A Partner in Business and in Life
At Janet St. Paul Studio for Hair and Beauty, Director of Operations Natasha McMillen helps bring her wife Janet St. Paul's vision to life, elevating every system from education to operations.
by Stacey Soble
2015 Salon Today 200: Retail and Merchandising
One of the most challenging management tasks in the salon is to motivate staff to retail products, but those who succeed quickly discover a path to higher profits. To challenge applicants in this category, we asked them to put together a ...
December 15, 2014
5 min to read
One of the most challenging management tasks in the salon is to motivate staff to retail products, but those who succeed quickly discover a path to higher profits. To challenge applicants in this category, we asked them to put together a presentation of their top retailing strategies, including outlining their top campaigns, sharing programs for educating clients and explaining any in-salon retail competitions to inspire staff.
AURA SALON & DAY SPA
Scottsdale, AZ
aura-salon.com
Sarah Wisda, Christy Vowers and Michael Ament
SQUARE FEET: 2,100
TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 32
AVERAGE RETAIL $/TICKET: $52
RETAIL AS % OF SALES: 24%
AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $74
BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Bumble and Bumble, Kerastase, Goldwell
COLOR: Goldwell
TECH SUPPORT: Millennium, Demandforce
ASSOCIATIONS: PBA
“Our salon has a five-percent backbar charge on color services. If an individual reaches 20 percent retail to service in a week’s time, not only will they earn 20 percent retail commission, but they also do not have to pay back that back bar charge.”
BELLADONA SALON & SPA
Cape Girardeau, MO
belladonasalonspa.com
Linda Springs and Becky Davidson
SQUARE FEET: 4,200, 2,300
TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 36
AVERAGE RETAIL $/TICKET: $45
RETAIL AS % OF SALES: 27%
AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $35
BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda, Davines, Eufora
COLOR: Aveda, Eufora
TECH SUPPORT: Millennium, DemandForce
“We created a holiday display to reflect gift boxes made by children in Nepal. It allowed our customers to recognize the great power of giving back to this community by not only purchasing locally, but also giving back around the world.”
BLO
Raleigh, NC
justblo.com
Bryan Nunes
SQUARE FEET: 4,400
TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 27
AVERAGE RETAIL $/TICKET: $11
RETAIL AS % OF SALES: 16%
AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $38
BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Redken, Pureology
COLOR: Redken
TECH SUPPORT: STX
ASSOCIATIONS: PBA
“Our promotions are specific to Blo and not the manufacturer. This comes with great expense and effort, but it creates a uniqueness that cannot be duplicated by salons that are using material given to them by their distributor or manufacturer.”
HABITUDE SALONS AND SPA
Seattle, WA
habitude.com
Inez Gray
SQUARE FEET: 8,000, 1,500, 1,500
TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 87
AVERAGE RETAIL $/TICKET: $14
RETAIL AS % OF SALES: 18%
AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $45
BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda, Bumble and Bumble
COLOR: Aveda
TECH SUPPORT: SalonBiz, Loc Box, Demandforce
ASSOCIATIONS: PBA
“We took a hint from social media and introduced a ‘like and share’ mentality to retail. Just ‘share’ what you ‘like’ with your guests. From there, let the clients ask questions if they have them, ‘comment’ and then we’ll close the sale at the front desk.”
PARIS PARKER SALONS & SPAS
Hammond, LA
parisparker.com
Debra Neill Baker and Edwin Neill
SQUARE FEET: 6,800, 1,900, 8,800, 1,500, 620, 9,000
TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 230
AVERAGE RETAIL $/TICKET: $16.48
RETAIL AS % OF SALES: 23%
AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $45
BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda
COLOR: Aveda
TECH SUPPORT: SalonBiz, DemandForce
ASSOCIATIONS: ISBN, PBA
“We look at the products Aveda is rolling out and focus on just one for a month to six weeks. Then we switch to a new product—focus is our friend. Product knowledge builds cumulatively over time with service providers being experts on all our new products moving forward.”
PASCAL POUR ELLE
Glencoe, IL
pascalpourelle.com
Pascal Ibgui
SQUARE FEET: 7,000, 6,000 1,500
TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 125
AVERAGE RETAIL $/TICKET: $10
RETAIL AS % OF SALES: 20%
AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $70
BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Kerastase, Oribe, Bumble and Bumble
COLOR: Goldwell, Wella
TECH SUPPORT: Rosy, Demandforce
ASSOCIATIONS: CC
“Since introducing our mobile-driven personal product educator and shopping tool program in January 2014, our retail sales have grown steadily each month by an average of more than 4 percent.”
RUMORS SALON AND SPA
Avon, IN
rumorssalonandspa.com
Cheryl Johnson
SQUARE FEET: 3,500
TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 23
AVERAGE RETAIL $/TICKET: $10
RETAIL AS % OF SALES: 17%
AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $42
BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda
COLOR: Aveda
TECH SUPPORT: STX
ASSOCIATIONS:
“We hold a retail concert each month. We found the key to getting the staff excited each month was the prize. We upped the ante and started giving away concert tickets.”
SPA BLEU
West Dundee, IL
spa-bleu.com
Tammy Coakley
SQUARE FEET: 3,600, 2,800
TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 60
AVERAGE RETAIL $/TICKET: $20
RETAIL AS % OF SALES: 24%
AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $55
BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda
COLOR: Aveda
TECH SUPPORT: Millennium, Demandforce
ASSOCIATIONS: The Day Spa Association, ISBN, PBA
“Everybody does an end-of-shift checkout, which consists of reviewing four benchmarks with their department leader. Two of these are related to product sales: retail per client ticket and percentage of guests who bought products.”
TANGERINE SALON AND SPA
Murfreesboro, TN
tangerinesalonandspa.com
James, McCarrall, Mark McCarrall and Donna McCarrall
SQUARE FEET: 4,200
TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 30
AVERAGE RETAIL $/TICKET: $12.50
RETAIL AS % OF SALES: 28%
AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: $40
BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Aveda
COLOR: Aveda
TECH SUPPORT: SalonBiz, Demandforce
ASSOCIATIONS: PBA
“We provide an expansive sampling program to our guests so they may ‘try before they buy’ and feel confident in their purchase.”
THE STUDIO FOR HAIR
Farmington Hills, MI
thestudioforhair.com
Natalie Sikora, Tasha Schurgin and Kenneth Sikora
SQUARE FEET: 1,700
TOTAL EMPLOYEES: 17
AVERAGE RETAIL $/TICKET: $17.37
RETAIL AS % OF SALES: 16.6%
AVERAGE CUT & STYLE: 60
BEST-SELLING RETAIL: Eufora
COLOR: Eufora Elumen
TECH SUPPORT: Mikal, Demandforce
ASSOCIATIONS: ABCH
“We use a monthly ‘featured’ product to bring attention to some of our best sellers, and some gems that got lost in the shuffle. Team members take turns choosing a favorite product and we feature their choice along with their reasons.”
ADDITIONAL HONOREES*
As You Like It Salon Aveda, Bonita Springs, FL
Avenue Hair Design, Venice, FL
Bii Hair Salon, West Dundee, IL
Cortello Salon, Jacksonville Beach, FL
Elements of Style Salon & Day Spa, Eldersburg, Maryland
Headlines THE Salon, Encinitas, CA
Joli Salon and Spa, Lexington, KY
Jon Alan Salons, Nashville, TN
Lavish Salon & Day Spa, Webster, TX
Neroli Salon & Spa, Milwaukee, WI
Nuovo Salon Group, Sarasota, FL
Omagi Salon & Spa, Louisville, KY
Paul Kenneth Salon & Spa, Woburn, MA
Peppers Salon, Puyallup, WA
Salon Biyoshi, Knoxville, TN
Salon Soca, Chicago, IL
Solaris, Evansville, IN
Tulip Salon & Spa, Fredericksburg, VA
Urban Betty, Austin, TX
Von Anthony Salon, Frisco, TX
Watercolor Salon, Ridgeland, MS
*Additional honorees have accrued more than one honor in the the 2015 Salon Today 200 and their salon is profiled in another category.
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