London salons lead in sales despite lower client satisfaction

London salons take over a third more in revenue than those outside the capital and see 37% more bookings, despite lower rates of client satisfaction, according to new data.

Beauty salons outside London took an average of £93,000 in revenue during the eight months to August 31, 2013, compared to just over £150,000 for those in London, according to new figures from software company Phorest, shared exclusively with Professional Beauty.

What’s more, salons with online booking capabilities are reporting higher revenues than those without the facility, according to the figures, which are based on averages of 265 UK salons using the latest version of Phorest’s cloud-based software.

Among the 159 of the 265 salons that offer online bookings, the average revenue for non-London salons was just over £96,000 and for London salons was £194,000, some 28% higher than the average of the total 265.

London salons took an average 3,916 appointments over the same period, while the average salon outside the capital saw 2,856 appointments in those eight months. The number of active clients per salon is higher in London as well, at 1,386 compared to 1,082.

However, satisfaction among London clients is lower. Phorest’s software asks clients to review their experience out of five; the average review score for non-London salons was 4.1, compared with 3.5 for businesses in the capital.

When it came to product sales, salons in London made 10.3% of their total turnover from retailing, while for salons outside this dropped to 9.5%, indicating that this is an area that needs attention for many salons.

For the salons that offer online booking it seems there is still some work to do in promoting the function to clients, with just 2.9% of the appointments they took booked online in the capital and 3.4% outside London.

We first broke this story in the October issue of Professional Beauty magazine. Make sure you're always first to hear the news by subscribing. A print & digital subscription is £37 or a digital-only subscription gives you every full issue in a digital format for just £4.99 a year.