Insider stats: the financial impact of coronavirus on UK beauty salons in March
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on beauty salons in March 2020, when all were forced to close by the UK Government, can be clearly seen in Professional Beauty's exclusive Insider figures below.
Not only did it have an impact on retail sales but it massively affected treatment business, bringing your room occupancy down to 45% when people were social distancing – this was during the first half of the month, before lockdown was brought in.
However, despite this being an unprecedented situation, more than a third of you (38%) have found ways to continue to generate revenue while stuck at home in Covid-19 lockdown.
The most popular route has been keeping clients topped up with their must-have skincare products by promoting your online retail shop (39%) and posting them the goods from your home.
Meanwhile, others are selling vouchers (15%) to be used when the salon reopens and some therapists have started hosting online consultations (12%) with regulars who are on a course of treatments, helping them keep up the results until they can see you again.
Here’s how the beauty industry performed last month (March 2020). Sign up to take part in our monthly Insider email.
March 2020 for UK beauty salons in numbers:
Beauty figures:
How beauty treatment business in March 2020 compared with March 2019:
20% better
11% same
69% worse
How beauty retail business in March 2020 compare with March 2019?
21% better
18% same
61% worse
How UK beauty salons are generating revenue during coronavirus:
39% – are promoting their online retail shop to clients
15% – are selling vouchers which can be used when the salon reopens
12% – are hosting online consultations with customers
Other key stats:
45% – average treatment room occupancy
33% – stock products that have been specifically formulated for women of colour
Intimate waxing – is the waxing treatment clients repeat book in for the most
Nail figures:
How nail treatment business in March 2020 compared with March 2019?
16% better
25% same
59% worse
How nail retail business in March 2020 compared with March 2019:
16% better
24% same
60% worse
20 – nail treatments performed on average per week
81% – allow techs to work on each other’s nails
31% – of nail techs update their tools monthly
Canva – is the photo-editing app most of you use when loading your work up to social media
Methodology: Professional Beauty’s Insider salon survey is compiled from a monthly survey of UK beauty salons. The people who participated represent a cross-section of the industry and were polled by email from March 31, 2020, to April 8, 2020, regarding business for the month to March 31, 2020. The figures given represent the average score for each answer.
Lead image: ©Primark