Good Year, Bad News?
by John P. Ribner
Editor’s
Note:
Island Sun Times wanted an in-depth look
at this year’s peak tanning season, so we conducted a survey –
Season in Review 2004. We asked U.S. salon professionals to answer
20 questions about their business activity between January and
July 30, and compared the answers to those from the same time last
year. The questionnaire appeared in the September issue of IST, as
well as on our website, www.islandsuntimes.com. While conducting
this year’s Season in Review, we developed more than a “snapshot”
of what this year’s season was like for salon professionals across
the country, we also got a glimpse of where the industry might be
headed …
Here’s the Season in Review 2004 in a
nutshell: despite an election year and sluggish economy, business
was fine between the months of January and June. It’s the future
of the indoor tanning industry that everyone should be concerned
with.
It’s great that salon pros can boost
revenue through sales of lotions, upgrade and sunless sessions to
existing clients; but the long-term survival of this industry
depends on continually attracting new tanners. This has proven
difficult, however, in light of the recent spate of negative media
stories that are overwhelmingly anti-tanning. The most important
lesson that can be taken from the Season in Review is not
necessarily found in its charts and numbers, but in the comments
of the many, many salon pros who listed “negative publicity” as
the No. 1 problem plaguing this industry. Clearly, it’s time this
industry understood the necessity of standing together in order to
survive.
First, the Good News...
Season in Review 2004 brings some good
news – the majority of salon pros who participated earned more
revenue during this year’s peak season than they did for the same
time in 2003. The salon pros who participated in this survey
reported an increase in total earnings of 22 percent during this
year’s peak season compared to last year. Tanning sessions were
also up 16 percent – not as substantial as the increase in
revenue, but an increase, nonetheless. This suggests that salon
pros are earning more revenue from their existing clients through
upgrade, sunless and lotion sales; but they might not be
attracting as many new clients as they would’ve liked.
Salon manager Maureen Garchinsky reported
a good peak season for Club Tan in Kennett Square, PA, with this
year’s peak season sales higher than those from the same time the
year before. She attributes this success to what she calls
“modernization.” “This is our second year working with some major
changes that were implemented at the salon, and they’ve all
helped,” Maureen said. “We added another high-pressure unit,
stand-up and sunless booth, as well as many additional lines of
lotion and this has increased our revenue.”
Salon owner Jim Wint is another textbook
example of this year’s survey results. The owner of Electric Beach
Tanning in Odenton, MD, reports that both his sales and tanning
sessions were up this peak season from last year’s. “We introduced
our electronic funds transfer (EFT) program last June and it’s
helped us hold onto our clients longer than we normally would have
without it,” Jim commented. “This is our first off-peak season
with the program and it’s been incredible!” He also said that the
salon’s level three and four units are grabbing a higher
percentage of the tanning sessions sold at Electric Beach.
Now, the Bad News...
The indoor tanning industry has always had
its detractors, but this year seemed to be the worst when it came
to negative publicity. Salons across the country were plagued by
an above-average amount of bad publicity in both national and
local newspapers and TV stations. Salon pros noticed, too – the
majority of those who took the Season in Review survey reported
this as the biggest problem facing the industry. While this kind
of media attention doesn’t seem to affect most current tanners,
many salon pros feel that it causes people who never tried tanning
before to turn against it. In other words, salon pros might be
making money today, but they might not in the future if something
isn’t done to curb or combat the increasing negative press
coverage.
Anti-tanning publicity had a big impact on
Betty Johnson’s two Electra Sun locations in North Carolina. It
was one of the two biggest factors affecting her revenue – which
was lower than last year’s peak season revenue – the other being
Internet lotion sales. “Three articles ran in our local paper that
were very much against indoor tanning,” Betty said. “Several
people came in and asked us if the information in the reports was
accurate and we did our best to address their concerns, but it’s
very hard to combat this kind of thing. The newspaper can be very
persuasive, especially if it quotes a doctor who says tanning is
bad.” It’s also important to note that many of the salon pros who
reported earning more revenue during this year’s season also felt
that negative publicity affected their businesses.
Tools of the Tanning Trade:
The Season in Review is more than a collection of numbers,
statistics and
graphs – it provides useful tools to help salon pros analyze their
businesses. IST used three benchmarks – points of reference for
making measurements – to analyze this year’s data. The survey
looked at revenue earned per tanning unit (Graph A), revenue
earned per square foot (Graph B), and per-tanner average revenue
(Graph C) of salons across the U.S. These numbers were compiled,
then broken down and presented in groups based on the average size
of the salon represented. This allows salon pros to see how their
business fared compared with the national averages in their
grouping. They can also dete rmine
these figures for themselves in order to compare them to the
national averages. To calculate revenue earned per square foot,
simply divide the total revenue earned during this year’s peak
season by the square footage of your salon. Now, compare that
number to the average for salons that are the same size.
Determining revenue per tanning unit is just as simple – divide
the earnings by the number of tanning units in your salon.
Per-square-foot averages are typically used by large retail
corporations to measure and compare themselves against others in
their industries, and are typically done
 on
an annual basis. Because indoor tanning is more of a seasonal
business for much of the U.S., the results of this survey will
reflect these averages for the first six months of the past two
years. For a more detailed picture of salon productivity, tanning
pros should determine their averages annually.
Looking Ahead
While the Season in Review survey results
gave a snapshot of this year’s peak season, it also provided a
crystal ball of sorts gazing into tanning’s possible future. If
this negative publicity continues, that future will be looking
very grim. “As this year’s Season in Review results show, negative
publicity hurts everyone in this industry,” said Vince Lorraine,
IST Publisher. “We urge everyone to support the Indoor Tanning
Association which is made up of dedicated and hard-working people
who have our industry’s best interests at heart, and are dedicated
to, among other things, fighting negative publicity. Now is
definitely the time for us all to stand together.”
See You Next Year!
This was the fourth annual IST Season in
Review survey. Each year, we are able to glean more information
from the salon pros who were kind enough – and interested enough –
to be part of this research, and IST Publisher Vince Lorraine and
the entire IST staff wishes to thank you for your time and
effort.
Survey Says – You Win!
Season in Review Pays Off
for Lucky Salon Pro
by John P. Ribner
Editor’s Note:
Thousands of tanning salon pros recently had the opportunity to
win $500 from Island Sun Times. All they had to do was respond to
our Season in Review Survey! IST Publisher Vince Lorraine drew the
name of one lucky salon professional who walked away from the
experience with some extra cash in their pocket.
Salon owner Betty Johnson had an extra
Season in Review question that she needed to answer – is she the
type of person who typically wins contests? That question had to
be asked, because Betty’s name was drawn from the pool of Season
in Review respondents as the winner of $500.
Betty, who owns two Electra Sun salons in
North Carolina, was surprised to discover that she was the Season
in Review winner. “Wow!” she exclaimed. “Are you serious? I’m so
excited that I can’t even believe it’s real.” It took a while for
the shock to wear off, then she said, “Thank you very much.”
Betty was one of many salon pros who
completed IST’s Season in Review 2004. The fourth annual survey
asked readers to gather and submit financial data in order to
profile this year’s peak season – January to June – then compare
the profile with that of the year before. The Season in Review was
created four years ago by IST Publisher Vince Lorraine, as a way
to present salon pros with data that reflects business activity in
the tanning industry’s peak months.
After reading an issue of IST that was
distributed at the Indoor Tanning Association World Expo 2003 in
Nashville, Betty was introduced to the Season in Review. “We
immediately realized how important this survey is,” she commented,
“because it gives us something to measure how we’re doing in
comparison with other salons across the country. It’s very
helpful.”
Although she wasn’t quite sure how she was
going to spend the $500 she won from Island Sun Times, Betty knew
something would surely come up. “We’re looking for a new facility
to open a third location and we also have some renovating plans,
so I’m sure this will come in handy one way or another,” Betty
said. “I’m still so surprised that I won! This kind of thing never
happens to me.”
IST extends a great big thank you to all
the tanning salon pros who took time out of their busy schedules
to participate in the Season in Review survey, and we would like
to congratulate Betty Johnson on winning the $500 prize. You might
want to plan on participating next year!
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