Facial range probs

[seedee]

A close friend of mine has brought a very expensive well known brand into her salon however she is not retailing very well at all and her facials are over priced Daphin is an excellent brand but not everyone can afford it she is due them about 900 pounds , she thinks the rep kind of promised the earth and was rail roaded a little, she has spoken with darphin who says she should carry on for atleast 6 months.
She has told me she wants rid of it and is really down about it, i told her i would come to the next meeting with the rep to see if they could work anything out and i am a darphin fan but it is a lil bit expensive dont know how i can help her, i have dermologica and it does well ?

 

[pure]

Has she run any promotions at all? Entice them in for a facial and then offer some sort of loyalty scheme on purchases, or buy 1 get 50% off a second product.

I don't know what sort of help Darphin offers it's stockists but I should try and push for any promo help possible.

 

[bombini]

When you say the facials are overpriced, in what way do you mean ? Are they to expensive for her clientele ? If her clients can't afford it why did she take it on ?

Ultimately the final decision on a range is with the salon owner and if its not doing so well then it needs to be promoted as much as possible, not just with existing clients.

I also have Dermalogica and yes it retails very well with clients that were already familiar with the range but for clients that had never heard of it I had to work just as hard to sell it as if id taken on any other range they'd never heard of.

If she did decide to stop stocking the range surely she would end up out of pocket anyway as any products returned usually get charged a handling fee ?

If it was me then I would demand that the rep help out with a promotinal event, I have always had great sucess with any that I have done.

 

[Martin Duffy]

When you say the facials are overpriced, in what way do you mean ? Are they to expensive for her clientele ? If her clients can't afford it why did she take it on ?

I must admit I was also a bit confused with this! Overpriced to me suggests an overly inflated mark-up, whereas a top-end product cost is another matter entirey.

I've looked at the average cost of the Darphin products & they're not that expensive, certainly not much more than those of Decleor, which I stock. I don't know what she charges for a facial, but I charge £45 to £50 for mine and have loads of takers at that price. In fact, where I used to work we did £60 facials and I was still busy with them.

It's hard to say what the problem is here, but it could be over-expectation on your friend's part, the wrong product for the area, that the skin-care doesn't sit well with the ambience of the salon (i.e. a luxurious plant based range needs a salon that oozes luxury & promotes 'natural' skincare) or that your friend thinks the product/facial is expensive & feel embarassed about promoting them (in which case I always say never assume how much a person can/will pay, let them decide).

 

[seedee]

thanks everyone she has managed to get a rep to help organise a promo evening, her facials are between £50 - £65 which is fine but most salons in her area all stock dermalogica and there facials are alot cheaper, her salon is exclusive she had a designer design it and she has a strong brand image, i have spoken with her in regards to her being embarassed about the prices and maybe her negativity is rubbing off on her clientelle and I hope she makes a go of it she is a Darphin Fan , will let u know how she gets on !

 

[Martin Duffy]

£50 to £60 is certainly not prohibitively expensive, and there will always be a cheaper service somewhere! Darphin is certainly a name to conjure with & has a good reputation, but then I am a skincare snob & love French skincare (with the exception of Yonka, which I found wholly unsatisfying, especially the fact nearly every formula has the same five overpowering essential oils)!

If she's going for that market she needs to lose any embarassment about price & focus on the product, which aims to deliver both results and luxury. Like you I hope she sticks with it and makes a go of it. I only have to explain a Decleor facial to my clients & they book in there & then, price never comes into it, and after that they're hooked!

 

[persianista]

I agree with Martin, She is offering a premium product and her prices are lower than my dermalogica facials. Sound like a crisis of confidence to me.
If she is struggling to pay a £900 opening order with Darphin, she is really gonna struggle with the £3000 dermalogica one.

 

[seedee]

The opening order was around 6k the £900 was for extra retail which she bought in, She is alot happier and lets hope it works out for her, thanks for all your help guys!

like a say will keep you updated .

 

[bombini]

Hope it all goes well for her, If her salon is very high end then I would say that the prices are about right.

I have a lot of spas in my area and it costs the earth to have a treatment there yet they are pretty much always fully booked. Ive had to wait two weeks to get an appointment just for a post natal massage.

Babsann on here works in a Darphin salon and I know they do very well with facials and retail, you could always pm her for some advice.

Martin I can't believe you don't like YonKa, I love it ! :lol: I did look into stocking it at one point but when I spoke to the UK MD (who I think was also the rep for the entire country) she didn't have any facial training whatsoever so I quickly lost interest after that !

 

[seedee]

hi everyone, just to let you know after several leaflet drops internet advert and newspaper advert darphin is flying off the shelf and she has also taken dermalogica as a second range too, to cater for all clients she is now happy again, so thankx evry1 x