The Shocking Cost of Surplus Inventory

During the challenges of 2020, a sizeable chunk of Darrell Barrett’s team departed, lost to career changes and competition. His full service team dropped from 50 to 20, including two hairdressers, 4 massage therapists and 2 estheticians gone by the time he could reopen his Maryland salon in May. But with the rush of lockdown liberties ensuring he and his remaining team were frantically busy as soon as they opened, he carried on as before.

“I kept ordering the same because no one could talk to me about my mins, mids and maximums,” says Barrett, who opened his 22,000 sqare-foot salon in Hunt Valley six years ago. “Then my friends and coaches from Culture Curators, Derek Anthony and Jill Ruone recommended Vish Color Management. I installed it in September 2020 and I know, from the data, that since then I have saved nearly $12,000 in color.”

One of the most startling discoveries was that the salon was carrying almost twice the amount of inventory than it needed.

“We monitored usage through our technology, which records exactly how much color is used  by weighing and reweighing the color bowls, and over a four-month period it emerged that Darrell was carrying around 700 units but actually only used 378 units each month,” explains Tim Howard, Chief Innovation Officer and head of Customer Success at Vish. “When cash is king, that’s a lot of money tied up in product rather than being invested into helping his business.”

Darrell has since brought his weekly reordering down by more than a third while still giving him a comfortable inventory buffer, and he now monitors usage by closely comparing the easy-to-collect Vish data, held on his Vish dashboard, with a regular unit count. 

“I have an awesome Team. When I introduced Vish I considered incentivizing weighing and reweighing as the goal is 90%. But they beat that without me doing anything,” says Barrett. “My color business was not hugely profitable before adding Vish but it is now and I’m reinvesting those profits in my team and my salon. I’m adding an IRA as part of the benefits here with the salon matching up to 3% for each employee.  I intend to keep this fabulous team and grow it.”