What are the key points in creating and operating a website for a “beauty salon/hair salon” to attract customers using the Web?
This section is just the “basics” of the program. Please try to build on this foundation and add your individual know-how to it.
Basically, “local business.”
Beauty parlors and hair salons are essentially local businesses with roots in the area.
Except in the case of people who become customers once and continue to go there after they move, they will be taking customers from the surrounding area.
The severity of the battlefield is matched.
The pain of the fight is maccharine. The age and family structure of the residents living in the area, and the conditions of competing stores can greatly change the way the battle is fought.
And it is a characteristic of these local businesses that if conditions are not good, you are likely to find yourself in a situation where you can’t win here no matter how you try (the hard part).
Location, in particular, is a very important factor for this industry. This has nothing to do with website production, but it is very difficult to recover from a bad location.
It is not enough to open a store in front of a station, but it is very important to have a store within “easy reach of people” when conducting some promotions.
Management” rather than “Technology” for those opening a business.
Therefore, while skills as a beauty salon are of course important, a sense of management and knowledge of marketing strategies are even more important.
In the past,
- Relationships were so intense that neighbors came regularly, along with their families.
- Since there was no Internet, there was little comparison with other stores.
- People weren’t that interested in hairstyles, hair care, etc.
- There weren’t that many beauty parlors.
I believe that this situation allowed us to run the store in a relaxed, Galapagos-like stability.
Epic battle for customers due to market contraction and changing times
Now, however, all of these assumptions have been destroyed.
- Relationships have become less personal, and people no longer come to us just because we are neighbors.
- The Internet has made it easy to compare nearby stores, even rating them.
- Increased awareness of hairstyles, etc.
- The number of hairdressers and the number of new openings is increasing.
And for this situation
“The market itself is shrinking (declining birthrate, deflation-driven self…)”
This is the current situation. Therefore, if you do not have a proper strategy, you will lose more and more customers and be forced out of business.
Many stores are forced to compete strictly on the basis of low prices, which are dependent on attracting customers with coupons.
Nevertheless, there is no use in turning a blind eye to this reality.
We need to accept that this is the situation of “customers” and “competitors” in the 3C strategy, and then we need to think about what we can do on the Web.
First, gather information
We want as much primary information as possible. Each region has slightly different “needs” and the competition varies.
Therefore, before talking about the Web, we recommend that you first investigate the profitable competitors’ stores (if you don’t know them well, visit them in person or ask someone you know to do so).
from this
- How they handle the process from phone reservations to customer service, conversations, and send-offs.
- How much turnover?
- How skilled is the staff (you would know if you were a technician)?
- What beauty equipment and materials are used and why?
- How do you make an effort to connect with the next visit to the store?
and more can be gained in the experience.
Experiencing this at least three stores is a good first step.
The only place to go is to a restaurant of similar size.
At this point, do not go to a large chain, a big store, or a cheap cut store. It is best to go to a place that is only “as big as your store and doing well.
This is because the way business is done varies greatly depending on the size of the company.
You can never win by copying the big players’ methods.
An example of a common mistake is the case of imitating the way big companies do things. For example, when attracting customers
- 30% discount for a limited time only
- Free hair treatment gift for those who have seen the “◯◯◯” and so on.
In most cases, this pays off in total, since the beauty materials can be purchased at lower prices through large-scale purchasing, or by places that have a well-developed marketing process once they have attracted customers.
If we imitate this as it is, at the individual store level, people will say, “It’s just a cheap sale” or “I won’t go unless I have a coupon”…
And then what happens?
and
The “people who don’t want a 1,000-yen cut, but want it as cheaply as possible.”
will come together. When that happens,
- Profit margins are pushed lower and lower.
- The atmosphere of the store and its “position” in the community will change, and you will lose the customers you had before.
- Coupon-issuing media are dependent on coupon-issuing media to attract customers.
This is what we call “jittery”. It is good if it is intended, but it is painful if it is not.
To “break through the point” with something.
This is an area where the Lanchester strategy fits well. The ones mentioned earlier are “the strategy of the big players” and “the strategy of the companies that have the market share”.
So what should small stores do? They need to “break through one point” and develop a niche fixed customer base.
Where to single out three points?
Where to make your store “stand out” is often found from the first survey you did of profitable stores.
In this context, we will keep three points in mind
- At a minimum, what is required (ex; marginal prices, hours of operation, menu of cuts…etc.)
- Techniques that could easily be stolen from that store.
- The image of the store should be able to stand out “more than 3 times” compared to that store (the basic premise is that there is a need for the customer).
1. minimum requirements
This is the point that if you don’t hold this place down, no one will come in the first place. For example, if it takes an hour to drive from the center of the city but there is no parking, there is nothing we can do. Also, if the store is only open in the morning, there is nothing you can do about it. Also, the cleanliness of the store and the appearance of the store are important.
If you do not keep the minimum points as a store, you will meet the so-called “cut-off points”.
2. techniques that could be stolen
Every store should have some techniques that you can “get to grips with”. It is not bad for business to steal what you can steal and make it your own (of course, so-called “pakri” is not acceptable).
3. points that can protrude “more than 3 times” as an image
This is most important. In the case of a large company, it may rather not be possible. Also, even if there is a thriving small store in front of the station, it is unlikely to be an all-five in all aspects (if there was, it would be better to change the location because that is the so-called ultra-competitive, red ocean).
Then, among the points that popular stores do not have, we look for something that is important, but for which the customer has a real need.
And I will make it the selling point of my store.
Point: Criteria for judgment
This industry is difficult to judge.
In the hairdressing industry, customers also cannot make good or bad decisions.
This is because haircuts are completely custom-made, so a pure comparison is not possible.
Therefore, we will use “response,” “appearance,” “cleanliness,” “stylishness,” and easy-to-understand areas such as “price” and “speed” as evaluation criteria.
I’ll provide you with the criteria to make a decision.
This is where the Web comes in.
Consider that the customer is in a state of “I am not sure which restaurant is right for me.
At that time, for example
- We are confident in our ability to color and bleach hair without damaging it.
- Hair quality changes dramatically from the age of 60. Leave it to us for hair care and cutting from the age of 60!
- Specializes in shaved heads! Shaved heads are cut in 0.5cm increments, 200 patterns!
- If there is something like that, it will resonate with people who are looking for that.
If there were a baseball club in the neighborhood, it might become popular to have a “silhouette bow cut that looks like a shaved head but looks beautiful on weekends and holidays with the use of wax.
This is a message that says, “We offer something that suits you. In other words, it is providing a basis for judgment: “I am over 60 years old, so this restaurant is better for me,” or “I didn’t realize there was such a difference, and that it differs depending on age.
Providing criteria for decision making allows you to communicate your company’s strengths as “strengths”.
When you provide them with criteria in this way, they will “get it” and understand the strengths of your company.
Conversely, “any strength is meaningless unless people understand it.
This case is quite common.
For example, let’s say that a company decides to make its strength in cutting techniques and posts detailed cutting instructions on its website.
Would this work?
Probably not. Because customers are not interested in the details of how the cut is done. And because they “don’t know.
Therefore, they may not “get it” and may think that you are a hard person who is difficult to communicate with.
In these situations, it is rather more effective to “blog about how you practice cutting every day after business hours and at night.
When customers see this, they think, “If he has practiced this much, his cutting skills must be great.
It depends on how you do it. Try to take a way that is understandable.
Use the website to disseminate more and more information.
This is the perfect time for a website.
Because I can add more and more content myself. If I had to write this in every flyer, no amount of money would be enough.
The basic premise is that you need to be able to create your own content. So, please try to install easy-to-update tools such as WordPress. You can create contents just like a word processor.
Worst case scenario, even a free blog is better than nothing (although I’d like my own domain).
Instead of directly offering coupons, flyers can also be used afterwards, such as a 30% discount for the first time only if you visit our website and sign up for our e-mail newsletter.
To sum up.
In summary, first of all, the environment is becoming more and more cutthroat, and doing the same thing as large stores is not good enough.
Then, gather information, create your company’s strengths, and “stick out” where there is a need, and advertise and market mainly there.
Use the website as a hub for information dissemination.
As you do this, you will gradually gain fixed customers.
We do not recommend switching immediately, as it requires a period of preparation, but you may want to switch strategies with a focus on, for example, six months from now.
I always think that I want good stores to remain.
I also still go to the store I used to go to an hour each way, so…
We hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions, please contact us.
