Hair Tools Season:
Black Friday and Holiday Shopping
In November, the cooling weather brings about frizzy static hair. At the same time, the holiday season and Black Friday fuel the consumers’ desire to shop. Hair tools are the perfect sales booster at this time of the year for your beauty supply! Most people use one or more hair tools daily as a part of their hair care routine, so you can be very persuasive at recommending an upgrade. You need a strategy to beat the seasonal sales events of online retailers. As temperature drops, hair tool sales soar! We have short-listed products that have potential to become best sellers at your beauty supply, focusing on hair dryers and flat and curling irons.
1. Growth of high-end hair tools market; what do consumers want?
Dyson Supersonic™ hair dryer/ Dyson Special Edition Airwrap™ Multi-Styler ©dyson.com
British electronics company Dyson released a Supersonic hair dryer in 2016 at $429.99 retail price. It was more than ten times more expensive than a typical hair dryer at the time. Nevertheless, it sold out quickly after the launch and is still very popular. Likewise, many people are hoping to see Dyson Airwrap Multi-Styler, released in 2018 at $599.99, to be back in stock. It was still months till Black Friday when people started posting questions online: “where to find Dyson hair tools on Black Friday?”, “will there be deals on Dyson stylers?”. At stores, products with similar functionality and appearance are popular.
Why would a consumer willingly pay over $400 for a hair tool that dries and flattens hair and makes curls? The answer can be found in the user reviews.
– Dyson Supersonic hair dryer: quiet; quick to dry; the temperature sensing and anti-static ionic technology keeps the hair damage-free; easy on your wrist because the motor is in the handle; you can choose a hair drying smoothing nozzle, a styling nozzle, a diffuser for curly hair per your hair type.
– Dyson Airwrap Multi-Styler: less damaging because instead of a hot plate, airflow styles the hair using the coanda effect—a phenomena in which a jet flow attaches itself to a nearby surface; natural-looking waves; from hair drying to wave styles and sleek finish-up at a single touch.
The point is that it is less damaging and easy to style. For these two, customers make bold investment for hair tools. This trend is generating more demands for premium hair tools. Would you then carry Dyson products at your beauty supply store? Most retail business owners will shake their heads.
Hair tools such as hair dryers and flat and curling irons are currently sold at various retail places including department stores, big box chains, pharmacy chains, beauty chains, and so on. They each carry different brands at different price ranges. Pharmacy chains and beauty chains like Sally offer a relatively small section for hair tools, so we have compared brands carried by the following three. (Bold for top 3 best selling brands)
Hair tools section at Walmart
Hair tools section at Ulta
Average beauty supply customers differ in ethnicity, gender, and age from Walmart customers or Ulta Beauty’s. Especially, your single most important customer base, African Americans, have thin, kinky and dry hair, making them even more peculiar about choosing a heat tool for hair. Even for customers who wear weaving hair and wigs, they desire customizing hair products by adding and changing curl patterns and so on using hairstyling tools. Accordingly, most African American women who are interested in hairstyle own more than one hair tool.
Since Covid-19, consumer desire for hair styling tools is diversifying due to the DIY self-styling boom. As discussed above, most beauty supply stores have a smaller hair tools section compared to bigger beauty chains as well as a lesser variety of offerings. You should aggressively search for value products that do not cost as much as premium tools, with less hair damage and easier styling while adding more brands and diverse features.
2. Pricing Strategy To Beat Online Retailers
One of the most popular hair tools is a flat iron, so we analyzed Google Trend data for consumers’ interest in flat irons. Looking at the tracking data for five years, consumer interest peaks in November and December with little variation. In fact, the trend for curling irons and hair dryers are more or less the same.
It could be a gift for someone you love, or it could be for yourself. Whatever the reasons are, the hair tool sales go up in the year end. Online retailers are quick to hop on the trend. Every year, Amazon offers special deals for hair tools on Black Friday and the Holiday Season. Then, how good are these deals? We researched last year’s Amazon’s Black Friday deals on hair tools.
The deals averaged at 30% discount for hair tools. The Amazon Prime event in last July also included popular hair tools which were offered at 10-40% off. Walmart offered even steeper discounts for some products. On Black Friday 2021, popular flat irons from Revlon, Remington, L’Ange Hair, and so on were sold at 60% off or higher, and curling irons from CHI, Revlon, Conair and so on were off 50% or higher.
To beat the online sales events, you need a more aggressive seasonal promotion. Especially if you have a pile of hair tools in stock, you may plan a big sales event for Black Friday and the Holiday Shopping Season. Of course, you should focus on features as much as pricing. As mentioned above, consumers are demanding more features and expecting better quality.
Here comes the way to learn about the quickly evolving hair tools market trend and succeed in the market with greatly valued products. To help your search for “premium quality products that are affordable enough to be sold at beauty supplies”, we included a customized product guideline and a list of recommended products.
3. Perfect hair tools for beauty supplies
Editor’s Picks are based on performance and value that best serve beauty supply customers, but trend-setting products with unique features are mentioned as Trend Picks despite being relatively expensive. Listed price is any one of (1) cost price (cost of goods) disclosed by manufacturer, (2) manufacturer’s retail price on its own website, and (3) current price on Amazon as of writing this article.
Hair dryers
In the past, hair dryers served a simple purpose of drying hair, but now it is a hair care and styling tool. Accordingly, various materials and features can puzzle you. From hair protection to providing moisture and mineral ions, a new cutting-edge technology that promises calm and glowing hair continues to come out. Ionic or tourmaline hair dryers rely on the production of negative ions to help quicker drying of hair. Recently, graphene, which is stronger than steel and more than twice thermally conductive than diamond, has become a material for hair dryers. Concentrator nozzles and diffusers are often decisive factors for a hair dryer purchase. However, when we asked a hair tool expert, “how to choose a good hair dryer at a beauty supply”, the answer was simple. “The most important thing is a motor, and you want a value product that offers high wattage and good temperature and air speed control.”
- Motors: hair dryers should be good at drying hair. Motors decide the volume and speed of the airflow, so they are very important. A strong motor means a powerful blow that reduces drying time and makes hair styling easier. There are mainly three types of motors.
- Power: more wattage means faster drying time. While higher temperature can damage hair, more damage is related to longer use of hair dryers. The best way to use a hair dryer is to dry hair as quickly as possible using strong dryers such as 1,600W dryers.
- Temperature and air speed control: Dryers feature adjustable temperature and air speed. Some offer a single button for adjustment of both while others offer separate controls. Dedicated controls are better if possible, and a cool shot button, for blowing cool air for styling, is even better. Now you can find a hair dryer that displays temperature digitally.
©amazon.com
Temperature display on a hair dryer (L’ange)
Flat iron
Beauty supply customers tend to have coarse, dry, or weak hair. Irons should be handled with caution when it comes to plate type and temperature.
- Temperature control: thin hair is prone to heat damage, requiring lower temperature. Thick and coarse hair needs high heat. Irons with a digital temperature display are recommended.
- Plate size: should be compatible with the hair length and the target area to be straightened. Thin and small plates are good for bangs and short hair, and wider plates for thick and long hair.
- Material: most common materials for a plate are ceramic, titanium, and tourmaline. Ceramic irons are quick to heat and distribute heat well. Titanium is also easy to heat and boasts constant temperature. Tourmaline can withstand high heat and produce negative ions, which can dry the hair inside-out for a straighter result.
Curling irons
Curling irons can loosen tight curls into soft waves. Considerations before choosing a curling iron as follows:
- Size of the barrel: your hair will be wrapped around a barrel, so the size can affect the shape of the curl. Larger barrels create more loose curls. For a voluminous and bouncy curl, you use 2″ diameter barrel for long hair, 1″ barrel for short hair, 1/3 to 3/4″ for tight curls and coily hair.
- Handle/clamp types: most handles feature a clamp. You can use a handle to easily wrap hair and the clamp will hold the hair. You need to hold hair wrapped around the barrel when using curling wands without a clamp.
- Common materials: like flat irons, ceramic, tourmaline, titanium are common. Ceramic distributes heat well, tourmaline produces negative ions for softer hair, and titanium provides smooth surface for easier wrapping and curling of hair.
