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How to Sell Retail Products in a Salon or Spa

Guide on how to sell retail products in a salon or spa

Table of Contents

Why is Selling Retail Important in Your Salon or Spa?

Selling retail products is important for any salon and spa because you can have more income sources and not depend only on services and bookings.

This means you can make more money without needing more staff or spending more time on service.

Another benefit that you might not notice is that having good-quality brands can help you position your spa or salon in a higher market.

This means you can charge more for services, as long as your value and service quality are up to par.

Selling retail is not only about revenue and sales but also about customer experience. For example, if they like a hair pomade that you used on them, they can buy it from your store instead of looking for it elsewhere. Something that they can get while paying the bill.

Also, if they trust your salon, it can be like word-of-mouth marketing because they think that you’re an expert and that your suggestion will be good.

Some salon or spa businesses have even made retail sales their main income source, mainly through having loyal customers and selling to other businesses wholesale.

You can also order products and goods from your supplier in bulk to lower the price if you’re selling retail, which reduces variable costs in the long run!

Selling retail products is also a good way to scale up your business.

How to Sell Retail Products in Your Salon or Spa

Educate Your Clients During Service

Provide value first then your customers will provide value to you!

Educating your clients during service is the best way to sell retail products. For example, when you do a manicure or a hair perming, teach them how to maintain the result, and subtly suggest some products that will assist them in the process.

The key is not to hard sell, but genuine recommend a certain product that will be helpful for the customer.

Once they understand certain problems and how certain products can help them, they’ll be a lot more willing to convert and buy.

Doing it this way makes sure that you provide value upfront first, then only closing the sale later.

Customers are more receptive when your goal is to help them, and not try to shove the product down their throats.

This also ensures that they become repeat customers and your average customer lifetime value increases!

Train Your Staff to Recommend & Upsell

Staff training is directly related to the previous point because unless you’re doing every service yourself, you’re going to need to train members of staff to do the same thing, which is to give thoughtful recommendations.

The most important thing in this category is to improve on technical and product knowledge.

This could be to learn the wide range of services that you offer, and what certain products do and why.

This helps your staff to learn what products to suggest in different situations. For example, let’s say hair-perming a certain type of hair could make it dry and brittle.

You could have your staff teach the client how to avoid or reduce this while suggesting a product that could help them.

Soft skills are also important because at the end of the day, even with a lot of product knowledge, customers won’t buy if you don’t understand their needs, show empathy, and communicate well.

The solution could be a special day once in a while, where employees can have product training as well as improve their soft skills, and maybe sales skills.

Samples Could Help a Lot in Getting Customers to Repeat Purchases

Samples are great lead magnets that can lead to recurring purchases.

There’s a reason why so many cosmetics companies provide free samples it gives customers an idea of what certain products feel like and how they’re different from competitors.

To put that in perspective, Vogue claims that cosmetics companies could spend up to $100,000 on samples per product SKU.

That doesn’t mean that you should have samples for every product, but maybe just a couple that have historically been your best sellers could help tremendously.

You could pair your product sampling strategy with the education point earlier, where you can hand out samples to customers who might be interested in purchasing but might be unsure.

If possible, you should have a QR code that links directly to your online web store, so that they can purchase if they’re interested.

This might be small but it can be a determining factor whether a sale happens or not!

Make Sure Your Products Are Visible Whenever Clients Make a Booking

Speaking of online stores, you should get one if you don’t have one already. Why? Let us explain.

An online store is not only great for being able to sell to the world online, perhaps through social media like Facebook or Instagram. However, there’s also another benefit that not many people know about.

According to TechReport, more than 33% of people prefer to book appointments through their mobile phones. This means there’s a lot of traffic potential if you already have an online booking system.

So here’s the idea, why not combine an online store with your online booking system? We know, it’s complicated, and not all online booking platforms can do this.

But you’re in luck. Our booking system, KlikNRoll lets you have an online store with your booking system.

This makes sure that your customers can see what you offer before they come to your place, as well as being able to make purchases online.

Also, you can set up automated emails after the appointment for feedback and maybe a product catalog!

It might look like a small thing, but if you have volume, it can add up to a lot of extra revenue just by doing this.

Want to know more? Click the button below to see our online store module!

Strategically Place Products in Your Salon or Spa

Another great way to sell products in salons or spas is to put them where customers are likely to see them.

This is a strategy that supermarkets use to get customers to buy things on impulse while in line.

You can do the same by putting spa or salon products in waiting areas, behind the receptionist, and in any booths or rooms (if applicable).

This ensures that after the service, clients will recall the products suggested by you or your staff and buy them while they’re paying the bill.

Also, having the right products by your store window could boost walk-in rates, especially if the particular products are rare or very niche.

Create a Package That Clients Can Subscribe to Monthly

You can create packages with different products that your clients can subscribe to for a monthly fee.

For example, if you’re in a hair salon, you can try a mix of pomade, hairspray, and maybe a sea salt spray. Or if you’re a spa, you can try a scented candle, body scrubs, and bath bombs.

There are many options and combinations. But to be safe, you should check customer and sales data to see which products are most popular with customers.

Also, you want to make sure that these products are cheaper in the subscription than buying separately, to motivate commitment, as having steady and recurring revenue is very important!

Scentbird, a brand selling a subscription-based cologne and perfume service that gives customers a different scent each month is a great example of this. But instead of cologne, maybe you can do the same with different types of scented candles or maybe hair wax, etc.

You can also add these packages to your KlikNRoll online store with a few clicks! We make sure that everything is simple and user-friendly!

Conclusion

Selling retail products in your salon or spa can boost your income, improve your customer experience, and strengthen your brand in your local market.

You can do this by using strategic tactics that we’ve talked about earlier like customer education and sampling.

Using these strategies in your retail approach can not only increase sales but also create a holistic and personalized customer journey for each segment, and help your salon or spa grow and succeed!

Again, if you’re looking for an online store solution, click the button below to take a look at our product page!

Last Updated by March 4, 2024
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