need help pricing new shop! - tanTALK

lila-lu · 07-18-2014, 09:17 PM

hi everyone! forgive me, i'm new to this posting stuff and would like some suggestions and or any ideas what to do. my current shop has an older, steady, year round customer base that's small but doing ok. now i have a new shop, right in the middle of a huge university campus. my competition is darqtan and a gal that has a a custom spray tanning shop. the beds i have are 4 tan america 20 min. catalinas, 3 15 min. ergoline ambitions w/ facials, 2 suncaps and 3, 12 minute tan america del rays w/facials. no spray booth yet. 7000 new student housing this fall, all full. i have no idea what to charge or what kind of packages to provide! this is a different ball game for me. i'm not as fancy or high pressure sales as darqtan. i'm setting up my prices now. the students will be back in about 3 weeks. any suggestions on my prices i should charge? packages? i don't want to be as compicated as the others in the area. thanks

crosbytan · 07-19-2014, 10:38 AM

Where are you located? I have a darque as competition and it's very easy to compete with them. Step 1 cleanliness! If you ever go into Darque it will almost give you a headache due to the smell of cleaner, This is a good sign that their salons are surgical grade sanitized however they don't use anything that has a fragrance to it. What one of my girls said they do is place a bucket of water and cleaner next to the A/C intake so the smell of cleaner is pumped across the salon. Good idea for you to do with a better smelling cleaner than them.
Step 2 Customer service! We see a lot of customers from them because they have little customer service skills from what we hear from our customers. They want to help out the small business that remembers their name, Their dogs name, Their major, ect... Getting personal will increase sales and public image.
Last but not least Keep your pricing simple compared to theirs! they do EFT and points and single session ect.... all in 5 different packages. Keep it simple your customers are students that are already tired from being in classes so what I would recommend is EFT Month to month and single sessions and do it on 3 price levels. Reg, (LVL 1-2) super (LVL 3-4) and Platinum (LVL 5 & HP) Buy some new to you equipment! Darque rarely upgrades equipment unless it is in a new salon. I purchased a 17 year old powerhouse 6000 and customers think it's brand new and like it better than any bed in the salon including HP.
It is hard to discuss pricing it depends on where you're located!!

Just my thoughts I'm sure some will disagree but this is what worked for us and while others are declining and struggling from last year to this year we have doubled

Steve Underhill · 07-21-2014, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lila-lu

hi everyone! forgive me, i'm new to this posting stuff and would like some suggestions and or any ideas what to do. my current shop has an older, steady, year round customer base that's small but doing ok. now i have a new shop, right in the middle of a huge university campus. my competition is darqtan and a gal that has a a custom spray tanning shop. the beds i have are 4 tan america 20 min. catalinas, 3 15 min. ergoline ambitions w/ facials, 2 suncaps and 3, 12 minute tan america del rays w/facials. no spray booth yet. 7000 new student housing this fall, all full. i have no idea what to charge or what kind of packages to provide! this is a different ball game for me. i'm not as fancy or high pressure sales as darqtan. i'm setting up my prices now. the students will be back in about 3 weeks. any suggestions on my prices i should charge? packages? i don't want to be as compicated as the others in the area. thanks

Here is the problem. You have a shop before you have a business plan?

If you want to have a successful business you must go to the foundation of the business and work forward. A business model that will be successful in a regular market or in this case a college market must be a complete plan and strategy. Simply asking a forum what you should charge for tanning is a joke.

What made you decide on equipment mix? what is your marketing strategy? How is the design of your salon going to encourage sales? what is your strategy for hiring and training your staff? How will you determine your price structure so it will maximize the income potential in the college market? These are just a few questions.

People wonder why so many salons fail!

peach · 07-21-2014, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Underhill

Here is the problem. You have a shop before you have a business plan?

If you want to have a successful business you must go to the foundation of the business and work forward. A business model that will be successful in a regular market or in this case a college market must be a complete plan and strategy. Simply asking a forum what you should charge for tanning is a joke.

What made you decide on equipment mix? what is your marketing strategy? How is the design of your salon going to encourage sales? what is your strategy for hiring and training your staff? How will you determine your price structure so it will maximize the income potential in the college market? These are just a few questions.

People wonder why so many salons fail!

A lot of industries have high failure rates. Restuarants come to mind. The overall new business failure rate in the US is 4/10 in the 1st year. Getting into the tanning business right now is like getting into the video rental industry just before that likes of block buster and movie gallery got introduced to netflix. It was a massacre.

Tanning Indies may last another 5-10 years but the end is near.

crosbytan · 07-21-2014, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dogfan

A lot of industries have high failure rates. Restuarants come to mind. The overall new business failure rate in the US is 4/10 in the 1st year. Getting into the tanning business right now is like getting into the video rental industry just before that likes of block buster and movie gallery got introduced to netflix. It was a massacre.

Tanning Indies may last another 5-10 years but the end is near.

Why is the end near???

peach · 07-21-2014, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crosbytan

Why is the end near???

Big chains are buying out and converting salons at an astonishing rate. It reminds me of the blockbuster / movie gallery days in the video business. It will be difficult for indies to compete in another 5 years.

ljtan · 07-21-2014, 06:16 PM

That's not true. Big chains have the same problems as the rest of us. Speaking of Darque Tan, they have closed or sold all of their California locations I hear.

peach · 07-21-2014, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljtan

That's not true. Big chains have the same problems as the rest of us. Speaking of Darque Tan, they have closed or sold all of their California locations I hear.

EVERYONE is selling their salons in California. Every business is getting the **** out of that state as fast as they can.

peach · 07-21-2014, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljtan

That's not true. Big chains have the same problems as the rest of us. Speaking of Darque Tan, they have closed or sold all of their California locations I hear.

Most of the good chains in the SE are being bought out or are converting to Sun Tan City of Pam Beach Tan. The pace of this is really accelerating. And NO the big chains do not have the same problems. Its called "economy of scale". Look it up. The fat lady is warming up.

peach · 07-21-2014, 06:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crosbytan

Where are you located? I have a darque as competition and it's very easy to compete with them. Step 1 cleanliness! If you ever go into Darque it will almost give you a headache due to the smell of cleaner, This is a good sign that their salons are surgical grade sanitized however they don't use anything that has a fragrance to it. What one of my girls said they do is place a bucket of water and cleaner next to the A/C intake so the smell of cleaner is pumped across the salon. Good idea for you to do with a better smelling cleaner than them.
Step 2 Customer service! We see a lot of customers from them because they have little customer service skills from what we hear from our customers. They want to help out the small business that remembers their name, Their dogs name, Their major, ect... Getting personal will increase sales and public image.
Last but not least Keep your pricing simple compared to theirs! they do EFT and points and single session ect.... all in 5 different packages. Keep it simple your customers are students that are already tired from being in classes so what I would recommend is EFT Month to month and single sessions and do it on 3 price levels. Reg, (LVL 1-2) super (LVL 3-4) and Platinum (LVL 5 & HP) Buy some new to you equipment! Darque rarely upgrades equipment unless it is in a new salon. I purchased a 17 year old powerhouse 6000 and customers think it's brand new and like it better than any bed in the salon including HP.
It is hard to discuss pricing it depends on where you're located!!

Just my thoughts I'm sure some will disagree but this is what worked for us and while others are declining and struggling from last year to this year we have doubled

I agree with your points, but you cannot outlast multi million dollar organizations; they will surround you with capacity and drop the 18.88 bombs on you and just wait you out.

07-19-2014, 10:38 AM	#2 (permalink)
crosbytan Join Date: Dec 29 2013 Location: TX Posts: 171 Rep Power: 11	Re: need help pricing new shop! Where are you located? I have a darque as competition and it's very easy to compete with them. Step 1 cleanliness! If you ever go into Darque it will almost give you a headache due to the smell of cleaner, This is a good sign that their salons are surgical grade sanitized however they don't use anything that has a fragrance to it. What one of my girls said they do is place a bucket of water and cleaner next to the A/C intake so the smell of cleaner is pumped across the salon. Good idea for you to do with a better smelling cleaner than them. Step 2 Customer service! We see a lot of customers from them because they have little customer service skills from what we hear from our customers. They want to help out the small business that remembers their name, Their dogs name, Their major, ect... Getting personal will increase sales and public image. Last but not least Keep your pricing simple compared to theirs! they do EFT and points and single session ect.... all in 5 different packages. Keep it simple your customers are students that are already tired from being in classes so what I would recommend is EFT Month to month and single sessions and do it on 3 price levels. Reg, (LVL 1-2) super (LVL 3-4) and Platinum (LVL 5 & HP) Buy some new to you equipment! Darque rarely upgrades equipment unless it is in a new salon. I purchased a 17 year old powerhouse 6000 and customers think it's brand new and like it better than any bed in the salon including HP. It is hard to discuss pricing it depends on where you're located!! Just my thoughts I'm sure some will disagree but this is what worked for us and while others are declining and struggling from last year to this year we have doubled __________________ David www.facebook.com/crosbytanning www.islandtanz.com info@islandtanz.com

07-21-2014, 06:16 PM	#7 (permalink)
ljtan Join Date: Jan 10 2005 Posts: 268 Rep Power: 20	Re: need help pricing new shop! That's not true. Big chains have the same problems as the rest of us. Speaking of Darque Tan, they have closed or sold all of their California locations I hear.

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