Crazy pricing - what's worst you've seen?

[Nails<3]

I can see this from all angles...I have a hair salon with 6 staff who I have to pay regardless whether they are busy or not. .I have used groupon twice in two years. . I done this knowing full well I would not make any money from it. ..but the customer retention and the retail sales rocketed and I still have 80% of the customers to this day. .Mondays we have mythic Monday. ..a L'oreal conditioning treatment, cut and blow dry for £15... The salon is fully booked weeks in advance. .I am slowly watching the other hair salons fail and shut around me.. There are more hair and beauty salons around than I have ever seen before and not only that the stylists that work from home or are mobile also kill the highstreet salons....I am not a hairdresser either I just own one.

I was in the process of opening up a beauty salon next to my hairdressers which would be specialising in CACI, environ skin care and Jane Iredale make up....but I made a decision a few weeks ago to cut my losses and move it to my home. ..I then have no overheads, no staff issues, no HMRC payments, high rents etc and I can work when it suits me......would I be charging 7.50 for eyelash extensions? ? No. ..purely because I would be competing with too many others around me... so for me personally I need to offer something different and more upmarket to gain the loyal clientele that will spend the money. One hour advanced treatment for £80 or one hour eyelash extensions for £8....hmmmm.......no disrespect to all you fabulous therapists. ...I just don't have the motivation for eyelashes or waxing.... there is no money to be made there. .

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Your post is quite funny, you are not a hairdresser just own a salon and you think that mobile hsirdressers and home salons are killing the Highstreet salon. I would say your £15 ct/cb is exactly what we are talking about here.

You then go on to talk about having a beauty room at home but wont be doing the small treatments. You don't charge £8 for lashes. Unqualified and uninsured people do. I charge £55 for lashes that take me an hour to do. There is a hell of alot of money to be made in lashes and waxing otherwise people wouldn't be doing them.


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[persianista]

I doubt very much that I could get quality staff to charge £15 for a cut and blow dry. They'd be insulted that I thought their work was worth that.
Nearly 100,000 people are training in hair and beauty every year. Salons across the UK advertised 18000 jobs last year. That leaves nearly 82,000 people trained, qualified, and unable to find a job. What exactly do we expect them to do? Give it up?
They work mobile, on friends/family, build micro-businesses. They undercut salons, and cause even more trained/qualified people to be made redundant. It becomes a race to the bottom.
I can see a vast difference in the industry from how it was even ten years ago. The day I do a CBD for £15 is the day I give up and go and do something else.

Only reducing red tape, employment costs and the difficulties of employing people will change this situation. Also raise the bar a bit for entry. In some cases it takes just 20 odd days of training to be a qualified hairdresser. I trained for three years.

Without wishing to sound snide, when I see some of the questions posted on this forum, it's quite clear that the training people are receiving is totally incomplete, and lacking in any depth. I feel desperately sorry for the young hairdressers who are keen to learn and become the stars of the future, as their courses are significantly dumbed down. Like sending your army out with one hand tied behind their backs. Notice that the majority of us that answer questions did 3 year apprenticeships? We had to learn all this stuff as trainees, not via a forum, or supplementary courses as we went along.

So maybe that's the answer to cheap prices, raise the standard back to a three year apprenticeship, and stop herding all the no-hopers through a course designed for the least intelligent.
I found out that my last apprentice couldn't read or write, she lied repeatedly till she was found out. Concealed it quite cleverly for a while. The college got her through her NVQ regardless. She can't read the instructions for chemicals though, so how does that work?

 

[Pinkbunny28]

Just because I'm mobile does not mean I undercut salons. Infact, I'm more expensive for some treatments because it's a convenience for my clients for me to go to them!

There are different ways of looking at pricing but actually the cheaper it is, the cheaper it gets. And deal websites like groupon have been a major factor in causing this.

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[connelle]

I think in this day and age a lot o people are looking for a cheaper option. I am just starting out and run special offers however they only last one month. Personally used a cheap option as I was charged 20 for acrylic nails and glam lash....... Now i could have knocked someone out with the nails and well my eyes got stuck together lol. From that experience i do not mind paying extra for a good service as that was horrendous. X

 

[virtues2011]

Does anyone actually have a salon with staff? Or do you all work from home! The whole point to my post. . £15 cut and blow dry on Mondays only! The salons around me do nothing. .no advertising, no training, Nothing different at all. ... I'm continually advertising, leaflet distribution, finding the latest products, training courses for all my staff, in salon clinics, wedding shows, I have staff that are trained assessors, I brand my own hair extensions, we have just won the 2013 grant award for outstanding innovation from the Government technology strategy board.... two of my staff were in the national finals at Blackpool, one coming 4th place in her heat...... clearly it seems I do more through not being a hairdresser than most practicing hairdresser owners! So for those that feel to offer a £15 cut and blow dry in a Monday is beneath them and the staff servicing would be uninsured and not very good..I personally would seriously think again!...



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[Nails<3]

Regardless of what others do or don't do with their business should not concern you and makes no difference to your post.

You are complaining that mobile/home salons are killing salons. Yet you only charge £15 for a conditioning treatment, cut and blow dry. Doesnt matter if its one day a week or for 7 days a week. That devalues the industry. Same as Groupon. Not mobile/home salons.

You are are opening a home salon to do beauty but complain about mobile/home salons. Your whole posts are totally contradictory.

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[virtues2011]

Nails3.... please don't take it so personally. ..this is only a forum not a boxing ring. I understand your opinion and thank you for it..my reply was in relation to persianista's comment about not being qualified or insured and stylists being under valued for them to charge £15. It works very well for me. I am fully booked while the other salons are empty. I was just explaining what I do for my staff so you could all be aware that I am a successful business person and treat my staff with the respect they deserve. ... it didn't really warrent the comment "what people do with their businesses is no concern of yours" purely because I was talking about my own business ..not others....

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[virtues2011]

I know of at least four people who have worked for salons then decide to set up on their own taking clients from the salon where they worked with them. This issue affects everyone. Generally (definately not all) are fab stylists but have little or no business acumen so have little idea how to successfully run a business and pretty much fail within the first year. .. what do they see? I think it's a lot of "if they can do it. ..I can do it" attitude. . .it is the owners that have to worry where the remaining staff wages are coming from, where new clients are coming from. .. how the rent is to be paid etc that is the part of being an owner and the stress occasionally becomes too much.

Every corner shop is now a hairdressers or hair and beauty. . There are 14 hairdressers in the vacinity of two streets in my nearest town. .. not to mention the ones that are mobile and work from home and even the ones that are employed and still work from home. ..how do you compete with them all. .. it is ridiculous. . It shouldn't be allowed to happen. This I believe is what kills the industry. . There are salons next door to salons! It is wrong... competition is healthy I know but not like this ... a girl I know well has a beauty salon in Cornwall and has had a member of staff for 3 years trained by her in every advanced aspect of beauty ... she has now left and started up 10 minutes down the road. .. Yes I am also a great believer in contracts which have statements relating to clients when stylists leave and training courses being repaid etc etc but it still doesn't stop it happening. .. I can't be the only owner that sees this. ..i find clients genuinely look for the cheapest offers around these days. . And not all are bad treatments. .people are now realising this. If you can't compete with some of them you will be left behind and quickly. ..

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[persianista]

Does anyone actually have a salon with staff? Or do you all work from home! The whole point to my post. . £15 cut and blow dry on Mondays only! The salons around me do nothing. .no advertising, no training, Nothing different at all. ... I'm continually advertising, leaflet distribution, finding the latest products, training courses for all my staff, in salon clinics, wedding shows, I have staff that are trained assessors, I brand my own hair extensions, we have just won the 2013 grant award for outstanding innovation from the Government technology strategy board.... two of my staff were in the national finals at Blackpool, one coming 4th place in her heat...... clearly it seems I do more through not being a hairdresser than most practicing hairdresser owners! So for those that feel to offer a £15 cut and blow dry in a Monday is beneath them and the staff servicing would be uninsured and not very good..I personally would seriously think again!...




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Yes, I have two salons, with staff. I don't need to do groupons or sell their services cheap. I'm one of the most expensive hairdressers in my area. I do know what I'm talking about.
I've had them nearly 15 years now.

 

[Nails<3]

Nails3.... please don't take it so personally. ..this is only a forum not a boxing ring. I understand your opinion and thank you for it..my reply was in relation to persianista's comment about not being qualified or insured and stylists being under valued for them to charge £15. It works very well for me. I am fully booked while the other salons are empty. I was just explaining what I do for my staff so you could all be aware that I am a successful business person and treat my staff with the respect they deserve. ... it didn't really warrent the comment "what people do with their businesses is no concern of yours" purely because I was talking about my own business ..not others....

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Im not taking it personally, just pointing out your posts contradict. If you are fully booked why would you need to offer such a low treatment price. It doesn't make sense. If your business was booming there would be no need for offers and discounts so I don't understand your post.

If your business works for that is great but to state that mobile businesses are killing salons is incorrect. Just doing an offer on a service devalues it. People will only want that service on a monday because its cheap.

Im not looking to start an argument, just pointing out the facts that I am reading. I don't want this thread to turn into an argument so I have said my piece and will leave it at that.

Wish you all the best.

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[virtues2011]

Ok. .. this is where the difference comes. ..you are established and have been successfully for 15 years which is brilliant. .I bought a run down salon two years ago that was shut Monday Thursday and Saturday. .. so I had to build the customer base, completely redecorate and spend serious investment, fund some decent staff and incorporate a name change....

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[virtues2011]

I am confident the area where you are based certainly contributes to how much you can charge for a service. ...

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[adventuregirl]

Ok. .. this is where the difference comes. ..you are established and have been successfully for 15 years which is brilliant. .I bought a run down salon two years ago that was shut Monday Thursday and Saturday. .. so I had to build the customer base, completely redecorate and spend serious investment, fund some decent staff and incorporate a name change....

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Hello

Can I ask what your customers who come Tuesday to Saturday think about paying full price for the same treatment the Monday clients get for less?

Good on you for taking on a challenge, I'd definitely not have the guts to do that x

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[persianista]

A valid point. My question is this;
It costs me about 3 quid to do a treatment, and an hour of staff time, which works out at around 10 quid (at min wage) when you factor in employment costs.
So those Monday clients are making you around £1 a time (took a quid off for shampoo and hot water/leccy.
So what exactly is the point?
I've only got to attract one £45 Cbd to make more profit than all your staff put together all day.
Work smarter, not harder.

 

[Rinn]

Could be interesting if everyone who posted prices ( from early on in this thread) checked out if the service was still available or indeed if the therapist/salon was till in business.

 

[xxAmyxx]

Just because you are busy doesn't mean you are making any money...lol

 

[Emma-Jayne]

In the small town where I live virtually every other shop is a salon. They are constantly undercutting each other and driving prices down further - only today I noticed a salon advertising a ladies cbd for £10!!!!
However, none of them ever look particularly busy and I often wonder how they manage to break even.

I'm sure its no coincidence that the only salon that is consistently busy is also the most expensive. It is well established (over 10 years), has an excellent reputation and clients travel for miles to it to get their hair done. You would think that the other 'cheaper' salons would learn from that salon's example but no, they carry on blindly driving their businesses into the ground.

The mind boggles

 

[Nails<3]

Tesco is now advertising st tropez spray tan for £10. We have a beauty/nail/hair salon in our big tesco now and the prices are rediculous!

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[Dnx]

Race to the bottom, I keep seeing it with so many services.


Seeing, capturing, creating & presenting beauty

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[adventuregirl]

Tesco is now advertising st tropez spray tan for £10. We have a beauty/nail/hair salon in our big tesco now and the prices are rediculous!

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Tesco Hair & Beauty?! Is nothing sacred?! xx