The UK hairdressing sector loses at least £1.2bn every year as a result of clients not going to their appointments.
New research by Powered by Flossie, retail software that helps enterprise hair and beauty businesses reduce booking abandonment and increase revenue by streamlining the user experience, has found that a third (30 per cent) of women in London admit to not showing up to a hair appointment, leaving salons to swallow the costs.
With recent figures from Ibis World showing the total revenue generated by the UK hair and beauty industry to be £4bn, no-shows account for at least £1.2bn in lost income. This represents a potential additional thirty per cent of industry revenue forgone. Millennials were found to be the worst offenders, with more than two-fifths (44 per cent) of respondents aged 18-29 admitting to skipping a hair appointment at least once.
This is especially concerning for salons, as younger people are also their most frequent customers. The new Powered by Flossie data showed that 18-24 year olds are most likely to book monthly appointments, in comparison to all other age groups who average one appointment every 6 to 8 weeks.
As this data finds that the least reliable customers are also potentially the most lucrative, it’s vital that salons are able to reduce the amount of no-shows. As younger customers are more likely than average to book beauty services online (34 per cent of 18-29 year olds vs 27 per cent average), technological solutions to this issue are increasingly important.
Internal data also shared by Powered by Flossie found that customers are significantly more likely to attend beauty appointments if they have paid in advance, as it creates a financial repercussion for missing their bookings. The younger generation of consumers are also becoming used to having flexible payment options, including buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services. By incorporating these payment methods into online booking, salons can attract lucrative clients, while minimising the risk of no-shows.
Powered by Flossie enables salons to do that easily, the software accesses calendar data displayed on the salon’s website (like services, times and employees) and processes the information, resulting in appointments that are merchandised similar to how you would buy fashion and apparel online, allowing customers to pay upfront.
The software works alongside most calendar software systems as a plug and play solution that extends the capabilities of the existing technology with modern tools that increase online booking rates and supports various pay-in-advance solutions providing guaranteed revenue.
Jenene Crossan, CEO and Founder of Powered by Flossie said:
“Salons in the UK face a number of challenges, but one of the most widespread is no-show clients. Traditional booking methods have only served to broaden this problem, leaving many salons with no choice but to accept no-shows as the cost of doing business. However, £1.2bn is a steep cost indeed.
Having spent more than 20 years in the technology industry, I’ve seen first-hand how it can be used to change entrenched business practices. Powered by Flossie provides enterprise salons with software that enables them to offer their clients the best booking solutions; incorporating innovative payment options, easy to use interfaces and a way to end the no-show status-quo.”
