Tesco Beauty Salons: Convenience v The Experience
It was recently announced that supermarket giant Tesco are planning to open a number of beauty salons within 70 of their stores across the United Kingdom by the end of 2011. Is this yet another set back for nail, hair and beauty salons up and down the country already struggling through a long recession or could it have positive benefits?
Branded Your Beauty Salon, the new Tesco instore salons will offer treatments such as manicures, waxing, hair styling and colouring. The treatments themselves are very competitively priced, with haircuts from as little as £12.50 and leg waxing starting at £10. The target for Tesco is to develop a £15 million a year beauty treatment business. There are also plans to take on Boots and the big department stores in the stocking of luxury beauty brands such as Clinique, Estee Lauder and L’Oreal.
Evidence suggests that we are still very much in the depths of a recession and one of the things that women tend to cut back on when times are hard are beauty treatments. However, women like to be pampered and have great looking hair, nails, legs, etc. Analysis shows that under the current climate consumers are buying cheaper food to make ends meet, so perhaps Tesco are thinking that by offering cheaper beauty treatments women will flock to Your Beauty Salon rather than higher priced salons.
Manicures are one of the many cut price beauty treatments that will be on offer at Tesco's new beauty salons.
It begs the question, though, whether the treatments will be more Tesco Economy rather than Tesco Finest. Judging by their proposed low-end prices it will be more a case of the former. As a salon owner myself I take pride in the fact that for our beauty treatments we use high-end professional beauty products complimented by highly qualified and experienced beauty therapists. At such cheap prices can Tesco offer a quality product or will it be a case of ‘you get what you pay for’?
One resounding factor is that many women enjoy the experience of visiting a beauty or hair salon. Especially in the case of beauty salons, it is all about the escapism of being in a relaxing environment. I suspect it would be very hard to enjoy a massage at Tesco, knowing that as soon as it is over you are either faced with battling your way through the aisles with your shopping trolly and/or fighting your way out of the supermarket car park. The prices may well be cheap however the experience will inevitably be a cheap one as well.
There are, however, two strong positives that Tesco’s move will bring to the industry. Firstly, employment. The beauty industry has been struggling throughout the recession, with many salons going bust over the last couple of years. There are currently a lot more therapists than jobs. Your Beauty Salon will offer an excellent opportunity for many college leavers and unemployed therapists to find not only employment but valuable experience. The new salons create an opportunity and in some ways a stepping stone.
Another factor is that Tesco, in bringing beauty salons to the attention of their regular shoppers, of which there are many, will be introducing beauty treatments to people who might not have considered them before. A manicure at Tesco could lead to a luxury manicure at a more upmarket salon, which might be more local and offer a more relaxed environment. The client may have enjoyed the convenience of having a cut price treatment at Tesco however the next stage could be enjoying the experience of the same treatment but at a beauty salon that does not have the stigma of supermarket shopping attached to it.
From a personal point of view I believe that hair and beauty is an essential luxury to most women and Tesco, from my own experience as a consumer, does not fulfil that quality image.
© Beautytime Health and Beauty Clinic.
Author: Sarah Brewer. Bio: Qualified as a beauty therapist in 1987 and after gaining experience in high level beauty salons established one of South Devon’s longest running beauty salons: Beautytime Health and Beauty Clinic.
www.beauty-time.com
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