Island Sun Times

by Brenda Fishbaugh, Eye Pro

My reports on overseas tanning events are typically full of fun anecdotes and coverage of the “fluff” – some of the unusual and silly products offered in different countries. But, this year, my story about the London Professional Beauty show is more serious in nature. The European tanning industry is having a rough time and that affects the U.S. industry. And yes, I agree – we are also having a tough time of it right here at home. “Tanning is on its knees in the United Kingdom,” states Gary Lipman, Managing Director of Ergoline-UK.

It was very apparent that indoor tanning was “on its knees” at the industry’s biggest show in this BIG tanning country. Tanning has always been huge in the British Isles because the sun doesn’t shine much there. Also, women wearing shorts skirts and wearing them all the time has never gone out of fashion, so everyone pops in for a tan to ensure they don’t have ghost-white legs (no pantyhose in the UK; hurray!)

This year’s Professional Beauty show was a clear indication of the state of their industry, as many big players in tanning didn’t exhibit and those who did chose much smaller stands (the British word for “booths”). Exhibitors featured other products to build revenue in a tanning salon, such as Ergoline-UK showing a hydromassage bed and a stand-in-one-place-and-get-a-workout-machine, called FitVibe. “We are diversifying,” said Gary Lipman. “We are offering salons other income streams that work very well in a tanning studio and appeal to the tanning studio customer – other things to get them feeling relaxed and feeling good about themselves.”

Sunless tanning is another way to feel good about yourself, and it dominated the tanning section of the Professional Beauty show. “There was less UV tanning here than ever before,” said Rick Norvell, of Norvell Sunless in the U.S. “But they had put over 40 other sunless vendors in the ‘tanning’ section, so that section of the show was a respectable size.” Norvell and his UK distributors spray-tanned folks all day long – it was a popular stand.

England has passed some new regulations, and this has a lot of folks worried about the future of UV tanning in Europe. This, of course, will impact the U.S., as many of our “biggest and best” beds are made in Europe and laws tend to “hop” from one continent to another. If the government is cracking down on tanning in the UK, it’s just a matter of time before the pressure increases in the U.S. industry. “We aren’t really sure how the government is going to implement the new laws or exactly how they will impact our tanning studios,” commented Kathy Banks of The Sunbed Association. “That will all become more clear in the upcoming months.”

“The show has really turned into a retail market,” said Gary Banks, managing director of World Suncare, the exclusive importer of Designer Skin lotions. “You can really tell the entire beauty industry is in a downturn. It was a shock to see Sally Beauty Supply bringing hundreds of beauty couches to sell instead of displaying dozens of beauty stations and demonstrating products.”

“One really interesting thing I noticed were all the students attending the show,” said John McIntosh of Canada-based tanning lotion maker, SkinScience. “They let students come in to ‘learn’ but really they were looking for free samples and to buy stuff cheap and not interested in learning about tanning products. There were so many students clogging up the booth, it was really hard to talk to interested salon owners.”

Ryan Walls, manager of Kaloss, a tanning product distributor in the UK, noted all the changes to the industry in the last year. “It’s been shocking, really, all the big changes to such a small industry. Premiere, the former exclusive distributor of Swedish Beauty, is no longer carrying Swedish Beauty, and it’s now being carried by the Australian Gold distributor, Cyrano Leisure. Kaloss was recently purchased by Spa Solutions, a spa and leisure group moving into tanning. Blue, the California Tan importer, has restructured this year and isn’t even exhibiting at the show.”

Chris Bartel, editor of Tan Biz magazine, echoed Ryan’s sentiments. “Yes, in the trade publications, we’ve seen Tantalizer magazine close their doors, and Tanning World go to quarterly issues. Tan Biz is published ten times a year and is doing well, but ad revenues are still down. The tanning market is having a very tough time of it.”

In the “glass is half full” category, the product marketing had improved dramatically at the show. There were tons of clever names, like “Tantrick” for sunless and “i-lift” for a treatment machine that improves the skin around your eyes, and I loved the “hand on the buns” ad for NaturaSun. Fake Bake has a new sunless spray boutique franchise called “Brown Cow” and it’s coming soon to New York. Do you think the name Brown Cow will be well received in the U.S.? I found this marketing concept very unusual.

There was a champagne bar in the middle of the floor – let’s bring this idea to the ITA! There were stunning displays, particularly in the spa areas, and also some gorgeous new UV tanning beds being unveiled, especially Soltron’s stand-up unit and the three new Ergoline bed lines. And it was wonderful to see so many U.S. friends and international pals. My personal favorite moment on the show floor was test-driving HydroMassage – these water massagers have really come a long way and are very relaxing and stress relieving! Hope you don’t mind… I did some of my cub reporting lying down – anything to get off my feet after a three-day show!

Thanks again for a great story, Brenda!