Last week, the professional beauty industry’s top leaders convened in Scottsdale, AZ, for the 4th annual PBA Executive Summit. This yearly gathering is designed to bring key players to network while learning from a collective of esteemed speakers on how to successfully shape their businesses for tomorrow. Their messages were all clear and consistent with one common theme—Data is King.
Peter Sheahan, founder and Group CEO of Karrikins Group discussed how, in such rapidly changing times, particularly within the beauty industry, can you remain relevant, moving beyond the competition. As technology continues to disrupt and threaten our existing business models, Sheahan drove home the idea that it is crucial to understand our customers and own companies and by using data and insights we can model our business to reflect their changing needs.
Following Sheahan was Steve Sleeper, PBA President. PBA’s mission is to strengthen and set standards for government advocacy, certification, and licensing. Data is not just for understanding the consumer. By having these facts, we are offered a better understanding on who is entering and exiting the industry as a professional, their true earning potential, and insights into the education and training of future cosmetologists. This allows PBA to continue making the professional beauty industry an attractive one for those entering the workforce.
The afternoon was rounded out by two notable speakers who each believe that a faster path to data is the way of the future. Kevin Otero, a partner with Simpactful, discussed where we are today and how digital disruptors are paving the way for change. Amazon’s Alexa, a tool most think is only for the home, is helping businesses, like Rebecca Minkoff, who uses Alexa to instantly communicate real-time information. A simple ask of, “Alexa, what was my top selling item last month?” is an example how we can quickly understand what’s happening and react even more quickly.
Mike Walsh, a futurist who travels the globe to interpret human behavior and how this is crucial in taking businesses into the 21st century, believes that artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms are how the next generation will think, talk, and transact. By collecting data on your business and customers consistently, these algorithms will allow you to interpret what they want, before they want it. By studying this information, business can make smarter decisions on their offerings and inventory.
Data is everywhere. Rooted in nearly 60 years of experience, Kline has rich data on the various segments of the beauty industry. Our newly launched Amalgam is a one-of-a-kind powerful online tool that helps you track all the best-performing companies, brands, and items across the leading digital beauty retailers. Made in collaboration with PBA, Kline PRO is a comprehensive interactive database that yields the latest sales performance data on the salon industry based on transactional data collected from a panel of thousands of independent and chain salons. Let Kline help you get started and empower your business with actionable data and insights. We make it easy, offering customized options for all sizes and budgets. To learn more or schedule a demo, please contact us.
CONGRATULATIONS to SEVEN Haircare for being the lucky winner of our special PBA contest. They will be getting a jump start to data, enjoying a free week of access to our Kline PRO database.
