The holiday season is right around the corner, and it can either be a boom in trade or turn your salon into a desert, depending on several factors. As people head out to take advantage of all the sales around, they may choose to neglect their personal care services such as haircuts, hair coloring, manicures, pedicures, and massages due to time and/or budget restraints. Although some clients may skip their regular beauty appointments in the latter part of the year, many others will head out to your business and spend more than they usually do.
There are many ways the holiday season may affect your business either positively or negatively. By proactively recognizing the effects of the season, you can ensure your salon or personal practice remains busy throughout the season.
Different Priorities
The holidays lead to a change in priorities, which could mean slower business
During the holidays, people’s priorities change. They no longer focus on their beauty routines, so they may skip their haircut, waxing, coloring, or manicure. Instead, they will use this money to pay for their and other expenses that pile up during the holidays. Additionally, as the holidays get closer, more and more people head out on vacation. This could lead to many salon chairs remaining empty, hurting your business.
Parties and Family Gatherings
Although the holidays may leave your business seeming slow, it is also the time for special appointments. Many clients plan to entrust their beautician to make them look their very best for a special holiday party or for when they go home to visit their parents, especially if they fear running into their old high school classmates. You may find that your weekend appointments go quickly, while your regular weekday appointments remain open. If you find this to be the case, it may be helpful to adjust your schedule to provide room for the appointments that do come into your shop or chair.
‘Tis the Season for Gifts
Another way that you can extend your business during the holiday season is to market gifts. You can offer gift cards for your clients to purchase. Gift cards can bring in an average of 10 percent of total sales, and it may be even more for the holiday gift-giving season. It is also beneficial to offer special holiday packages made and marketed for gift-giving. Many people may choose to buy their family, friends, and coworkers spa services for holiday gifts, and the easier you make it for them to do this, the more likely it is they will actually purchase the gifts from you. This also will help you in the future, as these gifts may just convert the recipient into a client when he or she visits.
Targeted Marketing Strategies
Find ways to motivate people to buy presents to put under the tree from you
It is important that you work towards staying busy and attracting the attention of prospective clients to ensure you remain busy this holiday season, even if your regulars take the month off. The way to do this is to market smartly. You want to focus a percentage of your marketing on the gift angle. If you sell beauty products, you can create special gift packages that also save the person money. You can also bundle services, such as haircuts, manicures, and massages, to make it simple for someone to gift their friends or family member a spa package. It is easy to market these packages in your own salon so that people who come to your salon see them and purchase them before they even think too long about it. You can also have small stocking stuffer gifts at checkout to increase your sales.
If your salon is in an area with shops nearby, then it is the perfect opportunity to market for walk-in customers who may be looking for some down time and a chance to relax after a shopping spree. You can do this by decorating your salon and using an eye-catching A-board, posters, and other attention-grabbing items outside your salon. It may even help to extend your normal hours to give your clients additional time to squeeze in their appointments around shopping, work, and parties.
The holiday season does not have to be your slowest season. It is possible to keep your chair or salon as busy as you want it to be, and you may even be able to bring in more money than normal to help you pay for the extra expenses of the holidays.
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