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Originally Posted by Steve Underhill  When I say people tend to tan near where they live, that is not absolute. The largest percentage of people tan near where they live so they can tan in the evenings and weekends. When choosing locations you must consider this. If you are looking at a location that is predominately business based in the market, you are going to have a problem. This is an area where large chains have an advantage that allows tanners to tan at any location. They are likely to have a location near work and home.
There are always exceptions to the 3 mile radius and tanning near home, however when evaluating a location it is best to evaluate a location based on homes in the market. It is really about making the best decisions. To say I have kind of a nice salon with really old equipment and no high pressure but tanners are happy with my salon is naive. The minute a tanner is exposed to a higher standard of tanning it is very hard to except anything less. It is about offering the best tanning experience. All salons can tan you if the change lamps, however the perception of the tanner is that the better experience gives them a better tan.
If you have accurate information you can make better decisions as an operator. |
This is a great debate; the more information that is available, the better in my opinion. However, it is easy to say that you should cover every base in the tanning genre; but the reality is that many salon owners are limited in their ability to do that. That is, HP is a very expensive add on. In most cases, you have to upgrade your electrical, and HVAC just to get in the ball game. Then, the expense of the equipment and it's maintenance adds to the cost. These beds are huge and take up large amounts of space. Finally, you must be able to get a high dollar per visit from at least 25% of your customer base to justify it from an investment point of view. And quite frankly, you can get comparable results from a good 32 bulb 160 watt VHR bed that does not require any of the above expense. I could see someone easily spending $50k just to get 1 HP bed online. That is a lot of money for the average salon owner.
I also do not think that when a person tries an upgrade bed, that they automatically think that no other equipment will do. In fact, I have many customers who do not like bells and whistles like facials, so they probably wouldn't like HP either. I am not against HP, just think that it is not a given that you should try to be everything to everyone. People become millionaires by creating niches within niches-what is a cupcake bakery or an organic produce market? a niche within a niche. The whole Apple empire began as a niche within a niche.