIVE ASPECT OF WORKING LIFE. IN REALITY WE SELL OURSELVES, WE SELL OUR CUT, COLOUR AND STYLING SKILLS, SO ADDING CONVERSATION ABOUT HAIR CARE SHOILD BE VIEWED AS ANOTHER CREATIVE STRING TO OUR BOWS. GOOD RETAILERS ARE NOT NECESSARILY GOOD SALES PEOPLE, THEY SIMPLY UNDERSTAND THE ART OF ‘DIALOGUE WITH BENEFITS’, IN ESSENCE THAT MEANS THEY TALK ABOUT THE PRODUCTS THAT ARE BEING USED AS THEY ARE BEING USED, AND THE TALK IS NATURAL AND NOT SALES DRIVEN. IN ALL HONESTY, NOT MANY HAIRDRESSERS ‘ENJOY’ SELLING, BUT I’VE YET TO MEET SOMEONE IN THIS PROFESSION WHO DOESN’T LIKE TALKING, SO TALK THE TALK AND THE SALES WILL FOLLOW, WITHOUT HAVING TO SELL ANYTHING.
Of course it’s easy to write down these thoughts, but if they are not put into action by hairdressers across the land then for sure internet shopping will continue to grow and salons recommendations will continue to fail.
And, if retail is really not ‘your thing’ although for the life of me I could never ever imagine why that might be, then there are companies now who ‘sell’ for you, as in they deliver the products after the client has purchased theM from their portal, giving you and your team a cut of the profit.
But for me, you simply cannot beat an engaging conversation with a client that excites them about their hair at home and the expert advice they receive from one of their most trusted partners, their own hairdresser.
Your retail business is ultimately important because to keeps you firmly in the eye of the client. Every time they use a product recommended and purchased from you, it reminds them of why they chose you as their salon of choice, if for no other reason, and believe me there are lots more, then this is why your retail business is very important.
Don’t be defeated be the defeater!
