The competition in your town

[jac extreme]

morning all,
this applies to all techs -salons, home or mobile

Are you the only nail tech in your town, if not is the competition very stiff are you up against a lot of NSS.

In my Town Centre there are two NSS (that I am aware of) one salon in a major store, many small ones inside hairdressers, a couple of nail only salons and loads of mobile and home salons...

 

[lotus blossom]

in my town, there are no nss ( thank god!!) but there are some 15 mins away,
the rest are two or three well established salons for nails, incorporated in beauty salons/hairdressers,
and a lot of mobile nail techs, funnily enough though, weve just had the new yellow pages out and no techs have advertised this time around????
then theres me!!!!
when clients come to me , they say , " theres only you and so and so round here isnt there that does nails?" im shocked that the rest dont advertise

 

[LayStar]

In Clacton there's one NSS - I've heard rumours they have got the council on their backs trying to close the salon down!! We have a few nail techs in hairdressers and tanning salons, I'd say about 4 of them. It's an extremely small town though, so there is quite a lot of competition for the size of it.

The good thing about that is word of mouth works brilliantly, I'm always getting new clients saying "I saw a cashier wearing your nails/my next door neighbour/friend/work collegue has her nails done here", most of my clients have come in through recommendation

 

[naturalnails]

There are no NSS near me that I know of. There are about 6 other Salons that I know of doing nails and heaven knows how many technicians working from home.

Competition is good but I wish more of my competition were good LOL.

I just keep my head down and get on with it and not worry about what others are doing.

 

[* Helen *]

There is one NSS in my town, a Creative L&P salon, 2 mobile tech (I believe one is Creative) and then theres me :lol:

Where I live is not that big ... but I dont worry about them TBH, they go to another technician for one reason or another & I think its quite healthy to have a bit of competition, it makes myself want to push harder and be better than the rest

 

[Jane]

A bit of competition is good, keeps you on your toes! Where I am we are the only 'nails only' salon in town, excluding the one NSS. There are plenty of beauticians that offer nails but not many have dedicated working nail technicians. Even the local perfume shop has added a nail table! I've watched people jump on the band wagon, seen them fall off too!
Good education, updating skills and good quality work will always keep you one step ahead.

 

[minette]

In my home town, there are only 3 registered nailtechs, but I thing about 8 working that are not registered (so they do not pay taxes). The 2 other registered nailtechs have loads of experience and are quite expensive. My prices are lower (just started in januari). The others offer full sets for 25 euro's which is quite stupit, because then you're hourly rate is very low as you also have to take of your expenses.

Minette

 

[*Garfield*]

There are LOADS where I am - I live about 5 mins from the town centre, which has nss salons, loads of nail bars. There is a salon 2mins down road from me, lots of mobile techs etc. Im the only one with a home salon though (at the moment). I also live very close to the Doncaster Ezflow training cantre.

 

[NoticeableNails]

I have lots of competition where I live; No NSS thank god! (at least that I know of).
The very small town I live in is saturated in places to get your nails done. And thats just counting salons & table renters (within hairdressers)!
Within a 1mile stretch there is 11 places you can get your nails done.
I dont mind competition; just I am getting frustrated as they are all battling to be the cheapest!!
I just dont want to play that game and de-value my work! But alot of clients are only interested in £££££££

I try to stand out from the croud by being different.....offering nail art (salons round here only do the basics) glitter nails, crushed shell & custom blends.

 

[angel fingers]

Northampton is heaving with nail techs. i rekon it will soon become known as NAILTHAMPTON.:lol:

4 big nss stores and a concesion within a hair dressers
loads of nail only salons
plenty of beauty salons offering nails
dozens of mobile
one in every hairdressers.

i think its getting to a point where there arent enough clients to go around.
some nss do £20 sets and charge only £15 for under 16's
prices in nail salons are up to £35
i charge £28.50 and i'd say i am among the better techs in town. i am pretty busy and most of my trade comes from recomendation. i think i would be busier if i had walk in trade as well though.

 

[fificharlie]

As I am opening my salon in my town centre - the salons there are the only ones I class as competition really. I will be the first 'Nail only Bar - hate that word - or Nails only salon' in my town centre - apart from 2 NSS.

The only 'real' competition I have is the 2 local NSS. Other beauty salons do offer nail services, but they are edging towards the outskirts of the town centre, whereas I'm slap bang in the middle! My town is quite large you see. They only have one nail desk, say, with a tech that works part time, so it can be quite hard to get an appointment when you want one.

At first - I wondered why no one else had taken the Luton nail scene by storm, but the local NSS have been there for nearly 5 years now - and the business is dwindling for them somewhat - they have not renovated their salon the whole time its been there, it looks drab and dusty and dirty, chairs with holes in etc etc - So compared to my brand new salon - they dont even come close.

So I think people are starting to realise that going to the NSS is NOT the only way to get your nails done! lol.

I am sort of 'stepping in' now that they are not as busy anymore - Ive let them have their fun, now I'm moving in!! lol xxx

 

[samiejoe]

Well in London there are NSS every where and I mean every where!!!!! If you see a small parade of shops at least one or two will be an NSS

 

[Urban Geek]

I have so much competition in my area - several NSS salons and quite a few beauty/hair/sunbed salons offering nail services. It doesn't really worry me too much cause I do try to give a better quality service than most. However it does keep me on my toes which is not a bad thing.

Go Jac go! You are making me feel guilty for not coming up with a decent thread. :hug:

 

[Twice-as-nice]

to compete, you just have to do one or all of the following.... be 10% better, be 10% quicker, be 10% cheaper and 10% nicer... the cheaper bit can be argued but you can sell "Rolls Royces" and still be cheaper than your competitor who also sells "Rolls Royces" NSS dont sell "Rollers"
one of my clients knows I am not in favour with NSS but oftens says that other people will go there because they offer a quicker service than what I do ( at the moment ) I am trying to get across to her and my clients that my business is not a NSS I dont even pretend to trade and operate anything like that. if I wanted my business to be like a NSS then I would have opened a NSS Salon myself!! My business is completely different in so many ways to my competition and that is what I am building upon. My studio is very nice, comfortable, relaxing, the services I offer are using what I believe to be the best products available IMO on the market. I try to be 10% nicer than my competition.( although "twice-as-nice" is what I am aiming for lol) I am still working on being 10% quicker, and my prices are right.

Dont ever be afraid of competition, you have inside you the ability to compete. If ever I had the chance, I would jump at the opportunity to open a burger bar right next door to Mc donalds. A fantastic way to make mega bucks!!!!!

 

[MINKUS]

I live on the outskirts of leicester, In leicester itself there are about 3 or 4 nss salons.

In my tiny village there is me....someone in a shop about 500 yrds from me and another girl in the village....i note there is another one looming too !

In every surrounding village there is a nail tek of some description.

There seems to be enough business for all of us so its not really a problem.

I only offer Evening & weekend appointments...this seems to suit my client base.

AMb xxxx

 

[bombini]

No NSS salons in my town or any of the other local towns, there are a couple of run down ones but i wouldn't know if they were NSS or not.
There is a salon on just about every corner and there are FOUR spas, also many of the hotels have there own salon

There is lots of competition which is why i don't offer enhancements only natural nails, i don't think i would have enough business from it to be worthwhile in re-training as i haven't done them for ages !

 

[Ms.Matrix]

Well, where I stay at you can't throw a rock without hitting one!! The beauty industry competition is a might thick here!

 

[scattyfox]

In my town there are loads and laods of nail techs everywhere, mainly becasue LCN has a training academy in Southend.

There are loads of NSS shops as well at least 8 i cna think of off the top of my head and as for nail techs just within my square mile there are 6 geeks and about 12 techs in my area. And you lot wondered why i went natural nail lol

 

[Vetty]

There are 2 NSS in town and every hairdressers/beauty salon seem to offer nails.....there's even 1 tech working out of a room in a pub....! There is loads of competition but tbh, I don't really think about it too much.... I'm pretty busy and hopefully all the other ethical/responsible techs are as well.....

 

[1999judy]

There's one NSS in my town and quite a lot of other techs.
Some I know, some are friends, some are students that I went to college with and some I don't know.
As long as I keep busy it's not a problem.
Very rarely see anyone in the NSS though.