Salons and barbershops are open across the country, meaning the newest looks are poised to take center stage. This year’s leading trends in the beauty industry have already entered the spotlight in Canada’s hair salons, beauty spas, and barbershops. You can spot them on Instagram, in beauty brands’ text messaging, and even intuitive experiences when you book appointments. Sustainable skin care products and celebrity brands are leading the way toward new ways to bring products, services, and ideas directly to clients.
Whether you sell products in the cosmetics or skincare industry or you’re a salon owner considering making the move to omnichannel, the following beauty industry trends can help your business surpass others in 2022 and beyond.
The 7 greatest trends in the beauty industry
1) Social media can help you build connections—it’s even an easy way to set appointments that most salons haven’t even tapped yet
Professionals in the beauty industry are using 2022 to build new opportunities in their social channels for interaction. This includes such things as links to book an appointment in their social bio or creating a shoppable post on Instagram. All social channels are a way to express your brand, but Instagram is especially visual.
Social media has taken on a whole new meaning for beauty brands, thanks to influencer marketing and the rise of influencers in the beauty space. This has allowed beauty business owners to highlight their experiences and showcase their deep knowledge of these industry trends. Whether it’s clean and sustainable beauty products or at-home kits, social channels are where trends in the beauty industry begin, catch on, and even go viral as influencers present new styles to their followers, explain where products can be found, demonstrate a specific beauty ritual, or find the services mentioned.
There’s nothing quite as beneficial for beauty brands as a solid social presence. It leads to more and improved communication with customers, and it can boost engagement.
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2) Conversational commerce is the newest form of eCommerce
The beauty industry’s primary focus is to remain connected with customers to build stronger relationships. Conversational commerce is growing in popularity, thanks to automated technology. This new trend helps beauty product and service providers keep their clients informed around the clock. Conversational commerce lets businesses and their customers communicate in real-time via chatbots, texting, and more, such as the Square Assistant.
Automation is key to conversational commerce if beauty salons and spas want to let customers book their appointments like this, which is evident by the speed at which beauty industry professionals have adopted this new tech.
3) Offering omnichannel booking methods helps salons and spas save time and reach their customers online
Taking the entire appointment process online has been one of the keys to meeting evolving customer needs within the beauty industry.
Appointment-setting tools that manage a beauty professional’s schedule and offer customers the ability to choose their own appointment date just might be the key to their success in 2022. Using an app that can manage these back-office items could free your staff to do other, more important work, like relationship-building with customers. This has been made even more important due to this year’s labour shortages.
You can learn more about omnichannel appointments with the services offered with Square Appointments. Square Appointments lets clients choose their own appointment, make a change when necessary, and be confident they’ll receive reminders as their appointment date gets closer. It’s entirely hands-off for you, letting your clients book appointments no matter the time of day or night. No more missed clients because they couldn’t get in touch during business hours!
4) Salons and spas are beginning to sell retail items
One of this year’s top beauty trends is retail sales. Rather than offering just a few simple services and products to match, beauty businesses are turning toward multiple revenue streams, including retail. With the above-mentioned new channels for reaching customers come these new streams of revenue. But if you don’t keep track of your products — both online and in your salon — you might have unhappy clients. Thankfully, there’s technology that can help you manage your salon inventory easily. You can even streamline processes further by offering to ship products, let customers pick up items at your salon, or even offer to deliver.
In fact, many beauty industry professionals are starting an online store for their products and beauty services. One of the greatest [benefits of having an online store] is that your clients can “window shop”, book their appointments, and even buy merchandise according to their schedules. By offering the right features for a health and beauty website, you can encourage your clients to take advantage of these options.
The physical space required for your inventory can be limited by salon space, but an online storefront can broaden your inventory items, potentially increasing your cash flow and attracting new clients.
5) Offering digital items lets spas, salons, and other beauty professionals tap a new audience
Your spa or salon clients shouldn’t be limited by your physical location. You can also engage with distant audiences. In fact, many beauty professionals are hosting videos showcasing their products and services, offering makeup tips, and simply engaging with new audiences. This opens up new streams of revenue and is beneficial for your clients, too, especially those looking for information about at-home treatments and guidance to supplement their in-salon experience.
6) Offering relaxing, comfortable experiences is imperative after the pandemic is over
Beauty services are of a very personal nature, so it’s no surprise that creating safe, relaxing spaces and experiences is a top concern of beauty professionals.
Lockdowns temporarily closed beauty businesses to in-person appointments over the course of the pandemic, and clients are now eager to resume appointments at their favorite spas and salons. This is an industry built upon loyalty and the ability to see clients in-person. Offering safe, in-salon treatments can help your clients feel some semblance of normality, but if it’s not yet possible, creating ultra-relaxing experiences is a top priority once the pandemic is officially over.
7) Contactless payments are no longer “nice to have”—they’re a must
While customers want to get back into the regular swing of things — seeing their stylists, having makeup applied, and getting other beauty services — it’s also important to clients and business owners alike that payments are handled safely and seamlessly. Customers want their salons and other beauty businesses to support contactless payments in an effort to retain the sanitary aspects that the pandemic brought to the forefront.
Beauty businesses have many options available for contactless payments. For instance, mobile payments, by which customers pay through an app on their phones, allow your clients to book appointments and more through your website or even a social post. EMV-enabled card readers let your customers insert their card fast and easy, and near-field communication take it even further with simplicity. But having a QR code lets your clients pay or book all from their phone. The front desk shouldn’t be the only place your customers can pay anymore, and contactless payments are a key part of the entire customer experience.
These are the top seven trends beauty professionals should focus on to elevate their business to another level in 2022. It’s an ever-changing era for beauty services. Owners and other professionals are diversifying offerings, branching out, boosting revenue streams, and taking customer connections to a whole new level. 2022 is your year to bring on the tools that will help you roll with the changes to keep your customers coming back for life.