2014 Beauty Industry Trends and Marketing Ideas

What’s on the horizon for the beauty industry in 2014?   With the new year just underway, it’s a good time to take a look at 2014 beauty industry trends as well as decide how you will respond to the changing spa and salon marketplace. 

One of the beautiful things about social media is that you can be “friends” with people you don’t know, but should.  One such social media friend of mine is beauty industry expert Gordon Miller.  I first ran into him on Facebook a few years ago, and from time to time we like one another’s posts or leave a brief comment.

So when he posted a list of 2014 beauty industry trends last week I couldn’t help but take notice.  And given some of my own recent experiences, new client inquiries and other observations, I found that I agreed with the majority of his predictions in terms of what trends are taking hold or are on the horizon for the beauty industry this year.

I decided to take each one and provide some analysis and marketing-related recommendations for beauty industry professionals. I should point out that while the numbered points came from his Facebook post, all of the commentary and suggestions are mine, and it is presented not to condone or approve of any of these beauty industry trends, but simply to inform and speculate about how these trends could change the salon industry in 2014.

2014 Beauty Industry Predictions – and What You Can Do About Them

1.  Big and small professional salon brands – and salon mega-distributors – will go direct to consumers online, effectively rendering “salon only” retail a thing of the past and the term “diversion” obsolete.

Whew!  Nothing like taking on a delicate subject head on!

The topic of diversion and what to do about it has been a major challenge for salon owners for several years.  While some salon-only products were illegally diverted, it became apparent that some major salon professional brands were placing some products onto retail shelves.

Given the ability of not only manufacturers but salon product distributors to sell directly to consumers online, perhaps it is an inevitability that they will – for better or for worse.  The biggest downside to this is that consumers will self-diagnose and in many cases choose poorly for themselves; and of course the other downside is the negative impact this will have on the independent and chain salons whose retail sales potential shrinks as a result.

It will be interesting to see whether manufacturers also decide to bypass the traditional salon product distributor and sell directly to licensed stylists, online, at a wholesale rate. While it presents some marketing challenges, it could potentially result in less markup by the time the product reaches the consumer’s consideration. The other big challenge would be that it may be more difficult for stylists to get brand-specific education outside of the traditional regional distributor model.  Mega-distribution models may have an advantage in the education market simply given their larger presence nationwide.

This is also an opportunity for smaller manufacturers to develop and promote boutique, salon-exclusive lines to be promoted to consumers by knowledgeable stylists.  Boutique manufacturers can gain an advantage by developing products tailored to regional demographics and corresponding marketing materials, scripts and other tools stylists can use to promote their products to local consumers online and from behind the chair.

Here are just a few of the things you might do in response:

• Regardless of which retail lines you carry, become more proactive – more consistent – and more vocal – from behind the chair in recommending the right retail products for each client; ultimately, you want your client using the right product, even if they don’t buy it from you.
• Add boutique, salon-exclusive products and brands to your retail and ditch, or reduce, the number of products you carry that are also available to consumers online or at non-salon retail channels.
• Improve your website’s text copy and become a consistent web-content publisher so that consumers searching for the product lines you sell find your salon more often in Google search results using best practices for SEO and content marketing (the 2014 Salon Marketing Calendar includes an easy-to-understand salon content marketing schedule).
• Turn regular customers into loyal, retail buying customers by extending a retail discount for pre-booked customers (I prebook out every 5 weeks, 12 months at a time with my stylist for this privilege!)
• Gain more independence by evolving your salon’s retail center beyond products, such as partnering with local craftsmen to bring in displays or creating your own designs for a line of t-shirts and tank tops, wood decor signs with great quotes, branded or bling-decorated items, gift books, style and fashion books, accessories like scarves, bags or jewelry – in smaller “when they’re gone, they’re gone” volumes so that you can bring in new items with each season, and so that clients will see something new each time they come in.

2.  Private label retail becomes more popular. 

Consumers may be able to buy more and more of the products that were formerly available only in salons online and in mass retail stores; however, salons with private label retail products retain exclusivity for their own salon-branded products.  Private label salon professional products can strengthen the brand of your salon in several ways:

• Consumers perceive your salon as so important and successful that it can have its own private line
• You work with manufacturers to identify products that are uniquely “right” for your region, and which is tailored to the unique needs of your salon target market’s ethnic makeup, environment (air, water, etc.) and other demographics
• With products of your own to sell, you develop a more thorough, integrated approach to your overall salon marketing

3.  Offering truly exceptional client service becomes more than just a concept or cliché. 

Developing a level of service and a total salon environment, ambiance and client experience that cannot be replicated in another salon does more than give your salon a competitive edge.  Creating a truly unique experience also gives you the means to attract more members of niche target markets and even becomes the basis for higher prices and profits, by creating a higher level of demand.

It’s the difference between selling your clients a feeling or just a service.  They can get a given service at any number of salons in your area, but by differentiating the way that you deliver client services, you can create something that is not replicate-able in another salon.

(Hint:  Get beyond the idea that “your people” or “customer service” sets your salon apart.  Everyone says that; if it’s true everywhere, it’s true nowhere!)

4.  Booth rental goes corporate. 

Another delicate subject hit head on!

One of the unique aspects of the salon industry is that in some parts of the U.S., booth rental is the norm, with some markets having as much as 90% booth renters.  In some others, it’s actually illegal. Enter the new “salon suite” concept, where a franchisee develops independent salon spaces, enabling some stylists to open their own salon, including the right to sell their own retail, set their own prices, set their own hours, run their own websites and social networks, lock up at night, and make any other decision that any other salon owner would get to make.

Like any other salon industry trend, the evolution of the booth rental market presents both challenges and opportunities.  Traditional salons may be able to further differentiate as well as attract and retain the best stylists by solidifying and formalizing their approach to continuing education and by revisiting their employee policies to see how they can give more flexibility to stylists and/or enhance employee benefits.  Salons will have the ability to offer a wider variety of services than a suite franchisee will have the skills, experience and probably equipment and supplies to handle.  Salons may also be able to leverage purchasing power as an advantage with distributors both for retail products and continuing education.

For distributors, the emergence of dozens – or even hundreds – of new “independent salons” in their region may put a strain on the schedule of the traditional distributor sales consultant and make development of websites that allow for online ordering for professionals a high priority.  Distributors will also need to expand their use of digital communications both due to the sheer numbers of contacts that may be added in a sales consultant’s territory, as well as the influx of more and more tech-communication-loving generations of stylists.

5.  Value-priced salon brands get more mega-brand-marketing attention. 

Salon professional retail sales have always been highly dependent on the stylist’s ability to educate their clients.  Regardless of price point, it remains imperative that stylists recommend the best solutions. It’s part of the responsibility the stylist has to the client.

It may be easier to sell a larger volume of value-priced products or salons may use value-priced options as a fall back (if clients refuse to consider higher-priced options).  Likewise, salons may consider using value-priced brand products as a free gift with purchase or another type of client purchase incentive.

But maybe it really comes down to focus. Focusing on promoting fewer retail lines (or even fewer products) keeps what is most important in front of your clients. Sometimes eliminating choices makes it easier and more likely that consumers will actually make a purchase.

Given the evolution of the salon industry, especially as it pertains to retail, there is merit in the idea of focusing your salon’s retail sales efforts on one or two important lines, or even just the sub-lines within a manufacturer’s family of salon products that are most relevant to your client base.  At the end of the day, what started out as a client-education issue remains so.

• Continue to educate your clients and prescribe the most appropriate retail products to each and every one.
• Get better at using email marketing to educate clients and extend promotions.
• Use social networks to educate your clients in sound bytes about products, services and outcomes (like before and after photos, education about manufacturer’s green practices, product ingredients, manufacturer’s corporate social responsibility and other topics that will resound with your target markets).
• Infuse your website with content that will truly work to attract more clients via Google and other organic search results.
• Adopt a salon marketing plan that is formal, scheduled, and integrated across all marketing channels – online and off.
• Increase staff training and education on products, services and communications and marketing topics.

While many of the 2014 beauty industry trends aren’t under your control, what is under your ability to control is how you respond and evolve your business in order to grow and thrive in the years to come. 

Look for ways to do things differently in order to differentiate your business from the masses and take strides into the future by expanding your digital marketing channels and making them work to build your business in a more strategic way.  Invest in continuing education that will set your salon apart and set you apart as a salon professional; and educate your clients, relentlessly!

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The 2014 Salon and Spa Marketing Calendar: By the Numbers, uses current marketing trends and statistics to help you promote your salon year-round.  Laid out on a wall-calendar format, with each new month you will get hundreds of marketing ideas to help you attract new clients, engage and retain your client base and build your salon business.