Beauty Biz

BEAUTY
OFFERING PROFITABLE
NAIL SERVICES IN
YOUR SALON By Lauren Burton
With so many nail salons in
Australia, some of which are
offering nails at such a low price,
how do you compete? The answer,
you don’t!
When you get a job, it’s to earn a
living, right? If you start a business, the
intention is to again, make a living, and
a comfortable profit, right? But if your
focus is on undercutting other salons
in your area, you are not only hurting
yourself financially and mentally with
not charging your worth. But this also
leads to cheapening of the industry
as a whole, harming us all in the long
run. Which has happened to a degree,
with the rise of “cheaper” shopping
centre nail bars, we refer to the vast
majority of these types of salons as
non-standard salons (NSS), as they
do not practice correct salon policies
and practices which can include not
using products that are adequately
designed for the nails due to them
being inexpensive and even in some
cases the “technicians” not being
qualified in nails at all. This is not
race-related, as there are plenty of
NSS around that are not in shopping
centres. A lot of people will use these salons for
convenience of being able to walk in (but can end
up waiting an hour) or for the price, thinking they
are getting a better deal, when in fact, the added
the little extras, i.e. shape, length, gel colour,
gel top coat, works out not that much cheaper. I
am yet to meet a client who has had a good and
consistent experience at these places.
It is essential, to look at what salons in your
area are charging as a guideline because
depending on your demographic prices will
differ. But don’t try to compete with them, your
circumstances and theirs will be different. If you
focus on undercutting and competing with other
salons, I can guarantee that this will cause you
unnecessary stress, if not immediately, definitely
over time and lead to a loss of passion for your
work, as you are continually working to not make
much by charging $60 or less for a set of nails
but then taking 2 hours or more to do them. A nail
bar down the road might be charging anything
between $10-$30 cheaper than you, and seem
really busy, but bear in mind that the salon must
work twice as hard to earn the same figures as
someone who is charging the going rate. As the
old saying goes, work smarter, not harder.
50 Beauty Biz Year 14 Issue 1
When setting your pricing, you must keep several
things in mind, including your business running
costs, rent, insurances, utility bills (electricity,
water, phone, website, marketing). Then you
have stock upkeep, cleaning products, general
expenses. You also have to ensure you are
paying yourself at least the minimum an hourly
rate, and your staff too if you have them.
You also have to ensure you have money
aside to bringing in new products, continue
with upskilling, education, and training, It is vital
that you keep yourself and staff up to date with
training, it keeps you and your business, more
proficient and keeps your salon standing out as
the must-go-to place. If you wish to expand the
business and grow, you need to have the money
to aid you in growing your business. These are all
things to factor in when creating your treatment
pricing.
Next step is to figure out treatment costs for
the salon/technician; we need to figure out how
many applications can be expected from each
product we use; any reputable brand should be
able to provide you with a cost and application
breakdown of their products, this is how you find
out how much it costs you per treatment. As an
example, a 15ml bottle of gel polish costs $25.00
per bottle we can get anything between 25-30
applications, we take the $25.00 and divide that
by 25, giving us $1.00 peruse. Every time we use
a layer of that gel polish colour we know it costs
us $1.00. We then do this sum with every product
we use in a treatment process. It can take a little
time, but it is something worth knowing when it
comes to your business.
Nails can be a profitable service if priced correctly
with Australian beauty standards. The minimum
hourly rate for a nail technician in Australia,
as per Fair Work is $21.92 per hour, going up
to $34.62 per hour or more, depending upon
experience. Factor in how long treatments take
for the technician to complete if you are doing
nail art charge more, it is more time, and it is a
bespoke service. In an ideal world, a nail salon or
nail technician should be charging a minimum $1
a minute for their time alone, then adding other
costs into those prices.
Lauren is the Gelish Master Educator & Head
of Education at Hand and Nail Harmony
Australia, distributors of Gelish Gel Polish.
Visit www.gelish.com.au to learn more.