At least 30% of women visiting nail salons bring in their own polish, according to Kline’s preliminary research conducted in New York/New Jersey area nail salons in preparation for Kline’s new report, Nail Technician Insights.
There are three main reasons for this: polish touch-ups at home save time and money, the customers often like their color better than what the salon carries, and some women have hygiene concerns about the same brush and product being used on other women’s nails.
Some other trends spotted include UV lights at every manicure station, special smaller chairs for the increasing amount of mother/daughter nail salon outings, and sparkly effects on nails. All of these trends point to opportunities for nail polish marketers.
When asking the nail salon owners about clients, it emerged that there is a clear difference between demographic groups as to colors preferred, nail art used (in terms of percent of women using nail art, as well as the number of fingers to be painted), and brands of choice.
In addition, nail salon owners rarely order supplies online for the first purchase, but often do use the Internet for follow-up purchases. They rarely see sales reps in salons and prefer to go to the distributors to see the products (especially colors) in person before purchasing for the first time.
Kline’s new Nail Technician Insights study will interview 400 nail salon technicians and owners across the United States to get a solid analysis of regional differences in trends, tools used, service offerings, types of clientele, brand recognition, and much more. The findings will be of interest not only to professional nail product companies, but also retail brand owners.
