I am both relieved and equally delighted to say that by the time you are reading this, tanning salons in England, Scotland and Wales will have reopened following their third national lockdown. Unfortunately, no dates as yet for Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland and much of mainland Europe remains in various stages of lockdown with further surges in coronavirus numbers.
Thankfully, indoor tanning is one environment where there is no option other than going to the salon. You can’t buy a UV tan online or have a “take-out tan.”
Whilst lockdown has been, quite frankly, devastating, re-opening could not have come at a better time. The longer days of British Summer Time are now with us and the sun has started making a more regular appearance. Bars and restaurants will soon be open indoors, as well as outdoors and all of these factors – apart from being in lockdown for many, many months – give reason for people to want to make the most of their time out and about … and of course, that includes being tanned!
There is much talk about how and indeed whether businesses will bounce back once we exit lockdown measures and are able to resume a sense of normality in our lives. Retail and hospitality environments have, of course, been amongst the hardest hit, even with the welcomed and much needed financial support from the government. Consumer habits have adjusted during lockdown, with physical in-store shopping closed for much of 2020 and all of 2021 to date, resulting in a mainline shift to online shopping. Worryingly, for many retailers with physical stores, consumer research suggests that online shopping will remain a significant route to purchase across many sectors, even when we are fully out of lockdown.
Thankfully, indoor tanning is one environment where there is no option other than going to the salon. You can’t buy a UV tan online or have a “take-out tan.” The social media buzz from indoor tanners is currently almost at frenzy point, counting the days until they can get back to tanning. Happy days! And it’s been too long since I’ve been able to say that!
We know that salon COVID protocols will remain in place for the foreseeable future and this means salon footfall will not be able to be fully optimised, certainly, for some time yet. To help negate this, many salons are extending their opening hours (Government has authorised extended trading hours for retail environments). This will help in a number of ways, not least helping maximise footfall but also, providing greater flexibility for customers to choose a time to tan, minimising numbers gathering at one time and, therefore, reducing risk of potential for virus transmission. This last point is still very relevant to tanning salons in respect of the average age of the tanning bed users who are last in line in the vaccine rollout.
Working from home has also become the norm for many people during the pandemic and flexible working arrangements are set to become the norm for many people beyond lockdown. This will inevitably mean a salon’s pre-pandemic peak and off-peak usage times will be different and, potentially, could even flatten out with customers able to pop to the salon at any point during the day, rather than simply on their way to or from work.
Adjusting to footfall changes will, therefore, be important in a salon’s marketing approach. Monitoring and adapting to new peak and off-peak periods will be essential for the success of any campaign to drive tanners into salons at times when they can be accommodated.
As a business sector, it is so unbelievably amazing to be re-opening, and we remain confident this was the last lockdown. However, we are clearly not out of the woods yet and must remain focused on adjusting and adapting to changes that the pandemic had created as we move forward for future success. It will be a steady walk, rather than a race, but the good news is that we’re off!
