I truly love this time of year in our industry! There’s just so much activity after the winter slumber; there’s a buzz wherever you may be: in the office, on the road to meetings, in salons – there’s literally a palpable vibe. It’s as though I can feel the heart of the industry beating to its wonderful rhythm of life.
The surge of energy is so tangible that it’s instantly recognisable, year in, year out. Of course, nature’s own force de majeure – the sun – plays a significant role in this annual event as it teases us with odd but inconsistent appearance, whetting our appetites for more. In doing so, the bodies of many seasonal tanners and non-tanners start to crave the warmth and known benefits of sunshine. But what is it that we can, and indeed, need to do to extend the life of this “seasonal” pulse?
With summer beckoning, everyone is in the right frame of mind to have fun, bare some skin and invariably to do so with confidence, they need to be tanned – or as you say on your side of the Pond – “tan.” In the UK, we can never ever guarantee sunshine, not even in the summer months. It’s one thing I wish I could change about being a Brit – the summer weather. I would be quite happy to have a very short summer, seriously even just a month, if during that month the sun was guaranteed to shine and I knew I could plan activities; such as a garden party or barbeque without the perennial worry of wondering if the weather would ruin it all.
And it’s this lack of consistency in our UK weather that I believe paves the way for the natural ups and downs of salon footfall. In a pseudo-logical thought process, one would think a lack of sunshine would be the perfect environment to attract a regular flow of salon guests. I believe the opposite is the reality in many instances. And the guaranteed drop in salon footfall over the winter months would seem to endorse my view.
When looking at customer base augmentation, there are clear and distinct groups. Firstly and very importantly are those wonderful people who tan year round – sunshine or no sunshine – keeping within their maximum number of sessions a year. Unfortunately, they tend not to represent a significant enough proportion of UK tanning business footfall to enable you to sit back and relax. And then, we have a large number of tanners who only go to the salon for a pre-holiday base tan and a post-holiday tan top-up. Alongside that group are event tanners, those who plan their tan for a specific event and then, that’s it. Finally, a large number of tanners only visit the salon when the weather is good. And that my friends, is a problem in the UK. We know they are out there – ready to come to the salon as soon as the sun shines – the problem is, more often than not, it doesn’t.
But that’s when you will see the difference with a successful salon – those with the smart marketers who will develop a plethora of incentives, often with the support of their product suppliers, that in so many different ways bring a ray of sunshine into the mindset of their “desperately seeking sunshine” customers.
At the heart of every industry are successful businesses; but for our industry to stay healthy and flourish, it’s up to all of us to pump up our knowledge, advice and support to help ensure success flows at every opportunity.[gap height=”10″]
For our industry to stay healthy and flourish, it’s up to all of us to pump up our knowledge, advice and support to help ensure success flows at every opportunity.
