Beauty Supply Customers for Next 100 Years Target your customers’ Kids

Beauty Supply Customers for Next 100 Years
Target your customers’ Kids

The beauty supply industry is often referred to as the industry to pass on to the next generation. Then, who would make up the customer base for the next generation? Probably the little kids who come to your store holding their mom’s hand are the future customers. However, the beauty supply industry doesn’t really focus on the kids market because it’s considered too small. The retail businesses are not different. “Gone are the days of back-to-school specials. Kids nowadays only shop online.”

You can’t give up on your future customers so easily when you say your sons and daughters should reap from what you sow. Old habits die hard. Children who grow up with memories of going to beauty supply stores with their parents are likely to repeat it themselves with their children. Education is a hundred years in the making, and if you want to be in the beauty industry for the long haul, let’s properly address kid customers.

PART 1. The small but precious kids market

Ahead of the interview, we asked the wholesale insiders for their thoughts on the state of the kids market and its future. The answers were more or less congruent.

Kids products aren’t a huge part of the product lineups, but they’re a steady presence. We don’t expect the proportion of kids products to increase significantly, but we don’t expect it to decrease either. (Company R)
The kids sector continues to grow. It’s not so much about the children’s own interest growing, but more about the parents’ investment in kids that grows. There are many companies in the industry that specialize in developing, producing, and selling goods targeting kids. (Company I)
In the future, sales of children’s products will increase as income levels rise and children’s interest in fashion increases. (Company N)
I see the kids market as a big niche, and I think it will grow significantly in the future. (Company H)
With the growing influence of social media and influencers, there is a growing interest in beauty among children. We expect demand to grow significantly as parents become more engaged in their children’s appearance. (Company M)

The consensus was that “Kids products don’t account for a large share of the hair market, but they are a growing segment with steady sales.”

The potential for revenue growth is also high given beauty supply’s primary customer base. Black customers are still the top consumers of the products beauty supplies carry. Fortunately, the black population in the U.S. is steadily growing, and the purchasing power of black consumers continues to increase as they become more educated and make more money. In addition, the black population is younger. In the 2022 Census, the median age of blacks was 32.1, nearly six years younger than the median age of the entire U.S. population, which was 38.0. In addition, kids and teens under 18 make up nearly one-third of the total black population. Young black population is definitely your primary target audience for the future.

Source: Pew Research Center

In the 2022 Census, African American population is estimated to be 47.9 million, making up 14.4% of the U.S. population. This is a 32% increase from 36.2 million in 2000. Additionally, nearly half (45%) of the U.S. black population is under 30, with those under 18 making up 27%.

Now, how should retail businesses target kids? We received a lot of great opinions on how to better sell kids’ products at retail.

Retailers can run demonstrations of how to use products designed for kids, or show them how to style it using different colors or embellishments like beaded ribbons, which can directly drive sales. Kids’ products are developed with a strong focus on safety and convenience for children, so it’s a good idea to communicate this to customers. For hair products, easy-to-wear braids or products that are lightweight and protective of children’s scalps are good recommendations, and marketing claims like “Chemical Free Hair for Kids, Itch Free Braiding for Kids” can be effective in emphasizing safety.

A retail store in South Carolina offers free braiding for kids once a month.

Since moms are the ones who bring their purses to the shopping, you can try to encourage them to impulse buy kids products by displaying them together. Matching looks for mom and daughters have always been popular, so having color-matching pieces, materials, and so on together should be taken into account for displaying. On the other hand, if you have large families or a lot of kids customers, you might want to consider having a permanent kids’ section.

©New Jigu, Royal Imex

If you know if your customers have children and have the purchasing power to buy hair products for them, you can selectively recommend kids products to them. You can also recommend products for kids’ special occasions, such as a child’s birthday, graduation, or entering college. In particular, several hair companies agreed that there is a need for more seasonal marketing, such as promoting kids’ products around holidays and based on school schedules.

♠︎ Capitalize on Seasonal Marketing

The back-to-school season was one of the reasons we have chosen kids’ products for our Cover Story in the August issue. But the beauty supply retailers are far less than enthusiastic about back-to-school sales. “There’s no such thing as back-to-school season these days. It’s long gone.” However, it’s worth noting that with the annual back-to-school season, big-box stores like Walmart and Target have set aside sections for school supplies and are offering a variety of deals, while cosmetics chains like Sephora are pushing their marketing efforts in-store and on social media to promote back-to-school as a perfect time to resupply cosmetics.

©Walmart ©Sephora Instargram

Seasonal marketing is a strategy of promoting and advertising around specific days, periods, or seasons when household spending historically increases. Starting with New Year’s Day, U.S. retailers are actively marketing for various times of the year, including Valentine’s, Tax Return, Easter, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Back to School, Halloween, Black Friday, and Christmas. As soon as Mother’s Day is over, products geared toward fathers take over the shelves, and as soon as the spooky Halloween stuff is taken down at the end of October, colorful Christmas items and jolly carols decorate the stores.

When a season approaches, stores get ahead of the curve and increase the number of seasonal products, create colorful displays, and set the mood. Only then will people recognize that it’s that time of the year and get ready to open their wallets for special moments in their lives. The Christmas season sees a 20-50% increase in sales, and during South Korea’s own celebration of 11/11, which is considered a success story for Day marketing, the stick shaped snack product reportedly makes 50% of its annual sales.

All in all, it’s up to you to drive seasonal sales by setting the tone and encouraging purchase. Last month, Target held an early sale on summer and school supplies, which helped drive sales and attract more members to its loyalty program, Target Circle.

Successful seasonal marketing requires a strategy. You should capitalize on the time-sensitivity of the seasonal deals by offering limited-time, flash sales and announce early on about your offering. Beauty supply retailers may create a special section in the front with a variety of kids’ items. We encourage you to use BNB-designed signs on page 128. Of course, it’s important to choose a product that meets both the child’s and parent’s desires.

PART 2. Kids’ section, what products should be displayed?

When asked what they focus on when developing kids’ products, most hair and chemical companies said safety first. The hair care products for kids use gentle, natural ingredients that won’t harm children’s sensitive skin and hair, and the hair products are made from lightweight yarns that are flame-retardant and antibacterial.

For hair products, the focuses are functionality and convenience for kids to put on, style, and go through a variety of activities without worries. Most of the braids for kids are pre-stretched to add naturalness and speed up braiding.

In terms of design, more subdued, neutral styles with designs and colors that would not go out of fashion quickly are preferred over the super trendy styles. Of course, there are also efforts to develop visually appealing products that are trendy enough to be loved by kids, such as products that reflect kids’ favorite colors and designs and include beads and embellishments.

We asked the vendors for their recommendations, and picked the ones that offer a good balance of safety, convenience, and visual appeal without breaking the bank.