CoCopelliTanning

Hey All!

Well I have been searching this site now for quite sometime and I am finally ready to post a question.

My husband and I are opening a tanning salon on Feb. 3rd (if not sooner) and I was wondering about lotions. I am doing a private lotion line with Greg but I am also thinking about having 2 other products lines as well.

My question is how many bottles should we have on hand and how many packets should we get to open our doors with?

Also one other question. We are right across the street from the local high school, and the other tanning salon in town (who has a VERY bad reputaition) offers the Senior girls on the cheerleading, drill team, and dance company free tanning for their whole entire school year. Any suggestions on how to get them to tan with me instead? Also what about the sophmore and junior girls? They don't have any offers going on.

Any kind of feedback you may have would be wonderful!

Thanks in advance!!!!

Nicolette:sarcasm:

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caribbeansun01

Well, I think that you are going to have to play it by ear for right now until you get your feet wet on what your optimal inventory level should be. You will learn what lotions are hot and which are not. Because our salon is small (9units) we keep 6 bottles and 24 packets of our hot items and 3 bottles and 12 packets of our not so hot items. Busy season is a different story, you can never have too much. You're just going to have to keep a close eye on trends in your salon and then do some mathematics on optimal inventory levels.

As far as the high school is concerned. I would offer a flat discount across the board for everyone. However for a grand opening special you cold offer free tanning with $x purchased for any student with a valid school ID. Be creative. Offer mom & daughter packages. Boyfriend & girlfriend packages. Sibling packages. Just as grand opening specials. You just have to get them in your door to see how much more you have to offer and what a great tan they can get in a better customer service atmosphere. The rest is history. Don't forget to get free samples of lotions from your disty. (They'll get them from the manufacturer) Have s n a c ks out for grand opening. Be festive with balloons. Do a press release. And have fun. Be on hand to greet everyone that comes through your door. With prom around the corner too you can do a grand prize givaway for the students. Something like with $X purchased of with X package purchased enter to win our Prom giveaway. Something like a limo rental for prom for them and 4 of their closest couple friends, free tux rental, free booteners & corsages, free hair & nails done. If you can get other businesses to go along...it should be a hit.

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Pallan

Go look at your competition and see what they have. Go tan there and pretend to be interested in buying a lotion and ask what are the good sellers. Go from there.

clubtan1

Can you get next day (standard) delivery from your supplier? If so, no need to keep more than six bottles of anything on hand. When you get down to one or two, place another order for six. 24 packets seems standard.
How can you beat free tanning for the whole year? You can't. I have no idea what their point is by giving away that much to that many. I would hope that you have some sort of new, upgrade bed. If so, do a Grand Opening discount for the cheerleaders and dance company for thirty days. Let them see how much better their tan is by paying for it. Think of it this way, how long would you keep going to a bar that offers free, flat and warm beer served in a dirty glass? Eventually, you'll pay for a fresh, cold beer served in a chilled glass by friendly wait staff. Let the bottom feeders take the free tanning. Eventually, that will put the out of business. You need to find a way to get the paying customers.