Are you looking for ways to increase revenue in your salon? Selling retail products could be the answer that you’re looking for.
Whilst selling may seem daunting at first, the right approach can pay dividends in contributing to the growth of your business.
To help you get started, we’ve provided an overview of how to sell retail products in a salon.
Why is retail important in a salon?
Salon retailing is an effective way for salon owners to increase revenue. It can also help extend the longevity of your service, thus increasing client satisfaction, i.e directly selling a product that will help maintain a client’s new hair colour for longer.
While your existing services will always be your main focus and source of income, diversifying your offering to include retail products will enable you to boost your bottom line.
Key steps to selling retail products in a salon:
- Choosing the right brand and products
- Merchandising
- Training
- Using the products
- Educating over selling
- Staff Incentives
Choosing the right brand and products
This is a crucial component to the success of selling retail products in your salon. Offering merchandise that aligns with your brand and that you genuinely love will make the sales process more authentic. For example, if you’re a sustainable business, your products should reflect this by being eco-friendly.
Consider selling a range of products from the same brand to aid upselling with each one complementing the other.
Try not to overdo it with your product offering, retail studies show that when people have too many options to choose from, this can become overwhelming and lead to no purchase being made at all.
Merchandising
How you position and style your products is very important, your display needs to be accessible, easy to navigate, and aesthetically pleasing.
Situate your display in a prime location with enough space for customers to browse comfortably. With the correct positioning, your walk-in customers for example will be drawn to having a look while they wait.
Our latest Shortcuts 8.1 Walk-in Manager feature can help eliminate the stress of walk-ins and provide a better experience for your customers. You’ll have more time to engage with your clients to find out what their needs are and show them your selection of products.
Best-practice steps for merchandising:
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Create good lighting
Make it easy for customers to see what you have available, but avoid too much direct sunlight so you don’t expose your products to excess heat
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Dust your selves regularly
A build-up of dust will be off-putting for your customers and can give the impression that the products have been sitting around for a long time
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Group relevant products together
Groupings are much easier to navigate, for example, products could be grouped by shampoos, conditioners, specific ranges, brands, etc.
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Use shelf talkers (Signage)
This is an effective way to provide customers with key information about the products, highlight promotions, and showcase reviews and recommendations
If you’re new to merchandising, why not use social media platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram for salon retail ideas.
Training
Providing product training is a vital step in successfully selling retail products in a salon, this will equip your staff with the knowledge they need to sell confidently. They’ll also be able to recommend the most appropriate products for each client’s hair requirements and educate them on the benefits.
Consider investing in retail sales training to help your team improve their techniques i.e dealing with objections and upselling.
Ensure staff members are clued up on promotions, stock levels and upcoming deliveries to allow them to be well-positioned to answer questions and provide a high standard of service.
Using the products
Using your product line on clients in your salon is a prime opportunity for a soft sell.
Explain the product’s benefits and how they can also be used at home to help maintain their new look or eliminate a problem.
Our Visual Records feature can be utilised to track a client’s performance with detailed visual records of each client’s visit. By keeping a visual record you’ll be able to show your clients that your products are working for them.
Selling
When it comes to selling successfully, the key is to focus less on securing a sale and more on educating your clients about the benefits of using the products on offer.
Focus on providing detailed and factual information, highlighting the benefits and how the products can fulfil their needs.
Talk about the products from both a beauty perspective i.e creating less frizz and also a health and environmental perspective (i.e being 100% vegan).
Staff Incentives
Since hair stylists play a pivotal role in the success of a hair salon, the input of your staff will be a key factor in the success of your salon retailing. What better way to get your team on board than to offer staff incentives.
To do this, you can set KPIs that need to be met to obtain rewards and bonuses.
Why not make this fun by running competitions with specific targets to win a prize?
These are effective ways to motivate your staff and boost morale to help drive sales. Our employee management feature will give you access to a KPI dashboard to help you easily track your employee’s retail sales performance.
Effectively sell retail products in your salon with Shortcuts
Now you know how to sell retail products in your salon, you need the best salon software in place to help you do it effectively.
Our range of expertly-designed features will help you run your business smoothly and keep your clients happy, so you can spend more time doing what you do best.
To learn more, get in touch with us or book a demo.
