bigking

I own a beauty salon with 6 nail tables 2 hair stations, air brush tanning and massage, I have room for 3 beds know and can ad 1 more later should i start with 2 beds and ad the others later, my location is next to a gem and is the only one that would have tanning beds in a 5 mile radius, I plan on radio advertising that I already do to include the new tanning, the location was a tanning salon before I moved in ( 6 months or so it was closed) I get 4 to 5 people per day walking in asking for tanning at this time, the price of the lowest tanning salon unlimited in town is $35 with average being about $45 I plan to cut my price below the competition since I have other services that I profit off of already, a acqaintance of mine is a tanning salon/gem consultant and thinks $19.95 unlimited would work good for me and help me keep more year round customer base, I live in s. calif. but out in the desert, well any feed back about what I should do would be great.

NewTanMan

I don't own a salon (should hear from the bank by Wednesday ) but I am wondering why you would cut the price to $19.95 unlimited when you know others are successful at $35 or more? You could always undercut them by charging $29.95 and advertise to your existing customer base in addition to doing your radio ads.

bigking

well the main reason is I'm getting a late start for the season and want to build a customer base as fast as possible, I've talked to people I know who use salons in the area and they have said they beleave alot of tanners would come over just because of price this is a pole of about 12 people so far.

bigking

I'm also playing with the idea of charging $24.95

canadiantaner

If the average is $45 why would you come in at $20 ? ? Charge $45 and see how things work out. A very BIG mistake is to start out LOW. It's much easier to lower prices later than to raise prices.

another whole topic is : why sell unlimited at all............

crazy44

There is no way I would cut my price that low. If other salons are getting $35.-$45. and there is a 5 mile radius, charge the higher price and see what happens. They are already walking into your salon and if they want tanning give it to them but charge. If the higher price doesn't go over then lower it, but not by much.

sunny d

with only three beds I sure would not be charging such a price. I can not see how you would benifit from that. Have you done a cost on equipment and lamps and electric and
all the other things that it takes to operate 3 beds ect? Why would you want to work twice as hard as your competion and receive less ?

sunshinetanningfactory

I own a 7 bed tanning salon in a small town. There are at least 4 other Hair salons that have 2 or 3 beds in my town. Much to my surprise they charge $1 or $2 less then I do. One mistake that they make is that they don’t provide the service that i do and when their customers come here they are so surprised what i do and make comments about how much better it is here. I'm not trying to talk you out of it. But make sure you follow all the rules and provide great customer service and you can charge whatever you want. Don’t just charge less cuz when people don’t come because you cant afford to provide that service you will loose your profit. Just a suggestion.

sunlounge

Unless the $19.95 is on an EFT program, I think it's bad for business. Ditto the other posters.

river_brat

Lowering your price that low will only draw the clientelle we sometimes wish we did not have. The ones who are soo cheap they cut open the bottle of lotion to get ALL inside of it. I am a believer in doing something 110%, how are you going to be able to provide the customer service that the other salons do. When clients come in will your hair dressers or the person in charge of the tanning be able to educate your clients who are their to tan? Price does not justify a thing. I would be leary of going into a salon that is more than half the price of a tanning salon. By lowering your price that low, how would you make up your overhead. I have been in some hair salons, nail salons, and they had one or two tanning beds, they did not keep them up the way they should and it was just nasty. I would think this through before doing this. Why not offer a service and do it well.