Hair and beauty businesses might still have closed doors in the UK, but some salons and barbers across Europe are starting to reopen.
To help you plan and prepare for that highly-anticipated moment, we’ve turned to our local teams in countries that have already come out the other side of the lockdown – to gather insights on what to expect from your clients, best practices and top advice from Treatwell partners. Here’s some of what we learned.
1. Expect to see bookings bounce back
Some seriously good news, to start off with. Around 1-2 weeks before the end of lockdown, we started to see bookings for future dates begin to increase – particularly amongst repeat clients, eager to secure their spot at their favourite salon.
This number shot right up on the week that lockdown was actually lifted, with daily booking numbers even exceeding those pre-lockdown, for both new and repeat customers.
2. More clients are booking online
Our data shows that customers who previously booked offline before lockdown (i.e. via walk-in or over the phone) are now more increasingly booking online.
This could be for a few reasons. With health and safety being a top priority, booking online means that clients can make appointments from the safety of their homes, without unnecessarily putting themselves or others in the salon at risk.
People have also spent the last months really using the online world for every aspect of their lives – and that behaviour’s probably here to stay. This is great for you, as the less time you are manually taking bookings over the phone, via text or social media, the more time you can spend with your clients, generating revenue.
Make sure your business is bookable online in order to capture this new customer demand. Find out more about Treatwell’s online booking platform here.
3. Peak times are less prominent
Before lockdown, lunchtime and evenings were the most popular times at the salon. However, after lockdown bookings have spread a lot more evenly throughout the day.
Mid-morning appointments have been increasingly popular, particularly around 10am. This is most likely because customers are so much more flexible with their time – whether because their working hours have changed or they’re working from home.
This might be relevant when considering your opening hours – and how to make sure you’re accommodating for client demand.
4. Customers are rushing to get their hair done
Across the board, hair appointments are the first thing people are booking after lockdown, closely followed by nail appointments. The number of haircuts and hair colouring appointments booked actually almost doubled in comparison to before lockdown began.
Eyebrows and hair removal treatments also saw an increase in bookings when comparing before and after lockdown, by 20% and 10% respectively.
5. Men’s haircuts are the most-booked treatment
After months of DIY disasters, men are desperate to get their hair cut – and they’re increasingly booking online.
In many open countries, restrictions have been placed on walk-ins, meaning barbers need to establish new ways for clients to book. With an online booking platform, such as Treatwell, you can let clients make appointments at home with ease, and avoid having too many people in the barbers or salon at once.
6. Some salons have extended their opening hours
In order to safely spread customers throughout the day, and ensure there is enough time and distance between each one, many salons have extended their opening hours.
They’re also making sure they have enough time to clean in between each appointment. With Treatwell Connect, you can easily block time or add clean up slots, so it’s automatically in your calendar.
7. Some salons have raised their prices to make up for PPE & cleaning time – but clients understand
Some salons raised their prices by 5% – 10% (or €2 – €5) to compensate for the additional time that is needed to clean, as well as to cover the costs for face masks, disinfection gel and gloves.
The good news is that clients seem to understand this and are happy to pay the extra. If you do choose to raise your prices, do make sure to update your service list with an explanation, though, to avoid confusion.
8. Communicating your increased safety measures is key
Once lockdown is over, safety and hygiene will still be a key concern for your clients. In order to build confidence, make sure you are communicating your elevated hygiene practices across your social media and in-salon.
“Keeping our positivity while protecting ourselves and our customers is our way to tackle this strange situation.”
Kali, owner of Get Nailed Zurich and Treatwell partner
