Jim:
While I can't give you specific numbers or answers to your questions, I can tell you what my perception of the market is and will be...Which may not be worth much, but here goes:
Walk down the aisle at any major big box store, WalMart, Target, etc., and check out the sunless products offered there. Over the last five years, they have increased steadily to include many, many more than what QT once had a corner on the market. ****, they WERE the market. Companies don't go out on a limb before producing and promoting a new product line without doing their research. If they didn't feel public interest was there, they wouldn't go for it. Even high end cosmetic companies are getting into the game, such as Clarin's, Clinique, Philosophy, etc. It's kind of an "everyone's doing it" attitude it seems.
As far as regular users or clients, really, it's kind of a lot for people to get a
spray tan on a weekly basis at $25 a pop. It is for me, anyway~ I personally have tried to keep my pricing slightly lower than that, at $22 per session, and yes, I do have regular, weekly clients within that price range. My packages are even lower. I'm not about not charging for the service, don't get me wrong, but I decided early on that I wanted to make this service as accessible as possible to the average person and still make a decent living. My clients are mostly female, who also take part in pedicures, manicures, facials, massages, etc. But a pedicure lasts longer than 7-10 days, you know? It's all in perception of value, really. So competition wise, I'm very competitive, yet am still able to make decent money.
Also, like anything else, repeat business is key. I have worked very hard to establish a good reputation for quality goods and services regarding sunless. It's not unlike some UV tanning salons who don't change their bulbs on time or whatever...They will not see people return because someone else in town will give their business the attention it needs. Here, for instance, there's a place that does
airbrush tanning, and while I don't know how much research they did before hopping on the bandwagon, it apparently couldn't have been much, as they are constantly doing poor work. No one is going to return and pay $30 to look ridiculous.
I realize I'm talking about airbrushing here, and not sunless booths, as you have specified in your post, but I think the sunless industry as a whole is definitely a larger part of the market than we all think. Again, check out the lotion section at the big box stores, the sunless products far outweigh the tanning lotions.
Thanks~
Jen
www.abtan.com
US Distributor for Vani-t Products