Total revenues for all salon industry services (hair, skin, nails) plus salon retail grew at a sluggish 2.7%, according to the new 2013 Professional Salon Industry Haircare Study from Professional Consultants & Resources, the leading salon industry strategic consultants and data source. The total U.S. salon hair care market segment (services plus retail) registered $64.8 billion, representing growth of just 2.3%.

There are an estimated 301,000 salons and barbershops using and selling haircare products in the United States.

“The state of our salon industry is weak and rapidly changing,” says Cyrus Bulsara, president of Professional Consultants & Resources. “Major national macroeconomic factors impacting the salon industry include generally lower disposable incomes, high real unemployment, government regulations slowing expansion, wage and job uncertainty created by national health care, and the U.S. Fed and fiscal policy. Hair care product sales such as shampoo, conditioners, hair sprays, hair styling and specialty products are being hurt by the dynamic shift toward family-economy chains and chair/suite rentals, which do not sell products effectively. The only bright spot is hair coloring services with a 3.7% growth, due to an aging population and the desire for fashion hair color. Keratin and straightening services also grew at about 3.5%. Cutting and styling services grew by less than 2%. Nail care services also grew at a lower rate of 7.5%, due to the weak economy.”

Study highlights include:

• The hot men’s sector grew more than 7%. The 2013 study details men’s salon services and provides an in-depth analysis.
• A dynamic shift continues from independent salons and mid-tier chains toward family-economy chains and chair/suite rentals and upscale men’s barbershops. Manufacturers, chains and salon industry sectors should not ignore this transition.
• Sales at major U.S. distributor Beauty Systems Group (BSG) grew 5.1%, while sales by L’Oréal’s SalonCentric declined 2.7%.
• Sally Beauty store sales were flat, due to lower disposable incomes and, consequently, lower sales to both salons and consumers.
• C and D class chair/suite rental salons and consumers shop at Sally stores. High-end independent salons, plus A and B class chair/suite rentals, drove full-service sales at BSG/Cosmoprof, SalonCentric stores and independent distributor stores.

• Major players in the chair/suite rental category include Sola, Salon Plaza, Salon Lofts, Solera, Phoenix, Salons by TJ, Salon Concepts etc.

• Sales at Regis continued their decline. In 2014, the company may shed its high-end salons in order to concentrate on its value brands.

• Great Clips and Sport Clips both experienced high 8.8% and 13% growth, respectively, as family-economy chains flourished. ·Sales of styling products increased by 4%, in part due to the increase in home hairstyling, made easier by new genres of styling tools.
• Sales of specialty products continued to grow at nearly 5%, as oils like Argan, Sea Buckthorn Berry, Macadamia and Mythic grew rapidly for all types of hair.

• Sales of shampoos and conditioners grew at low single-digits, mainly due to back-bar use after hair color and smoothing treatments, and via salon-retail for color protection and new genres of scalp treatment products.

• Mega salon-store Ulta grew by more than 20%, primarily due to salon products sold at deep discounts combined with special offers.
• Sales of Wella, Aveda and Bumble + bumble grew via direct sales, while direct sales of Kerastase declined.

• Redken and John Paul Mitchell Systems were the only major companies showing growth. Wella’s exclusive sales grew, while open-line sales declined. Sexy Hair, Pravana and Keune showed double-digit growth.

For purchasing information/questions, contact Bulsara at [email protected] or visit www.ProConsultants.us.