When it comes to South Africa, hair is big business, it is estimated that the hairdressing sector contributes over R24.8 billion. There is an increase in the number of people who need their hair cut, styled, or simply washed. It is safe to say that everyone from all walks of life needs their hair taken care of. As the population increases along with rising living standards, children, students, adults, and their families seek professional hair stylists and beauticians. As such, setting up a hair & beauty salon business in South Africa is a profitable venture. Hair and beauty services will continue to be in high demand, creating massive and creative opportunities for hairstylists and beauticians. South African women prefer a variety in their hair care products, going from braids to weaves, to chemical treatments, to other drastic style changes. There has been a recent trend towards embracing ethnic hair amongst black people and the demand for hair products specifically meant for ethnic hair has been on the rise. There will always be a large number of men and women, especially in the formal sector, who want to look presentable, and this continues to create a large market for hairstylists. Everyone wants to look beautiful and smart, but it is important to understand that anyone venturing into the hair & beauty salon business needs to learn various hairstyles and creative ways to style hair. This article will outline how to start a hair and beauty salon business in South Africa, and the hair and beauty salon business plan – PDF, Word and Excel.
A salon is a lucrative business, providing income for many entrepreneurs, but there are some essential decisions you need to make before you venture into this business. You need to decide on the size of your hair and beauty salon; the location, the various products and services you will offer, plus your target market. These factors will be affected by the amount of capital you have. Thus, you should carry out a feasibility study, market research and have a good hair and beauty business plan before you venture into this business.
MARKET RESEARCH
Before setting up your salon business in South Africa, it is always best that you first research your market. You must understand the market before venturing into any kind of business. Market research will allow you to see if potential customers would be interested in the services you offer. It is necessary that you segment your market, determine who you want to target, and understand what they like. This will help you find your place in a sea of various beauty service providers. You must have an idea of the number of salons in the area where you want to set up shop. A market analysis can show you how many salons are already in your town or city and who they serve. It is critical that you determine whether there are any unmet needs or areas in the hair and beauty industry. You must also have an idea of your competitors’ products and services and how you can compete with them. A market assessment will help you discover all that information plus it will help you determine your competitive advantage.
BUSINESS MODEL
There are many beauty products and services that you can offer in your salon. As such, you need to think about the specific services your business will provide. Some of these services you can consider offering include hair styling, hair coloring, extensions, cuts, trims, and shampooing, to name a few. You can also offer complementary beauty services in your hair and beauty salon, which can help you generate more revenue. Some of these services include pedicures, manicures, nail tipping, skin exfoliation, and acrylic nail application, among others. You’ll be surprised at how much your clients value having such services under one roof. It would take them a long time and cost them to travel from one luxurious spa to another, so having beauty services under one roof can attract a lot of clients. In addition to these services, you can also sell hair and skin care products to your clients. Shampoos, conditioners, nail polish, nail filers, and exfoliating creams are just a few examples. It is important that you do not focus on providing these products and services alone. Most businesses succeed by creating a warm, clean, and comfortable environment. Since you will be selling beauty services, how you make your clients feel really matters. When determining your business model, it’s important to consider the atmosphere as well as your specific products and services.
LOCATION & PREMISES
This is an important decision to make before you start a hair and beauty business. It’s important that you locate your shop close to your target market. Consider the amount of road traffic, find an easily accessible location where people can stop and quickly get service. There are several possible locations, including shopping centres, malls, and the CBD. Opening a hair and beauty salon close to places that typically have potential for traffic will be ideal depending on your target market. The salon should be large enough to accommodate all your equipment and a number of customers at the same time. Your hair salon business plan should cater for the costs of purchasing or leasing the premises.
COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
The hair industry in the country has many players. There are a huge number of both local and international salons and beaty bars operating in South Africa. You must therefore determine your competitive advantage and find ways to differentiate yourself from other beauty parlors. You can consider pricing your products and services competitively, locating your salon in a convenient place that is close to your customers’ homes, and ensuring that you offer a great atmosphere. Every business owner should conduct a competitive analysis for their business in order to understand where it will fit in the market. This way, you can find out where your strengths and opportunities lie, “spy” on your competitors, and take advantage of their shortcomings.
LICENCES, INSURANCE AND BUSINESS BANK ACCOUNT
When setting up a salon in South Africa, you need to have a license. A license can be obtained by visiting the National Bargaining Council for Hairdressing and Cosmetology, Beauty, and Skincare’s office. The National Bargaining Council website has the application form as well as a list of the required documents. Some of the documents required are a certified copy of the applicant’s identity document book, a documented description of the premises, and a site clearance, you also need to pay some fees. Make sure to renew your salon license whenever its expiration date approaches. In addition to having a license, your business premises must be insured. Just like any other kind of business, a salon needs general liability insurance, commercial property insurance, professional liability insurance, and workers’ compensation insurance. You need to be protected against claims arising from bodily injury, property damage, and personal injury. Repair expenses are also covered by insurance. Another important issue when running a salon is separating your business bank account from your personal bank account. This will make your accounting more efficient and protect your assets from legal liability. Also, separating your personal bank account from your business bank account will give you access to business-only financial services. You can also take advantage of tax deductions.
EQUIPMENT FOR A HAIR AND BEAUTY SALON
You need various equipment for your hair and beauty salon business. The equipment you need will depend on the size of your business and the kind of products and services you will offer. Some of the required equipment and tools includes blow dryers, multi-styling kits, curlers, hair brushes & combs, cart & trolleys, and hair styling stations. You also require furniture like hair styling chairs, dryer chairs and all purpose chairs. Your beauty salon business plan should cater for the costs of purchasing the equipment.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Your target niche will determine the types of products and services you will sell. The most popular products and services offered in most hair and beauty salons include cuts, relaxers, perms, colours, massages, body waxing, facial treatments, manicures, pedicures, weaving and braiding. It will be advantageous to sell hair extensions and hair treatment products to compliment your services. It is also wise to provide complimentary services such as free Wi-Fi to attract and entertain customers. Another essential factor in running a hair and beauty salon is selecting the right suppliers for your products. Consider suppliers who can provide affordable and quality hair products consistently. Additional services such as manicures, pedicures, make up and facials together with spa services would be beneficial for your business. Your hair and beauty salon business plan should outline the various products and services you will provide.
STAFF & MANAGEMENT
As a customer-centric hair and beauty business, it’s important that you hire employees that are friendly and efficient. Your employees should be passionate about serving the clients and about hair in general. If you want to hit the ground running it’s better to hire a team of people who have experience in this business. Your beauticians should be able to braid or cut hair well in addition to being able to serve customers efficiently on a regular basis. Inexperienced staff members need to get extensive training before they can be given intricate hair treatment tasks.
The equipment and chemical used in salons can cause serious injury thus it is important that you take the necessary precautions for the safety of your staff members and yourself. Depending on the size of your shop, the actual number of your staff will vary however, you will need hairdressers, beauticians, cleaners, and security as well as management. Your hair and beauty salon business plan should cater for the salaries and day to day expenses of your employees.
Some of the day-to-day operations of this business involves:
- Shampooing, cutting, styling, and colouring hair, as well as massaging and treating scalps
- Applying makeup, performing facials, and recommending skin care therapies.
- Performing manicures and pedicures, nail art, and color recommendations.
- Managing Staff
- Marketing and advertising
It is important to adhere to all industry related safety measures in place. These safety measures cover the cleanliness of your environment; how your staff members dress plus the general safety of your staff and customers.
SALES AND MARKETING STRATEGIES
When you set up your salon, consider launching your services in the local newspaper, on popular blogs, and on social media. Advertise greatly and consider setting up a basic website where you can post informative posts about hair care to attract new clients. Do not forget to keep all of your clients’ testimonials. If you can, record videos of what you did with them. Offer discounts to your regulars so that they can spread the word. Word-of-mouth advertising is still powerful, and it continues to build a lot of businesses . Make sure that your work meets high standards because each person who comes to you for hair treatment is a walking advertisement. You can offer specials, such as bring a friend along for a free service or give away a free shampoo.
MARKET
Hairdressing in South Africa has developed and become recognisable as a profession and trade. There are more beauty and hair salons for the black population since they take up a large portion of the country’s population. There is an estimated 3 000 Caucasian hair salons and about 34 000 afro salons in the country. They are a lot of hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists who offer a variety of hair and beauty services. A large portion of ethnic consumers is moving away from harsh chemical relaxers in favour of less invasive products to manage their hair. The continuous rise in the urban population has resulted in an increase in the demand for hair & beauty care products and services.
Given that the South African market is one of the leading emerging economies on the African continent there is potential for high growth. The cosmetic and personal care industry sector in the country has been growing steadily for the past years, thus opening a hair and beauty salon is a good investment. Whether you are a young entrepreneur, a professional seeking to start your own business or someone who needs a retirement plan, investing in a salon is something worth considering. One thing that can set you apart before investing in any venture is developing a business plan. A well thought out hair & beauty salon business plan will help you in both the short term and long term for your investment. There are various risks associated with running a hair and beauty salon, like any other venture, your business plan should clearly outline these risks and ways to minimise them.
PRE-WRITTEN HAIR & BEAUTY SALON BUSINESS PLAN (PDF, WORD AND EXCEL): COMPREHENSIVE VERSION, SHORT FUNDING/BANK LOAN VERSION AND AUTOMATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
For an in-depth analysis of the hair & beauty salon business in South Africa, purchase our hair & beauty salon business plan. We decided to introduce the business plans after noting that many South Africans were venturing into the hair & beauty salon business without a full understanding of the industry, market, how to run the business, the risks involved, profitability of the business and the costs involved, leading to a high failure rate of their businesses.
Our business plan will make it easier for you to launch and run a beauty & hair salon business successfully, fully knowing what you are going into, and what’s needed to succeed in the business. It will be easier to plan and budget as the beauty & hair salon business plan will lay out all the costs involved in setting up and running the salon business. The business plan is designed specifically for the South African market.
USES OF THE BEAUTY & HAIR SALON BUSINESS PLAN (PDF, WORD AND EXCEL)
The beauty & hair salon business plan can be used for many purposes including:
- Raising capital from investors/friends/relatives
- Applying for a bank loan
- Start-up guide to launch your hair & beauty salon business
- As a hair & beauty salon project proposal
- Assessing profitability of the hair & beauty salon business
- Finding a business partner
- Assessing the initial start-up costs so that you know how much to save
- Manual for current business owners to help in business and strategy formulation
CONTENTS OF THE HAIR & BEAUTY SALON BUSINESS PLAN (PDF, WORD AND EXCEL)
The business plan includes, but not limited to:
- Market Analysis
- Industry Analysis
- 5 Year Automated Financial Statements [ Income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, monthly cash flow projections (3 years monthly cash flow projections, the remaining two years annually),break even analysis, payback period analysis, start-up costs, financial graphs, revenue and expenses, Bank Loan Amortisation]
- Marketing Strategy
- Risk Analysis
- SWOT & PEST Analysis
- Operational Requirements
- Operational Strategy
- Why some South Africans in the hair & beauty salon business fail, so that you can avoid their mistakes
- Ways to raise capital to start your hair & beauty salon business in South Africa
The Hair & Beauty Salon Business Plan package consist of 4 files
- Hair & Beauty Salon Business Plan – PDF file (Comprehensive – 81 pages)
- Hair & Beauty Salon Business Plan – Editable Word File (Comprehensive – 81 pages)
- Hair & Beauty Salon Business Plan Funding Version – Editable Word File (Short version for applying for a loan – 45 pages)
- Hair & Beauty Salon Business Plan Automated Financial Statements – (Editable Excel file)
The financial statements are automated. This implies that you can change eg the costs, salaries etc, and all the other financial statements will automatically adjust to reflect the change.
GET THE HAIR & BEAUTY SALON BUSINESS PLAN (PDF, WORD AND EXCEL) - R500 Only.
We decided to make the business plan affordable to anyone who would want to start the business, and the price for the pre-written business plan is only 500 Rand.
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The business plan package is a zipped compressed file containing the PDF, Word and Excel documents. To open the package after downloading it, just right click, and select Extract All. If you have any problems in downloading and opening the files, email us on sales@bizbolts.co.za and we will assist you.
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If you want to purchase multiple business plans at once using Instant EFT then click here: Business Plans Store
The business plan package is a zipped compressed file containing the PDF, Word and Excel documents. To open the package after downloading it, just right click, and select Extract All. If you have any problems in downloading and opening the files, email us on sales@bizbolts.co.za and we will assist you.
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