Are you thinking about venturing into the salon industry? Do you already own one? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, knowing beauty salon industry trends helps you adopt robust strategies.
These not only help your business stand out ahead of competitors, but they also facilitate overall success.
Studies
Studies indicate that roughly 4,000 barbershops and 82,000 beauty salons raked in approximately $20 billion yearlong sales in the year 2012.
This growth was estimated to hit approximately $58 billion by the year 2019.
It’s worth noting that small salons make the highest contributions in the industry while large companies deliver only a small percentage of the general revenue.
It’s evident that the industry has continued evolving by a wide margin and the trend is expected to continue in 2020 and beyond.
In this post, we shall discuss some of the hottest beauty salon industry trends to watch out for.
2020 Salon Trends to be on the lookout for
Beauty salon industry trends are always evolving fast. Entrepreneurs should be abreast with the greatest and the latest trends in the industry.
This is the only way they’ll manage to maintain the lead in the overly competitive industry. Keeping up with the trends can be an arduous task.
Read through the following hot salon trends that experts say will dominate the industry in 2020.
Incorporating these trends will help your salon grow and maintain a lead among your competitors.
· Adopt Booking and Pre-Booking
We are living in an evolving digital era where you can make a big percentage of your bookings online.
The number of people accessing the internet from their smartphones is increasing by the day. By creating an online booking platform you can tap into these numbers to promote your business on various online platforms.
Further, you allow your potential customers to access your services from the comfort of their homes.
Having an online presence is fast becoming essential for businesses that are committed to reach a wider audience and scale the heights.
Modern salons both small and medium-sized rely on online platforms to promote their brand and attract more customers.
This trend is set to continue in the future. Not only will it ease your job but it will also maximize customer experience.
· Phone Calls
Remember, some of your potential customers will need to place their bookings by directly calling your salon.
Integrate your contact phone numbers within the online booking system. This way, you will encourage more potential customers to adopt the online booking process on your site.
· Booking through Text Messaging
Give your customers a chance to book appointments through text messaging.
Do so by implementing a text messaging service that’s capable of enabling incoming and outgoing texts through the salon’s landline.
Your salon will benefit from this service and so will your potential and existing customers.
· Maintain Connections and Encourage Client Retention
One of the biggest beauty salon industry trends is being able to connect with your clients in a secure and fast manner.
Today, clients hardly place bookings before researching their preferred service provider’s social media platforms and websites.
Maintaining a professional albeit user-friendly site is important to ensure potential customers extend their stay on the site.
Include tangible images of clients getting services in your salon in all your social media channels.
Make it easy for your customers to book appointments through your website, text messages, phone calls, social media channels, and the salon’s app.
Scale the technology heights by launching an app for the salon.
Potential and existing customers can leverage them to place bookings, check-in, leave your messages, and purchase their preferred products.
As technology evolves, so are customers are elevating their expectations. Upgrading your services is one way of enhancing your customer retention rates.
Don’t just overlook late customers and no-shows. Contact them or send them reminders via text or email. This will make them feel valued.
· Mobile Apps
Mobile apps are a trend that’s expected to explode in 2020. If you are yet to launch an application for your business you may want to start now.
Apps can help you transform your salon’s productivity. Ensure the apps comprise of inbuilt tasks for managers, directors, and staff, as well as real-time updates.
You will need exclusive access to data transmitted on your app. By monitoring it you will be able to make modifications and enhance it accordingly.
Ensure your staff receives push notifications through the app. This way, they will be able to monitor business performance annually, monthly, weekly, or daily.
With this information, your staff will be motivated to enhance their services to enhance productivity.
· Leverage Social Media Platforms
Social media is becoming the inevitable trend that’s been evolving tremendously over the years.
Businesses cannot afford to ignore this wave. Ensure your facility has a social media account across different popular platforms.
The management of your social media platforms should be collaboration from the entire workforce to enhance its effectiveness and success.
Make your employees understand your concept of promoting the salon by creating and augmenting your social media presence. One of the trends in social media is the use of hashtags.
Create them for your salon and utilize them consistently. Make sure they are visible on each of your stylist’s work stations, the salon’s website, and printouts. This will encourage your customers to utilize them.
Encourage your stylists to make use of the hashtags and include them on your official social media platforms.
Customize your social media practices depending on your client’s interests. For instance, to cater to customers between the ages of 45 and 55, post before and after photos.
Remember, success on social media is highly dependent on consistency. Interact with your customers and address their concerns.
Handle every negative review professionally and find out from the complainants what you can do to make them feel better.
Make follow-ups and always remember to thank the reviewers for raising issues and bringing them to your attention.
· Video Marketing
Video marketing is already a popular trend across the business world. It’s expected that this will continue in 2020 and beyond.
According to experts, 80% of customer internet traffic will be emanating from video content. Leverage video marketing to demonstrate what you offer.
Produce short videos to show potential and existing customers the products you offer. You can also organize interviews with your existing customers and stylists.
Conduct a study to establish what your customers want to learn from you. Use the information you gather to make customized video content that meets their needs.
According to studies, more people today are drawn to videos as opposed to images and text-based content.
Invest in high-quality video production gear to help you make high-quality videos.
Implementing this trend in your business will help you spread awareness to a wider audience and attract more customers.
· Leverage Instagram Influencers
Recently, Instagram announced that it had hit 800 million users. This was a tremendous hike that they managed to achieve within about 5 months.
Instagram is set to become a big trend in 2020 with estimations showing that the number of users will escalate to a billion users.
To achieve success on Instagram, business owners will need to collaborate with bloggers in the beauty industry and influencers.
Identify people who share your business’ values and invite them to your salon for discounted or free services.
Encourage them to share their experience and broadcast your business to numerous followers on their platforms.
Influencing is already one of the biggest beauty salon industry trends and it’s expected to evolve further into 2020 and beyond.
Influencers have a huge following and having them discuss your services will market your brand to the right people.
· Go Live
What started as a way of having fun is today becoming a big trend in the business realm. Live videos are among the most robust beauty salon industry trends.
Some of the most popular social media platforms today enable you to go live and interact with your followers.
You can stream your staff live as they perform various services in the salon.
Give comprehensive details on the services and encourage your viewers to ask questions or leave their sentiments about the service.
Live videos allow you to interact with potential customers directly, display before and after photos, and address concerns instantly.
· Blogging
While some trends will come and vanish into thin air, you can’t overlook the value of a well-researched, written, and interesting blog article.
If your salon doesn’t yet have a blog, start planning for one immediately. This should be your archive where customers can refer and learn about beauty trends, announcements, and product reviews.
Remember, you can use your blog to give beauty tips and produce customized content that meets customer demands.
Guest blogging remains one of the leading beauty salon industry trends to watch in 2020.
Provide guest blogging services to other blogs in the beauty industry in exchange for spreading awareness about your blog.
Be consistent in content production to keep your followers around for longer.
Finally
As the year progresses, leverage on these 2020 beauty salon industry trends to promote your brand and reach a wider following. Remember, the salon industry is becoming overly competitive by the day. One of the best ways to remain afloat is to keep up with the trends and offer exclusive services.
