How many sunbed customers?

[jodipodi]

Hiya everyone, Im after some information to help me with a forecast for a business plan. If anyone has a sunbed/s in their salon Id like to know roughly how many customers you get on a good day and how many on a bad day? Any kind of info that could help me would be great including how many mins they tend to use each session 3,6,9? Also do you think sunbed specific salons with four or five sunbeds in get more custom than say a beaticians with sunbeds as an additional service? Thanks in advance geeks :hug:xxx

 

[ch4rli3]

Hi

We have one lay down and one standup sun bed in the salon I work at.

I would say 60% of our clients come in for sun beds! They are extremely popular, more so for the lay down than the stand up.

We have Ergoline sun beds and from personal experience, they seem to be a lot more powerful than the sun beds I have used at the local sunstudio. Weather they are or not, I don't know.

On average I'd say we have roughly 10 people i on an average day , on a good day it can be upto 20. ( this is me guessing ) and on a bad day 3 or 4.

Most clients use the lay down for 6 to 8 minutes, some of our darker skinned clients go on for 10.

Hope this helps x

 

[jodipodi]

Yeay someone replied LOL!!! Yes Ch4rli3 that helps me lots thanks alot hun. Wonder if you could give me some more info please? Where is the salon located-busy street,not so busy street, housing estate, centre? Is it a salon aimed at sunbed users if you know what I mean or is it mainly marketed as a beauticians/hairdressers/nail bar? All info would help me loads, thanks alot xx

 

[jodipodi]

Anyone who has info they could add for me please???

 

[ch4rli3]

The salon I work at has been going for 3 years and was located in a parade of shops in a village outside of town but in November it moved across the road into a gym.

We have gained lots of new clients for sun beds from the gym members.

We are a Beauty and tanning salon with 5 therapists and have 1 hairdresser rent a chair in the salon.

I find that in general the salon is quite popular due to having free parking. The town is always very busy and parking is expensive so we get lots of people come to us as its easier.

x

 

[jodipodi]

Thanks again Ch4rli3, so not many people for beds at all then on a bad day just trying to work out if the cost of leasing them is viable or not when you have bad weeks. So say 4 people in having 6 mins, 6 days a week(bad week) at say £3 (think thats the average cost but correct me if Im wrong!) for 6 mins thats £72 takings ?? So on a bad week the bed would still pay its lease and electricity then. Sounds good... will have to do some more sums
Does the salon you work in do many offers and what would you say is the average cost for a 3 min session? Thanks again for your help xx

 

[ch4rli3]

We charge 75p per minute on laydown or a course of 1 hour £39.99
and 60p per minute on standup or course of 1 hour £32.99

We don't tend to do offers on sun beds or courses but we do have offers on sun bed creams, such as 10% off a certain one each week/month.

x

 

[jodipodi]

O.M.G Ive just realised how big of a price difference there is from one area to another just for sunbed prices!! Been having a look around today for ideas and got this;
5 min £2, 10 min £4, 40 min £13, 80 min £20, 110 min £26 and 160 min £35!!!!! Another was 100 min for £15 which to me seems un-do-able how do you make a profit off them like that! Any north easterners want to add to that? LOL Seems we demand 'owt for nowt' up here :0 xx

 

[ch4rli3]

Wow yeah, prices do vary. When you think our way for an hours course can range from £35 - £45!

 

[jodipodi]

I know its crazy, think round here its classed as a 'deprived' area alot of families on benefits etc but I suppose those prices reflect the financial situation at the mo and also that its winter but on a whole youd generally get 60 mins for about £15-20 where I live but as Ive realised from speaking to some of my friends people are still hammering the sunbeds anything from 20-50+ clients a day!! So now Im feeling more positive that Im not living on cloud kookoo expecting too much LOL xxx

 

[naildaze]

Here for lay down you pay per session but stand up you pay per minute. Both types the rooms are booked in 15-20 minute incraments. And I find people here tend to go to places more often that have more rooms/beds than places that only have a few of them. I think because they like to book last minute appointments with tanning, so they are more guaranteed to get in this way. Also at these places the bulbs tend to be changed more often so they get a better tan.

 

[jodipodi]

Thanks alot Heather that is my thinking also, although I have had advice to start with one or two I have seen that a large sunbed shop nearby ALWAYS has at least 3-5 cars parked outside,(ample parking) and I think this is because when you think..' fancy a sunbed..' ...I would automatically go to the main sunbed shop as I would think HOT,POWERFUL,NO WAITING. This may be a misconception but tried to think what I personally would do. xxx

 

[naildaze]

yep I think that's right, but also you then have to look into the fact that you pay more insurance per bed. I don't think I would have one either unless I was going to have a bunch of them.
But I guess even if you were to start with a few, you could advertise that your bulbs are changed more often than others, etc.. or that you are using a more modern type of bed (if you are) to attract them to yours rather than another place. Have the rooms decorated in a way that makes your place stand out to another place that has more beds/rooms.

 

[naildaze]

There is one I go to that has 7 lay downs and one stand up and the stand up is always booked, very hard to get into, and the lay downs are really busy all day every day too. All year round. Their parking lot is always packed. They have a tiny room with an aesthetician and massage therapist and that is it. Most of their service is the tanning.

 

[jodipodi]

So glad you posted it really keeps my chin up when I hear that Im thinking along the right lines, thanks hun xx

 

[ch4rli3]

The bulbs / tubes on sunbeds play a huge part in keeping clients.

Some large companies do not change bulbs as often as they say they do!!!

I know this for definate as a close friend of mine was the manager at a large chain of Sunbeds shops and was told by the owner not to change the bulbs, but still put signs up saying they had been changed!!!! (probably against the law)

For that reason, the salon I work at gets a lot of their clients come in due to our beds being more powerful! And Cheaper!! x

 

[jodipodi]

Yep I can well believe that! If I did get them Id make sure they were just as good or better than the main salons and high watt powerful ones otherwise I dont think Id get the amount of clients Id like. If it was me Id walk the extra mile to get a better quality bed/new tubes. x

 

[Blue Rose]

Yep I can well believe that! If I did get them Id make sure they were just as good or better than the main salons and high watt powerful ones otherwise I dont think Id get the amount of clients Id like. If it was me Id walk the extra mile to get a better quality bed/new tubes. x

Depending on what you go for in the end could you make this your USP, the fact that you have powerful tubes & guarantee that you change them after x amount of hours.

Maybe this way you could charge a bit more per session than your local competitors.

 

[jodipodi]

Yep cogsi it definitely could, wonder if you could get something off the tube suppliers to state that you have just been 'RETUBED!!' lol that would be great wouldnt it! xxx

 

[markthedoc]

Hi Jodi

We've got a tanning salon with 3 lie down beds and a sun shower.

The most popular tanning time that customers seem to do is 9 minutes.

The beds are definitely more popular than the shower but you find sun shower uses wont ever use a bed!

Hope this is of some use to you.
If you need any other help or advice just ask.