Entrepreneur Idea Guide
Opening a Hair Care & Treatment Equipment & Supplies Business
Opening a hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail business is an excellent entrepreneurial opportunity if you have the creativity and tenacity necessary to be a successful entrepreneur. This article contains tips and advice to develop the business successfully.
Wondering how to start a hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail business? We take you step-by-step from start to success.
Launching a Hair Treatment Equipment & Supply Store
The hair care industry is alive and well in the U.S. Each year, approximately 70,000 hair care providers (salons and barbershops) generate approximately $19 billion in sales -- and they require no small amount of hair care and treatment equipment and supplies to do it.
Given the density of hair care providers in most local communities, it makes sense to launch a brick-and-mortar equipment and supply store, provided your target market isn't already saturated with equipment and supply sellers. A physical presence in your target market allows you to provide a higher level of service to your customers and to capture a larger share of the local market through in-store events.
As a local retailer/wholesaler, you will face the same challenges as any other retail operation. Storefront leasing, marketing, inventory management -- it all counts and will need to be addressed before you launch your business.
Ecommerce Opportunities for Hair Equipment & Supply Startups
The hair care equipment and supply industry is ideally suited to the online retail environment. While some salons will prefer to visit your store (or be visited by sales reps), others prefer to shop for equipment and supplies online. An ecommerce strategy will also allow you to expand your startup's reach beyond the local area, creating the possibility of relationships with buyers around the globe.
Good ecommerce begins with a great business website. However, the security and transactional requirements of an ecommerce channel can be substantial. If you're unsure how to proceed, consider hiring a professional web development firm for assistance.
Hair Equipment & Supply Growth Strategies
Growth is important for a small business and there are many ways to expand the scope of your hair equipment and supply startup. But in this industry, one of the most effective growth strategies is to forge relationships with future generations of hair providers by connecting with beauty schools.
Strategic partnerships and discounted supply arrangements can be leveraged to gain access to beauty school students, exposing them to your product lines during the early stages of their careers. As students graduate and open their own salons, their buying patterns and provider preferences will likely migrate with them, gradually increasing your company's overall revenue.
Writing a Business Plan for a Hair Care & Treatment Equipment & Supplies Business
Does your hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail business have a business plan? If not, your company is lacking a critical business tool. With the right ingredients, your hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail company's business plan will serve as a blueprint for success.
A professional business plan writer can be a big help in creating a first-rate plan.
Time and time again, the best entrepreneurs we see rely on professionally crafted plans to guide their decision making. Even so, we caution new business owners against removing themselves entirely from the business plan creation process.
As the primary stakeholder in your hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail business, you will intentionally need to insert yourself in various stages of the plan's development.
Assess the Competition
Well in advance of opening a hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail business in your area, it's a good idea to determine how strong the competition is. We've provided the link below to help you generate a list of competitors in your city. Simply enter your city, state and zip code to get a list of hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail businesses in your town.
Is the established competition doing a good job? It's important to understand their strengths and weaknesses and think through how you'll stake up against those established businesses.
Learn from Others Who Are Already In This Space
Once you've finished assessing the competion, it's a smart move to talk to somebody who is already in the business. It's very unlikely that the local competition will talk to you. What's in it for them?
On the other hand, an individual who has a hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail business in a different city may be more than happy to give you a few tips, given that you don't compete with them in their area. Indeed, many experienced entrepreneurs enjoy offering advice to startup entrepreneurs. It can take a while to find an entrepreneur who is willing to talk, but it's well worth the effort.
Where can you find somebody who runs a hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail business in another city who you can speak with?
Here's one way to do it. Just use our link below, find somebody and call them.
Should You Buy or Start a Hair Care & Treatment Equipment & Supplies Business?
As an aspiring business owner, the decisions you make now will have huge implications later, including the decision to either start a business from scratch or buy an existing hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail business.
In general, purchased hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail businesses fare better than startups, at least during the initial few years. Existing companies have an established customer base, brand recognition and functional business models. More importantly, buying an existing hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail business makes it easier for you to begin collecting a salary sooner rather than later.
Entrepreneurs who are committed to a highly unique value proposition may need to pursue a startup approach. But whenever possible, we recommend carefully surveying the business-for-sale marketplace before committing to a startup approach.
Don't Forget About Franchising As an Option
Tapping into a franchise opportunity means you can leverage ideas and systems that have been tested and proven over time.
Prior to making the decision to open a hair care and treatment equipment and supplies retail business, you would be wise to investigate whether franchise opportunities in your space might increase your chances of success.
The link below gives you access to our franchise directory so you can see if there's a franchise opportunity for you. You might even find something that points you in a completely different direction.
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