Look beyond the routine or make yourself a specialist if you really want to stand out from the crowd and stand the test of time, says Penny Turvey
Nowadays beauty salons and spas must offer differentiation if they are to compete with continual changes in consumer priorities and to some extent cultural differences. They need to look at ways to set them apart and give them a competitive edge. Are skin care products a means by which salons can offer differentiation? Can skin care products make that salon stand out from the rest? Can specialist treatments be seen as differentiators in the eyes of their clients and do salons recognise differentiation as a unique selling proposition?Salons and spas should select product ranges that will allow them to tailor make treatments to suit their customer needs and their business ethos. In this current economic climate many clients are shopping for products on price alone and looking at high street brands over professional ones, so for the salon to compete for this business there needs to be innovation regarding recommendation and application.
Differentiation in this incredibly competitive marketplace can be achieved through product knowledge and training. Rather than blindly using what they have been given in training the therapist must thoroughly understand the products and their efficacy. This will enable the therapist to have the knowledge to adapt and to think outside the box as they will have the confidence to prescribe a skin care regime that best suits their client’s requirements. Do product companies provide sufficient relevant training? To have the confidence to prescribe products therapists require in depth training on ingredients, how products work and how best to integrate them into a treatment protocol. Training should be tailored to reduce the hype and concentrate on more technical information and practical application; this is something that retail beauty can’t compete with.
Suppliers who embrace the delivery of extra in depth training will reap the rewards of having super salons as their accounts, salons that will stay in business throughout uncertain economic times and continue to grow and develop not just their businesses but the market in general. Suppliers would do well to consider this additional training as their unique selling proposition because when their customers are deciding upon a skin care supplier this extra level of support could well be the deal clincher in their decision making process.
Differentiation may also be achieved through salons being innovative and specialist in their offering. Instead of high street salons providing clients with a plethora of treatments and products it appears that there is an increase in niche salons choosing to focus on one specialism or single treatment; hair removal, spray tanning or male treatments for example. Before entering into this specialist market, salons must carry out research to assess client needs and demographics. Excelling in a specialist area is key and the salon must look to be above its competitors in the treatment or service it provides. Research should be carried out on additional services or products that will complement each specialism.
An example of salon differentiation is the specialist waxing salon. Media attention has played a major role in promoting the benefits of waxing and this treatment has moved from being perceived as a painful necessity to a must have service, with improved formulations in depilatory wax and ranges of aftercare and homecare products helping support this niche. The success of specialist salons such as Strip and Ministry of Waxing are proof that clients want their treatment delivered by experts. This market has also seen an increase in demand for male waxing as again due to media influences such practices have become more socially acceptable. Male grooming treatments are growing in popularity and the number of men only salons catering for this lucrative market is becoming more noticeable. Again differentiation is important especially in the decor and choice of product range. Successful salons will create a separate treatment menu and use skin care that isn’t girly or too floral in smell.
Some salons will make technology and results oriented their means of differentiation. As anti-ageing treatments will always be a client’s favourite, there has been a significant increase in salons that specialise in advanced technology and focus on offering high performance skin care. The concept these salons employ is to bridge the gap between salon and surgery by using effective cosmeceutical skin care in combination with light therapy, laser, exfoliation and injectables. It appears that the integration of medically focused systems with holistic therapies is proving a popular choice for clients concerned about anti-ageing and salons concentrating on this concept are reaping the financial benefits.
One of London’s latest spa concepts, and one that certainly differentiates its pedicure routine from the norm, comes from the likes of specialist salon Aqua Sheko. The means of differentiation here are pedicure treatments using fish that feed off the dead skin cells. Garra rufa carp, or doctor fish, are small fish that suck on the dead and damaged skin sloughing off the unwanted layers. They are also believed to secrete an enzyme known as diathanol which can be beneficial to certain common skin disorders. These fish offer a natural alternative to the therapist using clippers or pumice stones. The fish were discovered early in the 1800s and the treatment has been used in Asia for nearly ten years, though some say it originated in Turkey.
There is clearly a demand for the super salon and the unique ways in which it differentiates its services. Salon owners and therapists must ensure that their niche offering is one which clients are prepared to pay for and should select supply companies that will constantly update their product offering, provide innovative formulae and have strong technical support.