Positive outlook for salons offering bespoke treatments

The new year is all about trends for us at Professional Beauty as we quiz the industry experts for their outlook on the year ahead and draw from our inside knowledge on upcoming launches to predict the trends set to shape the market.

The outlook for salons and spas looks positive as personalisation and bespoke are being touted as 2015 buzzwords for beauty, and salons are often in a far stronger position than stores or websites to fulfil that. This time last year we published a news analysis on the increasingly blurred lines between retail and “e-tail”, with salons starting to order homecare online for clients and more websites pushing shoppers into salons to try the products at the hands of a pro.

The trend escalated over 2014 as we saw new companies launch to facilitate both those business models, as well as more professional brands upping online sales. Looking ahead, analysts have flagged the trend as key to retail growth in 2015. While salons may not like it, online sales of professional products are here to stay so finding a way to take your cut is key.

Maximising your online profile, be it through web marketing, social media or sales, is something all salons rank as important but few, if they are honest, find the time to do properly. This year is set to bring a new wave of education in this and many other areas of business management from some of the biggest suppliers in our industry.

Rather than focusing on product and treatment training only, skincare brands such as Sothys have begun running business training courses in topics such as client retention and staff productivity. Others including Elemis, Guinot, Comfort Zone and Sienna X all have major plans in this area for 2015.

February’s Professional Beauty show will also up its game in terms of business training for 2015, with new topics such as benchmarking for salon owners and the latest treatment trends to shape your 2015 offer. You can’t miss the show previews in the Jan and Feb issues of the magazine, which give a taster of the new product launches you’ll see for the first time at the exhibition and trends to spot around the show.