We have entered the second month of nearly all U.S. salons being closed as a result of the country’s effort to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19’s spread by way of social distancing. And while there are talks of starting to open businesses back up, it remains to be seen if salons will be included in that first wave of openings. Initially, May 1 was the optimistic date for this to begin, but Georgia has announced allowing salons to open as early as this week so there is hope.
Although the impact of this pandemic and results of the unprecedented actions being taken are impossible to predict, Kline PRO: Salon Retail Products and Services Database takes a deep dive into the actual product sales and services performed from a nationally representative sample of independent salons. The database is updated on a quarterly basis and offers the ability to view information by month. Measures include service transactions and revenue as well as product sale revenue and volume.
Initially, the overall impact will be obvious in the unavoidable drop in revenue. Based on data from March and April 2019, that would be just shy of $9 billion for those two months alone. Add the month of May, which has historically shown the highest revenue (thanks to Mother’s Day and prom season), and the blow will be even more painful.
There’s no doubt that revenue stream is of the utmost importance, but it will be interesting to see how specific product categories and services recover and, ultimately, the professional salon industry as a whole. Will indie brands such as Amika, evo, Kevin.Murphy, and Surface, which were showing such growth in 2019, be able to sustain? Is today’s inability to visit a salon creating a “new normal” that will carry over once salons are permitted to open? Perhaps consumers are washing hair less frequently, needing less shampoo and conditioner; or, it may turn out, gray hair doesn’t look so bad after all. Or maybe that box color they used to hide their roots is good enough.
Hopefully, salons will be able to successfully endure this unforeseen interruption in business and reopen once restrictions are lifted. Hopefully, too, absence has made the heart grow fonder, and clients will return to support their stylists and salons.
To access the latest performance data on the professional salon industry, please refer to Kline PRO: Salon Retail Products and Services Database report and database. On a quarterly basis, we collect point of sale transactions from a panel of thousands of salons to provide first-hand data and insights on various product categories and sub-categories as well as service levels.
