A VIEW FROM THE TOP

SALONS HAVE NOT seen a large growth in business during 2022, but business in general is quite stable in the Irish market. What is noticeable is a struggle to nd experienced staff, and also a lack of new stylists coming in. This is the area we need to focus on most, and it’s also where our industry and the government need to work hardest together to secure our long-term future.

Smaller boutique salons are on an upward growth pattern, while freelance hairdressing and chair rental remains quite small and is only seen in highly populated areas. Retail trade continues to remain positive for salons, including in-salon treatments.

Irish salons have not allowed ecommerce to take trade away and have remained the chosen destination for professional haircare purchases overall – Irish consumers are showing their loyalty.

In terms of the biggest challenges in the market, it’s unanimously employment that is the key issue. However, this is a global issue across various industries, so we are not unique in this area. Obviously, the cost of utilities and rent is also a challenge and, depending on your brand of choice, some salons have also seen some crazy price increases in their stock purchases in the past two years. With the support of ALFAPARF Milano Professional, Xpert Professional has managed to keep this to a minimum.

Digital marketing, training and support is still in demand. Salon re ts appear to be high on the agenda also, as owners recognise the need to attract the client away from mobile hairdressing. However, high-quality education to give salons the edge over the home hair market is absolutely the most requested area.

Although we have seen our competitors cut back on face-toface training – which is concerning – Xpert Professional has pushed forward with more than 400 courses in the Irish market. These programmes are there to help both respond to and support our salons, with newer courses added to re ect market requirements, such as multi-dimensional colour trends.

Finally, we are also continuing to invest heavily in advanced colour technology that will allow salons to stand out from the rest. Removing MEA and ammonia from the latest liquid colour from ALFAPARF Milano Professional is just one example of this breakthrough. But it’s not just colour where we’re seeing major evolution. In care, we will soon launch one of the world’s most advanced clean beauty lines at a price that consumers can afford to buy and use every day – not just as a treat.

MY TIME AS managing director of L’Oréal Professional Products UK&I has shown me that, without a doubt, personal services such as hair and beauty are critical to the social and economic wellbeing of people in the UK and Ireland.

These businesses are at the heart of communities and play a vital role in the lives of consumers – a recent L’Oréal survey reported 74 per cent of females agree that having their hair done by a professional supports their mental health and wellbeing.1

The positive impact of salons doesn’t just stop with consumer wellbeing, they are also a considerable component in helping to grow the UK economy. The British Beauty Council recently estimated that hair and beauty service providers contributed £5.1bn to the UK economy in 2022, and that the services division supports almost a quarter of a million jobs.2

Despite these contributions, the industry continues to face headwinds in the wake of an unpredictable few years. We know from our salon partners that challenges come from a range of different factors: soaring energy prices, the pace at which digitalisation is impacting the industry, the growing consumer demand for sustainable services, and the recruitment and apprenticeship crisis that continues to impact the workforce.

All of this has been echoed by the National Hair and Beauty Federation, which reported that only 49 per cent of businesses they surveyed were confident of their survival.3 Hairdressing has been dealt a tough hand.

From a consumer perspective, we know the cost-of-living crisis is causing concern. L’Oréal data shows that 77 per cent of women feel impacted by current market conditions 4 and are watching their spending as a result. However, the data also tells us that beauty regimes are not the first thing women sacrifice and this is backed up by positive indicators in our industry, with footfall into salons creeping back up, even with the rise in the cost of living. It’s our job to help salons capitalise on this, and L’Oréal

Professional Products is behind initiatives to upskill, convene and make things more convenient for our industry.

Hairdressing is a highly skilled job and salons are great places to build fulfilling careers, that can allow you to travel the world and work with some of the most inspirational and creative people. At L’Oréal, we are passionate about the endless opportunities of hairdressing and upskilling the next generation of industry leaders. Being able to offer online and face-to-face education has also been a game-changer, as we reach even more of our professional network, bringing them the support they need to develop their craft. Our new London Academy will also open this summer, offering hair professionals a state-of-the-art space to learn and create, with sustainable design at its heart.

We recognise that our salon partners value time and having more of it to focus on what matters most – their clients and their business. By stepping away from a more time-consuming ordering process facilitated by their Business Partners and replacing it with a more convenient 24/7 online platform with L’Oréal Partner Shop, customers can shop how they want, when they want, at a time most suitable for them. We’re always looking for new ways to innovate in this space.

We also know that every salon and stylist is unique, so over the past couple of months we’ve been touring the UK and Ireland, joined by salon and stylist partners, to listen, learn and be there for one another. We were able to celebrate the power of community and our partnership, and discussed how the industry can work together to build a resilient future.

I AM A rm believer that data, combined with industry intelligence and a working knowledge of hairdressing, is what drives and informs leadership roles in this brilliant industry.

At this moment, everything points to an extremely positive outlook in the salon marketplace. Footfall is on the rise in the high street despite ongoing challenging climates, and salon partners I speak with have shared recent success in terms of driving growth in services and retail.

This is partly thanks to the ever-growing consumption of beauty electricals.* We lead and support this growth via our Innovation Laboratory in Cambridge, creating the latest and greatest in tech, an example being the ghd Duet Style launch. We’ve exceeded all expectations on our sales and we’re seeing some incredible results with our salon partners.

Resilience

A key reason for my positive outlook is that I’ve seen how truly resilient and agile salon owners and independent stylists have had to be over the years, changing business models and strategies to adapt. We’ve all had to change so quickly to a new landscape of reaching our audiences. Clients’ buying behaviours are increasingly in uenced on social media platforms. This is an area that we have moved into in a signi cant way as we partner with hundreds of hairdressing professionals – specialist in uencers to magnify the importance and power of the professional hairdresser within the consumer decision-making process.

An example of our strategic response to support salons in making retail gains is our work with our Premier Partner Salons, which all had an exclusivity period with the ghd Duet Style. It was exciting to see several going viral on TikTok and Instagram, creating fantastic content to demonstrate and educate their audience on how the tool is enabling them to provide new services and reach a wide variety of hair types. We know social media can be a little scary and sometimes time consuming, which is why our business development team breaks it down for our salon partners, helping them to create engaging content for their salon audience.

We also believe in meeting and learning together, the sharing of data and science and enjoying experiential events. In addition to bringing together hundreds of hairdressers at ghd Underground, our team also supports salons with local salon events.

We recently worked with Inanch London on a bespoke launch event for Duet Style that also celebrated all the services that the salon offers. They had an incredible guest list which enabled them to create earned media value from the event – meaning the clients that they invited had a fantastic circle of in uence and they had some headline press coverage too.

At ghd we have a long-standing relationship with Creative HEAD’s It List Awards and the reason is simple – we believe it’s important to inspire and prime future talent to continue to evolve the industry. We also continue to offer a wide variety of education both live and virtual, from live streams where we have thousands of stylists attending virtually to view our latest collections, trends and techniques, to exclusive regional events. Education is the key to driving return on investment. The more we can continue to upskill ourselves, the more value we can bring to our business. We’re all life-long learners, and it’s that which makes us both adaptable and successful. How we reach audiences has shifted almost beyond recognition in the past few years. But the other part – how we relate to an audience – stays the same. The meeting and learning together is as important as ever.

THE CURRENT CLIMATE is interesting, there is a lot of change and progression in our industry. We have salons that are thriving and investing heavily in education and developing their businesses, as well as salons that are consolidating and using this as a time to create a business to take them into the future.

There has been an increase in self-employed hairdressers, and more shared workspaces for artists to work independently but under the same roof.

How can we respond to the needs of our salons and freelancers right now? Two years ago, Wella became an independent company, meaning we have the agility of a start-up with the backing of 140 years of experience. Our goal is to be 360-degree business partners with salon owners – their success is our success. By supporting them in their business – with inspiration, education, and innovative products – we drive that success.

We know times are tough. The cost of living, the impact of Brexit on recruitment, and changing habits of clients are all important factors. However, at Wella we pride ourselves on being so much more than just a manufacturer. We can help provide the best experience for the client: our mission is to enable people to feel and be their true selves. When we get this right, the potential for growth is limitless.

Relationships have always been at the heart of our business. We combine the traditional approach of strong, personal relationships with hybrid events (such as our legendary TrendVision Award), an inspiring social media presence and a new community programme. We recently launched an Instagram channel for professionals (@wellaprofessionalsuki) and our target is to become the number one beauty community. One of our new initiatives is Wella Red, an exclusive business partnership programme focusing on community, education and rewards.

I believe that businesses that set standards high and keep them consistent will stand the test of time. This all starts with education, which is our point of difference. We offer exceptional education across multiple platforms, including digital, in our studios and in salons. Our newest initiative is an industry first: the Wella Colour Higher Level Diploma. This is the first degreelevel certificate of this kind, making it a major step forward in recognising the professionalism and technical acumen needed to be a true colour expert. This intensive learning journey will take up to 18 months to complete and will arm colourists with the most in-depth colour qualification available. Students will graduate at Glasgow University in a formal ceremony to celebrate their achievement: I can’t wait to follow their journeys.

We’re seeing the demand for e-commerce accelerate, with Wella Store providing a platform to our customers 24/7. In a relationship-focused business, we recognise that offering customers the flexibility to engage with us in whichever way works for them is key. And we’re making significant investment to further enhance the platform in the next few years. We don’t believe this will ever replace the personal relationship that many of our salons have with their account manager, which has a critical role to play. But it does allow salons the freedom to engage with us in a way that works for them.

It’s also important to acknowledge the changing structure of our industry. There are more freelance hairdressers than ever before, and many people have adjusted the days and hours they choose to work since lockdown. So, for the growing freelancer market, we have launched the Freelancer Hub, which helps guide them on how Wella can help them grow their business both with training and relevant promotions.