Salon International is the United Kingdom’s biggest hairdressing event and one we couldn’t miss — especially now, with the upcoming publication of our hot topic report, Professional Hair Care Retailing: Channel Analysis and Opportunities, and the expansion of our groundbreaking salon data tracking service Kline PRO into the United Kingdom and Ireland markets. With more than 400 brands exhibiting, the show offered a solid scene to uncover some of the latest novelties, trends, and developments in the salon hair care market. Here are some that caught our eyes the most:
New launches from leading salon hair care marketers
Coty introduces several novelties in line with some of the most talked-about topics in the salon hair care industry — hair coloring and men’s hair care. Among them are:
- Wella Professionals Color Fresh Create, a semi-permanent color product line offering a palette of 12 shades. This new launch reflects the recent growing interest in semi-permanent colors, which is mostly driven by the younger generation who want to change their hair color often. This product type was also the fastest-growing color type, increasing by 2% in 2017 in the United Kingdom, according to our recently published Salon Hair Care Global Series
- System Professional, which is now marketed as a self-standing brand, launches three remarkable product ranges: the System Professional Man line and the System Professional BB & CC styling lines.
- Nioxin brings several notable innovations after its relaunch at the end of 2017. Among these are
Nioxin 3D Intensive, Nioxin Color Lock, or Nioxin 3D Expert. Just a few weeks before the official launch was introduced Nioxin Recharging Complex – Hair Growth Supplement with Biotin, Zinc, & Iron for healthy-growing hair.
- Sebastian Professional introduces a new SEB MAN range of hair care, styling and grooming products for men. A highlight of this range is SEB MAN Multitasker Hair, Beard and Body Wash – a perfect product for men who prefer simplicity.
Henkel made a big splash with its new Schwarzkopf Professional BC Fibre Clinix, generously supported by product samples for show visitors. This product launch confirms one of the observations we’ve made in our Salon Hair Care Global Series report: The growth of bond builders is slowing down globally, while a new trend of launching products which incorporate them is making in-roads quickly.
Kao’s new launches in the hair coloring category include:
- Goldwell @Pure Pigments, a range that brings a unique play of color reflections and shine.
- KMS STYLE COLOR, a product line represented by nine style tones to create the latest color trends without a long commitment.
Which of these leading brands have pursued the strategy of increasing sales outside the United Kingdom salons in the quest to increase brand awareness and associated sales? Our soon-to-be published Professional Hair Care Retailing: Channel Analysis and Opportunities report will reveal the answer.
Naturals continue to thrive even in the professional hair care sector
Beside a presence of leading manufacturers, we saw many up-and-coming brands entering or preparing to launch in the United Kingdom market. A good portion of these were small brands offering natural and organic products with claims to be less harmful, truly natural, and environmentally friendly. Some examples are Angel Professional Hair Care, Kera Coffee Vegan, and Davroe.
Salon software providers are on the roll
As there’s an increased need for salons to have centralized data about appointments, product purchases, and services performed, among others, salon software providers are on the rise. From well-established salon software providers such as Salon Iris, Salon What, iSalon Software, Phorest Salon Software or Shortcuts to interesting start-ups such as Slick or Beu App, the show offered many possibilities.
The fact that more and more UK salons are moving toward this approach allowed us to create Kline PRO — a powerful, product-level resource that digitally collects hard, transactional data at POS from a vast panel of participating salons. This unique tool will allow marketers to have the most up-to-date information on the salon hair care performance in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Independent stylists connect with salons through a breakthrough app
Tech start-up Hubber Bizz, one of the exhibitors at the show, makes it possible for salons to rent their facilities to freelance hairdressers for even very limited amounts of time. This helps to increase the efficiency of salons when they have free chairs and enables greater flexibility and convenience to freelance hairdressers. As independent stylists have evolved into an important target group for several brands, we will explore this market segment in a standalone study entitled Independent Stylists: Global Market Brief, expected to be published during the first quarter of 2019.
Written by Jiri Michal, Project Manager Consumer Products, and Marcela Chifu, Senior Marketing Executive
