Beauty pros across Canada are finding creative ways to get the word out about their services and encourage repeat visits in 2025. They’re exploring technology integrations in both customer-facing functions and behind-the-scenes processes.
Canadian consumers are enthusiastic about these shifts. They’re on board with using these technologies for easier booking and payment experiences. And above all, they trust their beauty providers to guide their purchasing decisions and make recommendations for their beauty and personal care routines.
While the beauty industry isn’t immune to struggles like rising operating costs or consumers cutting back on spending, it’s still an exciting and pivotal time to be a beauty business leader, according to data from the Square Future of Beauty 2025 report.
To help you unpack the top beauty industry trends of 2025, Square partnered with Bredin to survey 500 Canadian beauty leaders and 1,000 Canadian consumers on their habits and outlooks for the next 12 months. Whether you own a nail salon, day spa or other beauty business, our findings can help you innovate and stand out from the competition this year.
Beauty leaders are embracing the upsell – and clients are buying in.
In an economy where consumers are spending more cautiously, beauty businesses are boosting revenue through diversification. Upselling is easy when clients find your offerings valuable, and beauty pros are thinking beyond traditional services to grow their businesses: 78% of them say that expanding their offerings through things like classes or retail product sales is important to their growth plans.
In fact, 39% of Canadian beauty leaders say they’ve already boosted their product or service offerings to spur growth.
Consumers seem to be on board with new features: 41% frequently or occasionally purchase a product or adopt a beauty or wellness practice recommended by their beauty specialist. And 43% have purchased retail items like shampoo or cleanser from a local beauty salon at least once in the past year. Some clients are even becoming regulars on that front: 14% of Canadian consumers reported buying retail items from a beauty business four times or more in the past year.
Beauty clients have also expressed interest in services like in-person classes, online tutorials and virtual consultations, so 2025 is the year to get creative to deliver additional value to your client base.
Think about what memberships and subscriptions could do to grow your business.
Expanding products or services isn’t the only way to grow – memberships and subscription models have potential too. The idea is to give clients discounts for paying for services or product deliveries in advance, and 86% of Canadian beauty business leaders believe in the potential of such programs to drive ROI.
Thirty-four percent of those beauty professionals are already offering their customers memberships or clubs. And 24% say they would consider doing it in the future. Canadian consumers are eager to join, too: 14% told us they’d be interested in a membership offering from a beauty salon or spa.
By bundling services and enrolling clients into exclusive clubs, you can create long-term relationships that provide consistent revenue. More importantly, you can turn clients into brand ambassadors for your work, which will have a positive ripple effect on your appointment slots.
Beauty businesses can grow with technology – if they integrate based on clients’ needs.
Technology is transforming the beauty industry. Beauty pros are leaning on automation and AI to perform tasks that may extend beyond their core areas of expertise, such as marketing and business operations.
The top use cases for these technologies are creating social media posts (43%), using inventory management software to automatically track stock levels and reorder supplies (43%), automating email campaigns (40%), writing marketing copy or product descriptions (39%) and analyzing reports (38%).
The vast majority of Canadian beauty leaders also hope to invest in technology to improve their business performance in all 11 areas we listed, from taking payments to managing employee scheduling. (A solution like Square Shifts can help streamline both of these functions).
Canadian consumers also value the convenience of technology. Over half of them told us they like interacting with four core beauty industry technologies: automated appointment reminders (62%), mobile apps (53%), automated payments (53%), and automated appointment scheduling (52%).
You don’t need to be a technology expert to be an incredible lash extension specialist, but keeping up with technological trends can help you grow your business, save you time, and please clients in the long run.
Once we added Square Appointments, it was like night and day. We went from pen and paper to digital bookings. Artists had access to their schedules, and they could check them remotely and look ahead at their week. Especially with multiple locations, and as we were growing, I couldn’t see all those paper appointment books at the same time. Now here I am, with a click of a button, I can see every store, every schedule.
– Jamie Randolph, owner of Steel N Ink, Ontario and Winnipeg, Canada
Technology is changing the way the beauty industry upskills its employees.
Canadian beauty leaders are also buying into technology to address a time and training crunch: At least 69% of them spend more time now than they did a year ago on all nine areas we asked about, from marketing and social media (80%) to managing finances (79%) and hiring (74%). Over three in four beauty professionals are researching or implementing new technology to help bridge gaps as a result.
One of those gaps is professional development. Eighty-two percent of beauty business leaders report that training or coaching their employees is vital to their success. It makes sense. With rapidly changing styles and trends, beauty businesses have to keep investing in workforce upskilling.
But training can come in various formats – and beauty leaders listed social media tutorials as the most important form of professional development for their employees.
Not only can technology help you save time so you can focus on coaching employees, but it can also provide clever solutions to help level up the skills of your team.
Social media is still vital, but don’t overlook the impact of email – yes, email – for meaningful communication and growth.
Does your Instagram page act as your portfolio? You’re not alone. Social media continues to be a key driver of client engagement in the beauty world – 80% of Canadian beauty leaders say it’s extremely or very important for generating sales and interest. Forty-six percent of them also say they leverage social media to encourage repeat visits.
From YouTube tutorials to viral TikTok videos, creating beauty content can help you show off your work to prospective and current customers. And 79% of Canadian beauty business leaders say that creating educational initiatives to inform clients about at-home beauty and wellness practices is extremely or very important for their business.
But in an industry where social media marketing is such a no-brainer, it’s easy to forget about other channels. That would be a mistake, as consumers still appreciate one-on-one communication. Sixty-five percent of Canadian consumers like businesses to communicate with them via email, and 39% say they like text message communications with businesses – the top two ranking methods on our list.
These channels offer an opportunity for deeper personalization, so it’s crucial to keep them in your marketing toolbox. Balancing visually-driven social media content with well-timed, personalized email campaigns is a smart move.
The beauty industry is seeing a shift when it comes to payments.
Processing payments directly from the salon chair or when a client books an appointment online has obvious business advantages. It’s easier and faster – no congestion at the front desk – and creates a frictionless payment experience for customers. It also simplifies the process of paying staff.
So it’s no surprise that beauty leaders are comfortable accepting a variety of payment methods, including digital transactions. A large majority of them find every payment offering we asked about convenient, from in-app pay to online checkout. What is surprising, however, is the rise in popularity of mobile wallets – Canadian beauty business leaders find them more convenient to process than cash. This is a clear validation that tap-to-pay setups have become the norm.
What do consumers prefer? Using their credit or debit card directly or going through the cash register. In other words, it’s not time to ditch more traditional payment experiences just yet. That said, it’s worth noting that nearly half of them find mobile wallets convenient too. And 58% say they aren’t likely to return to a salon or spa that doesn’t offer a convenient payment method.
Loyalty programs are key business drivers, and beauty leaders are going to invest more in them.
Loyalty programs are one of the most effective tools to keep clients both engaged and returning to your business. And they’re a natural fit for the beauty industry. Whether you provide eyebrow threading or tattoo removal, chances are, some of your clients have recurring appointments. It’s probably why 79% of beauty leaders already have a loyalty or rewards program, and a staggering 96% of those who don’t say they anticipate starting one.
Canadian beauty businesses with loyalty programs are enjoying benefits like increased sales. Eighty-four percent of industry leaders say their loyalty program boosts repeat visits, 83% say it leads to increased order size and 82% confirm that it drives ROI. As a result, beauty pros are doubling down on loyalty programs – 80% say they’ll increase their investment in them in the next 12 months.
The popularity of loyalty programs for both businesses and consumers is likely connected to the desire for more personalized experiences. Sixty-seven percent of Canadian consumers found personalization to be one of the most valuable parts of a loyalty program. Those consumers also said they value exclusive discounts (84%) and the ability to earn rewards (85%) loyalty programs provide. So, if you haven’t started a loyalty program, now is the time.
The beauty industry is undergoing rapid shifts in 2025. From AI-driven marketing tactics to automated appointment scheduling, business leaders are tapping into technology to streamline operations and enhance the customer experience. Focusing on customer retention is also key, whether it’s done through loyalty programs, membership models or new offerings. Embracing these trends isn’t just about adapting to challenges like economic pressures or time constraints – it’s about thriving and setting the foundation for sustainable growth.
For more insights on how beauty leaders are innovating in 2025, dig deeper into the latest trends in the 2025 Square Future of Beauty report.