Retail shmeetail

[The Geek]

All right....

How many of us are actively retailing. And as a percentage... how much of our daily take-in is from retail sales?

Why do you feel retail is so important?
Why do so many nail technicians avoid it like the plague?
hmmmm?

 

[naturalnails]

I retail quite a lot of stuff -

Varnish
Basecoats and Topcoats - various types - standard and treatment
Varnish Remover
Cuticle Oil and Cream
Hand Lotion
Files
Remover Pads

Approx. 25% of my income comes from retail sales.

I dont actively push it - it is displayed nicely and people just buy it. It is mostly my natural nails clients who buy - enhancement clients only really buy oil and the odd varnish now and again.

 

[Lynda]

I think that retailing is all important and should be part of training.
When you have the chance to educate clients about nail care be it natural or enhanced, the moment should be seized, it's a great opportunity to discuss with clients the subject of looking after their nails, gives them the confidence that they are talking to trained experts, and, as important, pushes up your sales figures at the end of the week.
Lynda

 

[Christie's Nails]

I retail the CND lotions.. I just love them. I have the 8 oz size and the 2oz size. I keep one of each scent at my station and use them for my mani massage. I let them choose. When I do fills I give them a quick little lotion rub letting them choose their favorite scent too. This really works well to move those lotions.

My next fastest mover would be solaroil. I am a total believer in the power of solar oil...lol So I think that shows through and people buy it.
I also get the tiny bottles of solaroil and the tiny lotions (.5oz) and give them away during the holidays...that gets them hooked too.

The things that do not move well for me are polish, and quick dry spray. No one touches their polish between appts so they do not want the polish.

I would say retail is 10% or less of my income though. I have mostly all return clients, rarely take walk ins... so I am selling to the same audience. It takes a little while for them to use up their lotion...lol Actually, during the holidays I guess I do sell alot more because people are giving them as gifts...

The one think I could have sold several bottles of this week is..top coat. I hate when I run out of something like that and then of course...everyone wants it. Never fails.

 

[Nails by Shelley]

I have just recently gotten started in a salon.(motherhood duties were calling) I am going to do some retailing very soon. I have my own room so I can set it up and retail whatever I want. What I am planning on retailing right now is, solar oil, top coats, polishes, lotions, some handbags, jewelry, and maybe some other small gift items. Not a huge selection, but some to offer. All those things are really big to buy around here. Especially trendy but unique items. People want more one of a kind items instead of having a handbag or piece of jewelry that when they walk down the street end up seeing 10 other people with the same exact thing! Small town america for you! I am hoping it will really boost my income, and help to boost my clientele as well!!!

 

[Your Nail Pro]

I retail! Of course my salon offers more than just nail care products. I retail handbags, jewelry, and nail care. So, betwee all three I do pretty well.

For instance in January I grossed around $2500.00 in nail services ( i only see about 15-20 clients a week). Well, I did an additional $600.00 in retail sales. So that is about 20% of my total gross income in retail sales from the salon. Hey, I'd rather sell something than slave over a full set of nails! That is just my preference though. I have a sales background too so it comes easily to me.

I retail solar oil, solar silk, soalr butter, scentsations lotion, various nail strengtheners, polish occasionally, pumice sponges, files, etc.......then i also retail jewelry & handbags.

Anway, just thought I would share this with you all. I am not ashamed to tell my income from the salon ( i have other businesses too ), as I am the only nail tech and I worked my bootie off for that $3100.00!



Leigh Ann

 

[Christie's Nails]

Why the heck would you be ashamed to post that? That is great!

I think I gotta take over half the salon I am at...then I would have enough room to retail more stuff.

Sigh* so much I want to do...so little time.

 

[Your Nail Pro]

I know I am not really ashamed , just that I don't charge like $80 a full set or anything. I stay busy even with my little 15-20 clients. Because when they come in, they get their nails done, $20-30 ticket, then they might browse around for jewelry, or a purse, oh and I do Mary Kay so we might talk about that some....then it may end up being $40-50 a ticket or more! So you know sometimes I spend like 2 hours with each client, so it is hard to do 10 people in 1 day. That would be a little difficult. I just hear techs talking about how many people they cram in to one day.....8-10, and how much of full book they have....I just don't prefer to work that way. I would have to be on some serious drugs to do that many nails a week. Or let's just say I wonder how great those nails look when you do 50 people a week? You know what I mean? Anyway.......that is why I rely so heavily on my retail, is the point I am trying to make.

Leigh Ann

 

[Christie's Nails]

I know exactly what you mean. I have no desire to do 10 clients in one day. I average 4 or 5 clients a day..this also depends on if they are getting two services (ie. fill and pedi).

I prefer to work 5 or 6 hour days... If I start working more than that...like this week..my wrists get tired. And the house falls apart..lol I have piles of laundry to do today!

 

[The Geek]

Great response on this topic. Glad to hear some real business sense coming into.

Heres the thing:

It costs less than £3 or less than $3 to do a full set (product only... small sizes too). You spend less than £1 or $1 for a rebalance.

You can easily half that cost per set by buying in bulk.

An average tek has 80 clients on a shift of 2 week rotation.

That means on a full book... you are maybe spending £9 or $9 in product a day.

If 2 clients a day bought some sort of retail item (e.g. 1/2 oz SolarOil) and it took them 8 weeks to get through it... than they bought another... you would be selling 2 bottles of SolarOil a day... and getting ALL of your product (inlcluding the retail) at no cost to you.

Take that a little further... Sell 2 Scentsations a day... your damn near squeezing an extra client in a day without doing any work.

Here is the thing that you need to keep in mind: You are not selling something to your client... you are enhancing their service. Most of the products we sell will somehow make the service that much better in the long run (i.e. SolarOil)... So its something they need to get the most out of the service you are giving them.

Tooodles