How Beauty Industry Businesses Can Prepare For Reopening

Despite hair salons and other non-essential businesses opening their doors on July 4, Beauty salons and nail bars in England will not reopen as hoped under the UK Government’s Covid-19 Recovery Plan.

In his address last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the Government intended “to allow other close contact services, such as nail bars, to reopen as soon as we can, when we are confident they can operate in a Covid-secure way.”

While we may not know exactly when businesses in the beauty industry will be able to reopen, we’re certainly hoping it’s sooner rather than later. And what we do know is that there is likely to be a whole lot of updates to make, systems to refresh, and customers to reengage.

If you haven’t already begun, it’s time to look ahead and prepare for the “new normal” phase of your business, ensuring you are ready to come back stronger than ever. Take a look at this mini guide to ensure a streamlined re-opening of your beauty business.

Re-engage with customers

Once the beauty industry gets a date for reopening, your business is likely to experience increased demand from customers desperate to revamp their less-than-glam lockdown look. It’s essential to first re-engage and stay loyal to those customers who missed previously booked appointments with you due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

While you are busy rescheduling these appointments, you will want to start a waiting list for those clients needing to book new appointments. Make sure all your clients are aware of your waiting list with clear instructions of how to sign up. For example, through your website, email, or social media posts.

Review and update your service menu

It’s important to note that even once the beauty industry reopens its doors, it’s hardly business as usual. Like many other retail businesses, there are likely to be various restrictions in place such as social distancing and cleaning protocols. The usual back-to-back clients on a Saturday may just have to be put on hold for a while, as your business will have to fit in extra time to clean and disinfect between clients.

With this reduced working time, it’ll be sensible to take a look at your current services list and prioritise the ones you will offer upon reopening. You may wish to consider which services can be carried out the safest and which ones bring you the most profit.

Consider your pricing

There will be an extra lot of work and effort in preparing your beauty business for reopening. As mentioned before, this includes spending significantly more time cleaning or having to front costs for a professional cleaner.

You may want to consider adding a “Covid-19 surcharge” on all your services, which typically comes in the form of an added percentage to a bill.

Many businesses are doing this in order to pay for all the extra business costs due to extra cleaning protocols, so don’t feel downtrodden if you choose to add this. Besides, your customers are likely to be happy to pay a little bit extra in order to feel safe in your facilities.

Ensure you are following Government guidelines

Like many of the industries that have already returned to work post-lockdown, the beauty industry is likely to have restrictions in place to ensure safety and protection of both customers and staff. It’s important you are strictly following the Government guidelines. This may mean:

• Reducing the capacity in your shop to allow for adequate social distancing.
• Creating a daily checklist to ensure cleaning protocols are followed by all.
• Training for staff on adapting in the “new normal” of working.
• Investment in PPE for customers and staff.

Adapt your businesses payment methods

Despite the reopening of businesses across the UK, a report by Accenture shows that consumers remain deeply concerned about the impact of COVID-19 with priorities centred around health and hygiene.

When it comes to finalising purchases, consumers will come to expect having the safe option of contactless payment, no matter what the business size. And so, it is essential that your card reader machine facilitates this option. Card machines such as those from UTP Group include contactless technology and are pre-configured to accept contactless transactions up to the new contactless limit of £45.

Email and social media campaigns

Last, but certainly not least, it’s time to leverage the power of social media marketing and email campaigns to communicate with your customers; both current and future.

Shout from the rooftops that your business is welcoming back customers via attention-grabbing social media posts and email updates.

You will want to communicate information on what the team have been up to during the closure of the business; any changes to your price list or service offerings; the cleaning processes put in place to ensure the safety of returning customers and staff; and just generally reengaging with the community.

While the reopening of your business may seem daunting, by following these guidelines and those outlined by the government, you will be well on your way to opening your shop doors and welcoming your customers with ease.