7 Steps to Profits in a Salon Business During the Corona Era
With more than two million cases in the country, the coronavirus outbreak has hit India from all directions. In order to fight back the pandemic, the government of India imposed a nationwide lockdown in March-end, which brought the Indians to a standstill till the month of May.
Corona Virus has substantially hit the Indian Economy, between the months of April and June, 45% of economic decline has been predicted by The Investment bank Goldman Sachs. Where the service industries collapsed in April as the operations of most businesses came to a halt due to the lockdown.And the salon business activities began to fall in the month of march when initial cases were reported in the country, which later faced a drastic steep drop in May due to low demand and footfall in shops. More at zalonin. Click here.
In the times when it is advisable to maintain social distance and a six feet gap, survival of the beauty and wellness industry, which completely depends on human touch and service is suffering the worst. In India, more than one crore people are a part of the Salon business where sixty percent of the people are women working as staff and stylists in the beauty industry. Their profits and paychecks are suffering since the lockdown and even after the strategic unlock they are still facing problems in running their businesses as the fear of spreading the coronavirus continues among the groups of clients.
As per the sources, due to minimal sales of services, salon owners are struggling to pay salaries and rents as their sixty percent of expenses are fixed. Before the outbreak stylists often saw five to ten clients a day but now, they are either at homes for indefinite time periods or suffering losses.
During the wedding season bridal appointments and other home services which used to be a major share of beautician’s source of income, have also been canceled due to the pandemic. Given the financial crunch, many small-scale salons had to lay off their employees as they can no longer afford to pay their salaries and at the same time, big brands are also going through a tough time.
Things are even worse for independent artists and stylists. Sadly, if circumstances remain unchanged for a longer period then many salons will fail to reopen as they battle to survive.
In the 3rd phase of the lockdown, the government permitted the salons which are located in green and orange zones to operate, where the salon’s staff and stylists as well as customers are found wearing masks and rubber gloves during the services.
In the given situation, fear of hygiene and minimising the risk of spreading the virus persists, here reviving the trust of the customers is very important for the salons. The fight is bigger for the smaller salons as they have a congested set up where keeping social distance will be difficult and affording the cost of gloves, masks, PPE kits, and sanitisers will directly affect their profit margins.
Moreover, another challenge for the salons is the change in customer trends and pocket size of the customer, because of the pandemic and the recession in the Indian economy has affected the income of the people and has increased the rate of unemployment. Even though the beauty industry is called a recession-proof industry but people will become conscious about their expenditure on beauty and salon services, they may not be able to avoid their grooming or hair cut sessions but the demand for chemical treatments and other luxury services will be dropped.
Alarming concerns of salon owners have raised the questions of how shall they survive their salon business in the new normal? And What shall Salons do to make profits in the corona era?
Before we talk about anything else, firstly the salons need to accept and adopt the norms of new normal because neither the virus nor its fear is going away in near future, unless COVID vaccination is brought in the market by the authorities. So, the style of operating the businesses needs to be changed. To resume the business the first step by the salons shall be,
- Owing to coronavirus it is advisable to get regular sanitization of the vicinity of the salon.
- Health check-up and maintenance of health cards of staff members and stylists of the salon. PPE kits, gloves and face shields for the stylists and staff while they give services to the clients, and train the staff accordingly.
- Inform the existing customers or prospective customers via an online advertisement or personal communications, about the reopening of the salon.
- Market and promote the information of all the precautions taken care of by the salon to maintain the hygiene & safety of its customer. It can include the no skin contact service, or sanitization process of all the customers entering the salon or staff and stylist wearing PPE kits and face shields during the service. It will help in building the trust of the customer.
- Sales techniques like special value-added offers or combo offers shall be introduced to boost the footfall of clients in the salon, and a mass of customer service can make up for the thin margins.
- Emphasise on the introduction of off-premise services, like facials, manicures-pedicures, grooming, hair coloring at the residence of the clients. Where the beautician takes care of all the precautionary measures while giving the services to the client at the safety of their home.
- Implementing the digitalization of business operations, and go online via software and online applications like Zalonin. During the lockdown, it was the eCommerce industry that flourished the most, because of its user-friendliness and the convenience of customers to buy or book products and services online through mobile apps and websites.
The key elements for Salons to earn profit and increase their clientele to thrive their business are Communicating, Marketing, and Developing Business along with keeping up with the changes taking place in and around the world.
By registering on Zalonin App, it will give salons an online platform to operate their businesses. Zalonin helps to build a communication bridge between the salons and its existing clients, as well as with prospective customers.
The salons can share the location, range of services, offers, and pricing lists, which a prospective customer can go through before booking an online appointment. After taking services the clients can share their experiences by giving reviews and ratings to the salon.
It also promotes the business by marketing the salons and services online on the app and on other digital platforms like website & social media.
The user-friendliness for the customers and the ease of customer management for the salon owners on the app helps in developing the business as it makes it smooth for customers to book appointments through their mobile phones and also attracts new clients for the salons. Visit for more: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zalonin.salonuser
More about salons and businesses at: https://zalonin.com/for-salon
