Beauty salons: surviving the crisis. How to promote a beauty salon from scratch: step by step instructions Do not forget about "word of mouth"

Any enterprise that provides services needs customers, including a beauty salon. It doesn't matter what services a company offers if people don't know about it. Do not neglect advertising and other methods of attracting customers, of which there are a lot in modern society. How to promote a beauty salon? Very simple. It is enough to follow certain rules.

Theory

A beauty salon cannot exist without clients, and if people do not show interest in it, then very soon this enterprise will be declared bankrupt. The director must think over the development strategy before starting work.

How to spin up from scratch? There is nothing complicated in this, and it does not require large expenses either. First you need to decide on the audience that will visit the salon. Which customers will become regular visitors.

It is also very important where the beauty salon is located. It can be a center, elite or Depending on this, it is possible to determine the further work of the enterprise.

It is desirable that the salon has a twist. His services must be original. If there are, then it is likely that customers will travel from other areas as well.

Promotion of a beauty salon via the Internet

How to promote a new one via the Internet? Very simple. To get started, just use social networks and launch an action. For example, advertising on a page in some network will offer a haircut at a big discount or a manicure for half the price. This method works great only at the initial stage and practically does not require any costs.

The next stage will already require small financial investments. Opening your own website will help to quickly promote a beauty salon. It is necessary to place detailed information about the services provided, it is also desirable to post a price list, photos of the masters and their work. A very effective method is the photo report "before" and "after".

It is worth noting that when developing a site, it is advisable to use the services of professionals who already know what a certain group of visitors wants to see.

The importance of flyers

How to promote a beauty salon in a residential area with simple leaflets? This method of advertising is inexpensive and very effective, but only if it is in a certain place.

When ordering flyers, special attention should be paid to their design. It is important that they are very bright, colorful and interesting. Flyers that are boring and tasteless can backfire and discourage potential customers from visiting a beauty salon.

It is best to order the development and production of leaflets from a printing house. Specialists will competently develop a design, coordinate it, and only after that they will put it into print.

Ready-made flyers are best distributed in places where there is a very large crowd of people. It can be shopping centers or large entertainment complexes. You can also arrange them in mailboxes, but you should not make this type of advertising too intrusive.

Don't forget word of mouth

Recently, word of mouth has become the most popular way of promotion. How to promote a beauty salon in a crisis? This method of advertising will help, because it:

• practically free;
• attracts only active customers;
• positively affects the reputation of the institution.

These are just the main advantages of "word of mouth".

This type of advertising spreads very quickly from a satisfied customer to a potential one. This means that, having come to the salon, a new client is already preparing for a positive result in advance, and if his expectations are justified, he will in any case advise him to his friends and acquaintances.

It is on the basis of "word of mouth" that most of the regular is formed. Visitors always come in a good mood, and this has a very good effect on the reputation and atmosphere in the beauty salon.

Customer Incentives

How to promote a beauty salon in a business center? Stimulating a potential customer base will help a lot with this.

If such an enterprise is located in some center, then you can organize the so-called sampling, that is, part of the procedure is free of charge, and if the client likes it, then he will have to pay extra for the rest.

Also incentive methods include bonuses, promotions and coupons. Especially for a business center, coupons are good, upon presentation of which some kind of discount is provided. The coupon not only serves as a source of a profitable offer, but also informs potential customers about the procedures carried out in the salon. Bonuses can be offered in the form of free treatments subject to regular attendance.

It should be noted that the salon in the business center almost never has a permanent base, but there are always a lot of random visitors. Therefore, attracting customers at this location should occur constantly. It is also worth paying attention to the quality of procedures. It is important that the specialists working in the salon are true professionals.

The main mistakes that are made when opening a beauty salon

It is not enough just to answer the question of how to promote a beauty salon. It is also important to analyze the main mistakes that are made when opening an enterprise, as well as take measures to prevent them. So, there are only seven main mistakes, namely:

• mistakes in business planning;
• mistakes at the initial stages of work;
• errors in management that arise due to the inexperience or lack of education of the director;
• advertising errors (lack of flow of new customers);
• errors when working with an existing client base;
• mistakes in hiring new employees that spoil the reputation of the salon;
• business development mistakes. Constant change of strategy and plans.

Any "miss" must be corrected. Before answering the question of how to promote a beauty salon, you need to think about possible mistakes that can lead to bankruptcy at any stage.

The Importance of Marketing Research

Marketing research is a very important stage in the life of any enterprise that earns on the provision of services. However, well-conducted research is usually very expensive and sometimes it is simply not justified for a small business.

How to promote a beauty salon and at the same time spend a minimum of money? Is it possible to save on marketing research? Here are some questions that aspiring entrepreneurs are interested in.

Of course, you can save money, but only the director of the salon should remember the responsibility and the risk of possible ruin. Most often, entrepreneurs choose one of two options:

1. Marketing research is not carried out at all. Business is going with the flow. It's completely free, and some salons succeed anyway.
2. Marketing research is replaced by peer review. A good expert can easily point out to an entrepreneur the strengths and weaknesses of his business. Of course, this is not a full-fledged study, but in the absence of extra funds, peer review can also help.

If the business is at risk

Sometimes, to save a fading beauty salon, it is not enough just to conduct marketing research or an advertising campaign. Sometimes the director decides to completely change the concept.

When one concept is replaced by another, it will be a completely new beauty salon. Sometimes it is useful to make repairs and even change the name and sign. Such actions will greatly help if the beauty salon has not a very good reputation, for example, due to unskilled employees.

Also, if the situation is not too neglected, it is good to gradually introduce new services, setting an attractive price for them. In this way, you can improve the situation and stand out from other competitors.

A frightening “crisis” sounds from everywhere now, which some entrepreneurs perceive as a sentence to their business. But the devil is not as terrible as he is painted: an optimistic attitude - the crisis favors active ones - coupled with business optimization measures and competent cost savings will help to survive difficult times. How you can save money in a crisis for a beauty salon and how to get a beauty salon out of the crisis - we find out in our article.

How to bring a beauty salon out of the crisis? As we remember from our materials, crisis is a relative concept. Competent work and smart savings - this is one of the areas of activity. On what and how you can save - let's find out.

How to get a beauty salon out of the crisis with the help of bulk purchases

It's no secret that "wholesale is cheaper," so for many salons, wholesale is a good way to save money in times of crisis. Buy cosmetics "for future use", in other words - in bulk - a traditional anti-crisis measure. In addition to the fact that the wholesale price is much lower than the retail price, all goods can also be selected and ordered on the website in a couple of clicks. Wholesale companies organize delivery at any convenient time, but delivery times vary from 7 days to a month, depending on where the company's warehouse is located. Fortunately, with modern navigation systems, you don’t have to worry about the cargo: the order can be tracked throughout the entire route; you can even ask suppliers to take a picture of the product before shipping to make sure it's the exact product the salon ordered. As a nice bonus, many wholesale companies provide product samples for free.

BY THE WAY!
If you need to automatically calculate the salaries of your employees, keep records of goods, cash flows of a beauty salon and see the balance of mutual settlements, then we recommend trying Arnica - beauty. In Arnika, this is implemented as simply and conveniently as possible.

But bulk purchases have a significant drawback - this is need for large amounts of money which will pay off only in the future. This savings option is not suitable for small salons that do not have their own warehouse, because they simply have nowhere to store stocks of cosmetics.

Yulia Kechkina, General Director, De Trois Rein Beauty and Health Center (Novosibirsk): “In a beauty salon, you can save on consumables during a crisis. But we do not do this by switching to wholesale purchases (although, of course, wholesale and retail prices vary significantly). But in our situation, as a rule, we don’t need large-scale purchases, starting from boxes, the salon will spend such volumes for a very long time, and besides, not all salons have such an extensive warehouse to accommodate these “reserves”. Therefore, we do not switch to wholesale purchases, but are more strict in the selection of suppliers, we choose serious ones, with low prices, with the possibility of combining orders. This is, in fact, the only way for us to optimize purchases. We will not save on anything else in the current conditions.”

Affiliate programs will help a beautiful business survive in a crisis

A profitable affiliate program based on the win-win principle will help the salon at any time, and in a difficult period it can even become a “saving straw” that will pull the enterprise “ashore” and help bring the beauty salon out of the crisis. You can try to include non-core organizations in the affiliate program - clothing, cosmetics, jewelry stores, pharmacy chains, travel agencies. Another option that will help save money during a crisis is cooperation with a major cosmetic brand (for example, Wella, Londa, etc.). They offer free comprehensive training for professionals at any stage of development, from beginner to pro. There are training centers of such brands in almost all major cities of Russia; they also offer distance learning using Internet resources. In addition to free education, a partnership of this kind gives a discount on cosmetics. The percentage of the discount is determined by the terms of the contract. The brand provides the maximum discount to the salon, which undertakes not to use cosmetics from other brands.

IMPORTANT!
When switching to another brand, it should be borne in mind that the master will still have to retrain, this is not always perceived positively by specialists.

Natalya Velyuga, commercial director of the network of business class salons "May" (Saint Petersburg): “I realized the benefits and prospects of working with strong brands for a long time. If you own several salons, then you can always count on concessions from them. This is explained by the simplest laws of business: the larger your purchases, the more loyal the supplier is to you. Among the privileges that you can get from status brands, one of the first places is occupied by training - seminars for staff on the technology of using brand products, regular certification of employees to maintain the proper level of knowledge and sales. As a motivation, your masters may also be offered training at a more serious level - for example, advanced training courses. In addition, you have the right to expect from a status supplier of assistance in promoting the purchased goods. These can be special brand days, gifts for clients, an individual motivational program for craftsmen. As a rule, the technologist of the brand company participates in such events. And the products used are partially compensated by the supplier. The traditional type of loyalty from a partner is additional discounts for large purchases, or gifts in the form of free accessories (tool carts and other equipment). If you cooperate with manufacturers of hairdressing equipment, then you can count on discounts on professional hair cosmetics, because most often these two industries (equipment for hairdressers and cosmetic products) are closely interconnected and have partnerships. My advice is to never hesitate to ask a supplier for privileges. But you will definitely be asked: “And what are you, dear salon, ready to offer for this?”. You are expected to answer something like this: “I will increase sales of your brand, which means that my purchases will also grow.”.

How to save in a crisis on SOUT

As you know, a special assessment of working conditions should be carried out at least once every five years, but if new jobs are put into operation, the technological process has changed, the composition of the materials used in the work or other innovations that can affect the level of exposure to harmful and hazardous production factors, the organization is obliged to conduct an unscheduled special assessment. What can you save on in a crisis by conducting a SAOT, and bring a beauty salon out of the crisis? First, combine similar jobs (eg nail technicians, hairdressers). Secondly, register all specialists who work outside the office as remote, this will reduce contributions to the Social Insurance Fund (if you use outsourcing services, then this issue has already been resolved for you). Thirdly, optimize working conditions so that they are rated as 1 or 2 class, which will also reduce contributions to funds.
But the best way to save money during the crisis is, of course, to extend the results of the previous check. It is possible if for 5 years in your organization there were no obvious signs of exposure to harmful factors, there were no accidents and no incidents related to occupational diseases were recorded.

Vladimir Chervyakov, Technical Director of the New Technologies Research Center (Moscow): “During the SOUT, each workplace is evaluated. It identifies harmful and dangerous factors, their measurements, the job duties of the employee, the rules and regulations on labor protection in the organization, the rules and procedure for issuing personal protective equipment are studied. Based on these data, a report is drawn up and a class of working conditions is assigned. The complex of works for each workplace is calculated separately. But pay attention to the simplest changes - and they will help you save money in a crisis. For example, increase the number of similar places. Often, following new trends, positions that have the same functionality of the employer are called differently. But the Law on the Special Assessment of Working Conditions No. 426-FZ allows, if positions have the same name, job responsibilities, and employees are in the same premises, consider such places to be similar and identify factors, measure and evaluate working conditions not at each of them , but 20% of their total number. Thus, it is enough for the employer to combine employees with the same job duties and nature of work into one profession according to the ETKS directory. Then the certifying organization will evaluate not all, but only 20% of such places. For example, instead of the position of a master, a senior master, a hairdresser, a generalist hairdresser, all employees should be transferred to the position of a hairdresser. This way you can save a lot in times of crisis.

The next stage, which will allow a beautiful business to survive in a crisis during the SAUT, is the assignment of classes 1 and 2 based on the results of a special assessment of working conditions, which will lead to a reduction in contributions to the Social Insurance Fund. Sometimes for this it is enough to replace lighting installations, install climate systems, replace outdated hand tools with an increased noise level and vibration load with modern ones. The specialist of the certifying organization will definitely tell you what things to pay attention to. But in order to know for sure what improvements in working conditions at the workplace will be required to reduce classes, it is recommended that the organization conduct production control. The PC allows you to draw up a real map of the impact of harmful factors on workers and identify their sources. In addition, the results of the PC should be taken into account in the SOUT, if it is carried out no later than 6 months later. Sometimes insignificant investments in improving working conditions will pay off by reducing insurance deductions.

If, based on the results of the assessment of working conditions, the workplace is assigned a class of working conditions of 1 or 2 (optimal or permissible, respectively), and there have been no accidents at the workplace over the past 5 years, then the results of the conducted SATS are valid for another 5 years. That is, subject to labor discipline and labor protection rules, the results of the SOUT can be extended without any additional investment.

The cost of SOUT of one workplace, as a rule, is in the range of 1,500 rubles. for office jobs and from 2,000 rubles. for industrial jobs.

In 2015, fines for non-compliance with labor protection requirements in the organization were significantly increased. Moreover, enterprises of all sectors of the economy, both in office premises and in production, are obliged to comply with the rules established by law on the availability of documentation, keeping journals on labor protection, and conducting a special assessment of working conditions..

Advertising in crisis

Even in times of crisis, advertising cannot be completely abandoned, otherwise, the salon runs the risk of being left without new customers. Consider several options for how you can effectively advertise a salon, for an amount not exceeding daily revenue. Low-budget advertising is a tool that many salons turn to, and it can help save money during a crisis.

• Very often people choose a beauty salon based on its geographical location. In search engines, requests of the format “metro beauty salon (name)” or “metro haircut “name” are common. Search engines reflect the information of directories, they contain information about the salon (name, services, price, contacts), they place it for free. But for little money (one-time payment), you can raise the rating of the salon, so that when requested, the name of the salon comes out one of the first.
• Article on the site with the target audience. For example, a portal about beauty and the beauty industry, it is desirable that it has a forum. Although there are few such sites, they do exist. With their help, even those who have never been in it will learn about the salon.
• Contextual advertising is an advertisement for your salon, which will automatically appear in the search engine when you enter a query related to the selected topic. The price for it depends on the number of clicks on links during the month.
• Gift certificates can also be considered a means of advertising, because it is thanks to them that new customers come to the salon. Add information about certificates in your salon to specialized sites to increase the number of primary customers for certificates from 10-15% to 30-40%.
• Charitable and socially significant actions. Do not refuse to participate in such events, because you are not only doing a good job, but you can also get free advertising time on a federal channel.

Ksenia Kurbetyeva, Director of the Center for Freelance Marketers at Business Compass: “During a crisis, it’s better to give up advertising, the profit from which cannot be calculated, for example, advertising in magazines, but you can leave targeted and contextual advertising, because in this case you pay for a specific client who went to the site. It is necessary to work as much as possible on increasing the loyalty of the existing customer base, and not trying to capture new customers. Since old clients are used to spending money on these services and in this capacity, and even in a crisis they will not give up their lifestyle.”

Prevention measures: accounting programs

Sales analytics, financial accounting, work on maintaining and increasing the customer base is a difficult job that must be done especially carefully in difficult times. But with the right approach, it will help bring the beauty salon out of the crisis. First of all, it is necessary to analyze the nature of the change in demand, as well as take a closer look at your clientele - did the clients suffer from the crisis?

Elena Valeeva, director of the salon "Natalia" (Kaliningrad): “Undoubtedly, the crisis affected our salon, despite the fact that we have long established ourselves in the market. It manifests itself, first of all, in a decrease in the patency of customers, regular customers also began to come much less frequently. At the moment, we have introduced budget services (at cost and final price) in order to have an alternative option for retaining customers who can no longer afford to use the services at the previous prices on our consumables.”

Andrey Zepalov, General Director of the men's hairdressing salon "Alyaska" (Moscow): “The hairdressing industry has not “failed” in any of the crises. Yes, growth has slowed down, but people need to cut their hair even in difficult times. Who mostly suffers in a crisis is expensive salons. At such a time, you have to compete with the client himself, because when he decides that he needs to cut his hair, he will choose: go where he went, go to another place where it is cheaper, or do it himself. "Do it yourself" is only suitable for a limited range of services. A haircut, for example, still requires professional skills, so they will choose by price. What conclusion can be drawn: it is necessary to remove all additional services with a high cost and leave only the basic ones. We need to get people to go. You can make an anti-crisis proposal or be very precise in pricing. The crisis, by the way, is a good time for growth. If such growth was planned. Rent prices are falling, work crews are becoming more accommodating. And doubling the business, as you know, leads to a reduction in costs from 10% to 30% (with skillful management). So I see expansion as another way to cut costs.”

There are anti-crisis measures that naturally work, but they may not be enough, because the crisis requires a review and optimization of working methods in general, and a computerized accounting program will become the first assistant in this.

IMPORTANT!
The cost of consumables is a significant part of the income of the salon. The main rule for regulating these costs is a strict procedure for accounting, and then writing off the services rendered. So you can save a lot and bring the beauty salon out of the crisis.

Automation of a beauty salon allows you to save time and money during a crisis and gradually brings its work to a completely new level, which naturally affects the profitability of the business. The program will not give an instant (but at the same time short-term) result, it acts more like a “homeopathy” for the salon business. According to even the most conservative estimates, by managing the client base, systematized reminders and mailings, you can reduce the number of lost customers by 30%, save up to 20% of consumables due to the built-in system for accounting for goods and controlling its movement in the warehouse, reduce the cost of ineffective advertising and facilitate customer registration process. For example, the Arnika accounting program allows you to register clients not only through the salon website, but also using Yandex and 2GIS services.

Sergey Bobin, head of the Arnika service: “All the costs of a beauty salon can be divided into 4 articles:

· The cost of materials used in the provision of services

· Staff salary

· Overhead costs (rent, utilities, banking and other services)

The head of any salon can, to a greater or lesser extent, save on each of these cost items. There are many ways to save costs, from something as drastic as moving to another location to reduce rental costs, to much less significant, like using less expensive consumables.

The decision on how, how much and what kind of costs should be reduced by the head of the salon is made in each case, based on the specific business tasks being solved.

I would like to dwell in more detail on the methods and tools for reducing costs that our Arnika beauty salon management system can offer. Arnica contains tools to reduce costs in each of the 4 areas. However, the greatest savings can be achieved in reducing the cost of consumables used.

How to bring a beauty salon out of the crisis by reducing the cost of materials

Each beauty salon, when providing services to clients, uses a large amount of materials, which often make up a significant proportion of the cost of the service provided.

Savings (or vice versa, excessive spending) of materials can greatly affect both the profitability of individual services and the business of the salon as a whole.

Consider 2 approaches that are typical for beauty salons when working with consumables:

Approach #1:

• there is no control over the consumption of materials;
• materials are transferred to the masters at their request in the amount that; asks the master; records of materials transferred to the masters are not kept;
• the master himself decides what materials to use for each specific client, the composition of the materials does not affect the cost of the service for the client;
• there are no standards for the consumption of materials for each service; the head of the salon does not have an understanding of how efficiently the materials are spent;
• procurement of materials occurs haphazardly - materials are purchased from different suppliers, in different quantities and at different prices.

Approach #2:

• standards for the use of materials have been developed for each service. The head of the salon can at any time receive information about the facts of deviation from the standards;
• records of materials transferred to the work of masters are kept. The head of the salon always has information about what materials everyone now has and where they were spent;
• if the master agreed with the client on the use of additional materials (or not those that were originally included in the cost of the service), the cost of the service for the client increases;
• the manager sees the history of purchases of each material; when planning purchases, can analyze the purchase from which supplier and in what quantity can be made on the best terms.

Obviously, approach No. 1 does not contribute to saving materials, but, on the contrary, increases the likelihood of their inefficient and inappropriate use. When using approach #2, materials will be used as efficiently as possible and their cost will be minimal. Arnika has all the tools for the full implementation of approach No. 2, and our consultants are always ready to teach the head of the salon to apply these tools in practice and help save money in a crisis.

How to save money on marketing and advertising during a crisis

The second cost item that I would like to touch upon is the cost of marketing and advertising. As a rule, marketing and advertising is a mandatory item of expenditure for any salon, because without attracting new customers it is difficult to expect long-term business growth. However, often the tasks that are set when planning a marketing budget (growth in revenue, ensuring the workload of masters, etc.) can be solved not by attracting new customers, but by working with the existing customer base. As a rule, the cost of returning a client who has already visited the salon is significantly lower than the cost of attracting a new client, which means that by following this tactic, the salon manager can save money on marketing and advertising during a crisis, while at the same time meeting the challenges them business tasks.

There are a large number of tools that contribute to the return of customers. Here are some of them:
– forecasting the date of the next visit of the client, a timely call (SMS message or email) with a proposal to visit the salon;
– tracking birthdays (and other memorable dates) of clients, offering the client to visit the salon on special terms a few days before the event;
- sale of subscriptions and gift certificates that encourage the client to re-visit the salon;
– SMS mailings (as well as e-mail mailings, messages in groups of social networks, etc.) with information about promotions and special offers.

As a rule, using the above tools is much cheaper than attracting new clients to the salon, and our Arnika beauty salon online management system supports work with each of them.

How to save on overhead costs during a crisis

The third cost item that can be saved in a crisis is overhead costs. As salon management program providers, we can help to a lesser degree in cost savings under this heading than in savings under other headings. Typically, overhead savings are achieved through negotiation with service providers, tax optimization, and other methods that are outside the functionality of the enterprise management program. However, I am sure that any cost savings start with transparent cost accounting. If the head of the salon does not have a clear picture of the cost structure, the dynamics of changes in costs for certain items, then it is extremely difficult to decide where the greatest savings can be achieved.
But cost accounting is one of the main functional blocks of any beauty salon management system. And we help our users to take into account and analyze all costs and make effective decisions to bring the beauty salon out of the crisis.

How to save money during a crisis with salary optimization

The fourth cost item is staff salaries. Based on our experience, we can say that managers resort to saving on the salary of employees last, when all other options have been used, because. salary cuts can affect the quality of services provided or lead to the dismissal of key employees. However, in some cases it is possible to achieve savings in wage costs without negative consequences. For example, we were faced with a situation where the salaries in the salon were not balanced - the salary of 2 masters of the same qualification was almost identical, but the profit they brought was 3 times different. In this case, the analysis of the situation and the introduction of a motivation system tied to the result of the master made it possible to save costs without any negative consequences. Despite the fact that the salary of one of the masters has decreased, the employee received a transparent motivation system, which in the future allowed him to earn more, bringing great benefits to the employer».

Non-core activities - to outsourcers

A naturally profitable and justified way to save money during a crisis is outsourcing, i.e. transfer of non-core functions of the organization to external performers - outsourcers, qualified specialists of a third-party company. For beauty salons, non-core activities will be, for example, accounting, law or cleaning.

To keep a business afloat even in the most difficult times, beauty salon accounting must be in perfect order. The owner must always have up-to-date information on all existing assets in order to track and analyze the main key indicators of his activity, such as daily revenue, customer flow, product balances, etc. But keeping a full-time accountant is not always advisable, and therefore many beauty salons practice outsourcing accounting services. Thus, you can save on the maintenance of an accountant (instead of a monthly salary - a fee for a specific service, you do not need to provide a workplace, there are no tax deductions from wages), as well as insure against unforeseen situations when accounting is not provided on time due to various circumstances (illness accountant, layoffs, etc.).

IMPORTANT!
The order in accounting will facilitate the preparation of documents for possible scheduled and unscheduled inspections of a beauty salon.

Olga Isakova, Executive Director of the consulting company "Business Instruments": “As for the question of how profitable it is for a beauty salon to outsource an accountant, I can say the following. In Russia, the average salary of an accountant in the state is from 25,000 to 50,000 rubles. These parameters depend on the city where he works, the enterprise (we are talking about a beauty salon, a chain of salons or a large cosmetology center) and the qualifications of the accountant himself. Add to that 30% tax. The cost of outsourcing accountant services depends on such parameters as the number of processed documents, operations that need to be carried out, and the volume of documents transferred to work (calculated per month). Taking into account all this, our company offers beauty salons a service rate of 5,000 rub. per month. Depending on the volume of services provided, the amount can rise up to 15,000 rubles. Thus, on average, an outsourced accountant saves from 30% to 60% of the amount that goes to the salary of a full-time accountant.”

A similar situation with cleaning - outsourcing of such specialists will also help to save a lot in a crisis. It is no secret that according to SanPin standards, beauty salons should do a general cleaning (washing floors, walls, equipment, furniture) of the premises once a week. If this is done alone by a full-time cleaning lady, then this process can stretch for several hours, and in fact at this time the salon could serve customers! The cleaning service will quickly and efficiently clean the premises at a time that will be convenient for the salon and will take a total of no more than an hour.

Text: Elena Vozmishcheva, Maria Shakhova

A few years ago, beauty salons in large cities of Kazakhstan opened at every turn. But they were not crowded in the market - everyone had clients and everyone could earn. However, after the devaluation of 2015, the situation changed dramatically, and many owners of the “beautiful business” had to reformat their work, and some even left the market.

President of the Association of the Beauty Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan Tursun Mahmudzhan admitted that the beauty industry is also affected by changes in the exchange rate of the national currency: income of beauty salons decreased by 10-12% for 2016.

- Of course, some salons were forced to close, others adapted to the current situation and began to hold more promotions and provide discounts, - Tursun said. - Those salons that are now doing business correctly will stand.

Tursun Mahmudzhan noted that this industry is very young and is still at the development stage.

- Abroad, beauty salons are opened only by professionals, which cannot be said about Kazakhstan. Of course, people from this area have a better understanding of the beauty business. And, of course, those who are not an expert in this field, but simply invested in it, are less likely to succeed,- the expert is sure.

Meanwhile, according to the president of the association, the crisis allows the industry to become more professional and flexible.

- The flow of customers has decreased. Masters become more professional, they understand that the competition is big and they must be trained. Beauty salons reduce prices, despite the fact that consumables are from abroad, - the interlocutor described the business situation.

Founder of Hollywood Beauty and Style Center Inna Sannikova spoke about the changes that have taken place in the market after the devaluation of the tenge.

- The flow of clients has practically not changed, but we began to provide fewer services. If earlier in our salon they could get all the services without thinking about the cost, now customers stop at things that are more important to them. Our regular customers began to purchase fewer services, not even because they have less money. They have more health care. They try to go on vacation more and spend less on entertainment and pleasures, such as visiting a salon,- said the interlocutor.

According to Inna Sannikova, haircuts, hair coloring with gray hair, depilation, manicure and pedicure are still in high demand. But the services of a makeup artist began to resort less frequently.

Also, according to her, interest in learning has increased. The make-up school, which was launched back in 2010, has become more popular. Now training in the field of beauty is very popular. At the same time, ladies study both for themselves and in order to later become a master and start working in this area.

Moreover, according to Inna Sannikova, beauty salons were affected not only by the depreciation of the national currency, but also by a change in trends

- The boom in our field was from 2012 to 2014, when the fashion for nail extensions and artificial tan had not yet gone. Now the focus is on care and health. But we are also adapting to this and offer new care services, she said.

In the current situation, the specialist sees both positive and negative sides. According to her, there were always a lot of salons buried and opened. But in the crisis year, more salons could not cope.

- There is a plus in this crisis: now dysfunctional salons are leaving. At the same time, there are more masters working for themselves, and this is a minus. At home, it is impossible to meet the requirements of the sanitary and epidemiological station, to properly disinfect equipment and inventory,- noted the speaker.

In spite of everything, Inna Sannikova is confident that the situation in the industry will begin to change for the better.

- This situation is temporary. Our citizens need time to adapt to the situation. We have drawn conclusions for ourselves - it is necessary to strengthen advertising and revise prices. Despite the devaluation and the fact that we buy consumables abroad, their cost has increased at least on 25% , we raised prices only for certain types of services, but made discounts for a complex type of service. We formed package offers, and people began to use them more actively. For a complex - manicure plus pedicure, the amount for two services was reduced by 15-20% by adding another layer of gel she shared her secrets.

Founder of The Beauty Bar studio, international makeup artist Adel Ardashirova I am sure that you can stay on the market and successfully compete with other salons even in a crisis situation if you know who your client is and offer interesting promotions and services to each of them.

- The state of our salons, despite the crisis, cannot be called critical. New salons continue to open, as there is demand,- says Adel Ardashirova. - In our business, there is a seasonality - in January and February, a steady flow of customers. But for salons that have been operating on the market for more than one year, this is not a problem. Together with marketers, they develop various promotions, offer interesting products and discounts. For example, we have developed promotions for different services for every day of the week. Clients come, and we do not observe a decrease in the flow as such.

All speakers noted that clients first of all go to pedicure and manicure masters. However, the director of the studio of nail stylists "Hands-Feet" Natalia Gutsalyuk She said that the crisis also affected the nail business.

- Previously, the masters recorded at least a week in advance, and it was impossible to get to them. Now you can call and get to the procedure at a convenient time for you the same day. This suggests that the flow of customers has decreased, she said.

But, the speaker noted, if the salons maintain the correct pricing policy and do not raise prices, customers do not leave. The truth is, everyone has to fight.

- From my own salon, I can say that we sell complexes, we make big discounts on a package of services. We also developed a system of bonuses - it can be a design, varnish or gel coating. Every Tuesday (this is the least busy day) we have a promotion - minus 20% for services. We are now on Tuesday. Salons should offer a variety of loyalty products. It can be certificates with discounts and much more, she thinks.

Also, according to Natalia Gutsalyuk, today people pay more attention to care, and therefore salons are trying to develop hardware cosmetology.

- Here it is difficult for us to compete with doctors who have the right to inject various injections. And if you need to take a whole course for hardware procedures, then injections give an instant effect. It's hard for us to compete with them. she admitted.

Meanwhile, despite the crisis, according to the Euromonitor forecast for 2016, the market for services, cosmetics and personal care products in the Republic of Kazakhstan is developing and showing growth. According to them, the market volume in 2016 reached $547.23 million with an increase on 3,9% , and for the period 2015 to 2019 will grow to $609.58 million with a general increase on 15,8% .

The beauty industry during the crisis turned out to be one of the most vulnerable business segments. Representatives of clinics specializing in plastic surgery note that demand has fallen by 30-50%. Salons that provide hairdressing and cosmetology services have lost almost a third of their customers. As anti-crisis measures, beauty centers plan to open their own cosmetics production, and also switch to Russian brands.

Permanent care

A spokesman for Frau Klinik, a Moscow plastic surgery clinic, said that over the past three months, the demand for all types of operations has decreased by 50%.

“Women have become half as likely to do mammoplasty (breast plastic surgery) and lifting (facelift), although these procedures are usually successful,” the clinic said. “The procedures are expensive, and the purchasing power of patients is not the same as before. However, we have not changed our pricing policy. Imported drugs (drugs, implants) have become more expensive due to the fall of the ruble, and the cost of operations has increased, so we cannot reduce prices.

According to Yuri Inshakov, a plastic surgeon and head of Enigma Medical Center in the capital, the demand for surgeries has fallen by about 25-30%.

“You can’t say that people refuse planned procedures,” he said. - But many transfer operations for which they signed up 1-1.5 months ago. Probably, people are waiting for spring, looking at forecasts for the ruble exchange rate.

According to him, demand usually changes depending on the time of year.

“For example, by spring there are more breast augmentations and liposuctions - after all, the beach season is ahead,” he said. “Then they are replaced by facelifts. And now I have more rhinoplasty (nose job) going on.

At the same time, there is a decrease in demand in general, and not for any specific operations. According to Yuri Inshakov, due to changes in prices for imported drugs and consumables, the cost of operations increased by about 25%.

In the center of plastic surgery "Estet Clinic" in Moscow, they said that they were just going to revise the prices for plastic surgery.

— The cost of the procedures will soon be revised due to the rise in the cost of consumables, — said the representative of the clinic.

Plastic surgeon Eduard Shikhirman also says that today the popularity of services for surgical correction of the body and face has not decreased.

“Now it is profitable to do operations, because the prices have remained the same for the time being, and when converted into dollars, plastic costs two times cheaper than before,” he said. - Stocks of consumables are still there, but new drugs have not grown much - indexation was only 15-20%,

Typically, services such as mammoplasty, complex facelift and nose job cost about 200 thousand rubles. Prices for liposuction of different parts of the body start from 20 thousand rubles.

elusive beauty

Well-known stylist Vlad Lisovets (owner of the Hairdressing Office salon in Moscow) said that recently revenue has fallen by about 20%.

“There is a slight outflow of visitors, but regular customers continue to go regularly, without refusing any services,” he said. - Standard set - haircut, styling and coloring. The only thing is that now clients take a longer break between visits, preferring, for example, to touch up at home.

Lisovets stressed that the prices for services will remain at the same level in the near future - the salons do not want to scare away the remaining customers. So, a haircut with styling costs from 3.6 thousand rubles, coloring - from 5.4 thousand rubles, manicure - from 960 rubles, and makeup - from 5.5 thousand rubles.

According to the forecasts of the stylist, you should not expect improvement in the beauty industry market until the end of summer.

- Everyone took a waiting position, looking in which direction to move on. Most likely, the situation will be stable in the next six months. A small decline is also possible - by about 5%, he said.

Lisovets also said that the crisis had a negative impact on the atmosphere of the salon.

“Everyone is talking about economic difficulties, layoffs, fear of losing a job,” he said. - It is unpleasant that this is reflected in the psychology and mood of the employees and clients of the salon.

The network of salons "My Fair Lady" said that revenue decreased by 3-4%. The company is currently negotiating with suppliers to curb the rise in prices for hair dyes, cosmetics and other materials.

“Our anti-crisis measures are a change of service providers (laundress, cleaning, security, etc.), which raise prices,” said Olga Stolbova, general director of the network. — We also try to support our customers with discounts that will be valid until the situation stabilizes. We refused to raise prices for our services.

After the sharp fall of the ruble, the company thought about switching to Russian cosmetics.

“After the analysis, it became clear that there was nothing to replace imported cosmetics,” said Olga Stolbova. — We were negotiating with ten Russian partners, but we did not choose anyone, because there were practically no savings. After that, we thought about creating our own branded products.

The NogotOK network of manicure and pedicure studios also noted that Muscovites have become less likely to use hand care services.

“If earlier our regular visitors did a manicure about once every eight days, now it’s no more than once every two weeks,” said a representative of the network.

The network of manicure and pedicure salons "TaEl" confirmed that saving has become the rule for many customers.

“Now clients think what is more important to them, for example, care or coverage, although they used to do a full range of procedures,” they say in the salon. “Visitors refuse complex care, strengthening nails with biogel, and for some, shellac coating becomes too expensive.

Who lives well in a crisis

Mikhail Kuznetsov, head of the Academy of the Beauty Industry, which provides consulting services to "salon businesses," said that the companies that charge the most for the brand or "mythical craftsmanship" have the biggest losses. In those salons where the ratio of price and quality is normal, the situation is more or less stable.

“Now salons are reviewing relationships with suppliers and are looking for more favorable conditions,” he said. - In connection with the fall of the ruble, many suppliers have greatly increased prices.

According to him, it is not possible to select domestic suppliers of products for all services. The most obvious example is the ability to replace foreign hair cosmetics with the Russian Estel, which many salons already work with. But in the nail service it is almost impossible to find a replacement.

- If you use Russian cosmetics, the savings will be 30-50%, - said Mikhail Kuznetsov. “At the same time, our brands are usually in the middle segment, so for those who are used to luxury brands, there is no replacement.

The expert clarified that salons are still looking for a solution - someone is switching to domestic cosmetics, someone is reducing margins, someone has decided to pay more attention to staff motivation.

The Unicosmetics company, which produces Estel cosmetics and has two factories in St. Petersburg, confirmed that the demand for products is growing during the crisis.

— Even before the crisis, we were the No. 1 brand in Russian salons, — said Lev Okhotin, CEO of the company. - In total, there are about 70 thousand salons in Russia. Until July 2014, approximately 40-45 thousand of them used our cosmetics. For six months, the growth was about 10%. The situation may differ depending on the region. For example, in Moscow and the Moscow region there are approximately 10 thousand salons. Before the crisis, 5 thousand people worked with us, now another 1 thousand have been added - that is, an increase of 20%. And in the city of Vologda, 240 salons and 230 work with us - there is nowhere for demand to grow.

According to Lev Okhotin, demand is growing so fast that the company does not have time to train those who wish to use the brand.

“It takes two days to show one salon how to use the products,” he said. — On average, it turns out that our proposals are two times cheaper than those of foreign companies.

Some salons are beginning to use domestic products in cosmetology.

Igor Fedotov, chairman of the board of the Golden Locks chain of salons, notes that the savings for a client when switching to Russian brands can be significant. He believes that the effect of the proposed domestic cosmetics does not appear as quickly as from imported ones, but there are also pluses - it has more natural ingredients and the effect can be longer.

Igor Fedotov noted that demand for expensive cosmetic procedures in his network fell by about 30%. At the same time, those customers who always came on the eve of the holidays - New Year, Tatyana's Day, February 23, March 8 - did not come this year.

“Before, before the holidays, our demand increased by 5 or even 10 times compared to ordinary days,” said Igor Fedotov. “Demand is increasing very little right now.

beautiful far away

According to Alexander Zharkov, chairman of the Moscow city branch of Opora Rossii, demand in beauty salons could drop by up to 50%. Along with restaurants, they are the most vulnerable business segments in the crisis.

“I think that the mainstream segment will suffer the most,” he said. - Expensive salons will be more stable - wealthy people go there, who will save less. Low-cost institutions that are affordable for low-income people can qualify for social entrepreneur status and receive low rents.

Alexander Zharkov noted that many centers may still have a stock of imported funds, so they can still keep prices down. When the stock runs out, the market will start to shrink.

Member of the Board of the Guild of Marketers Nicholas Corot suggested that the release of their own products has already become a trend for many salons, and this trend will gain momentum due to the crisis.

“During the last crisis, some marketing moves were successfully tested, which can be applied this time as well,” the expert said. - For example, these are tours of famous figures in the beauty industry. Only regular visitors are invited to them, meetings are held in a club, closed format. But this, of course, is a trend for the premium segment. The middle segment can offer a "block of services" at cheaper prices. That is, the cost of a “package” of services will be less than if these services were sold separately. But it is better to tie these promotions to some date or holiday - otherwise, after the crisis, the "wallet memory" of customers will not allow them to forget how much cheaper these services used to be.

The beauty industry itself is already rocked by scandals. Thus, employees of the capital's luxury beauty salon, which is part of the Dessange International Group, are now preparing a large-scale picket. They argue that the employer does not pay in full the wages laid down by law, violating the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.

In the trade union of beauty salon workers, Izvestia was told that it all started with the fact that on January 1, 2015, employees of the Camille Albane salon at 16A Leningradskoye Shosse, owned by the Dessange International Group network, went to work, but ended up at the closed doors of the salon. The Russian employer, represented by a management company that has a multi-franchisee license in Russia, simply did not consider it necessary to comply with the law and officially notify the entire team that had worked for many years in this network that they were now left without their jobs.

After long promises, delaying time, issuing various kinds of orders “backdating”, as well as attempts to impose unequal work in other salons, the employer has not yet paid employees in full the wages laid down by law for January and February 2015. Now the employees have notified the employer in writing about the suspension of work until the debt is paid off.