L’Oréal rolls out Salon Emotion programme to reinvent ‘lacklustre’ hairdressing industry
The programme looks to support stylists and improve client experience, modernize salons and facilitate access to finance.
Vianney Pivet, strategic development general manager L’Oreal Professional Products, tells CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com that the unique transformation programme is based on 3 key drivers: training and raising awareness of services, personalized advice, and guidance to modernise the salons.
“The idea is to help re‐enchant clients’ emotional journey through the salon by improving quality of service and listening to them at every step of the way,” he says.
“We’re the industry’s historic partner, and as the leader of the professional market, we have a responsibility to help the industry grow.”
Within the programme Pivet explains that 7 key steps have been highlighted for transformation, including the quality of client reception, diagnosis (which he says is a step that’s too often neglected and yet essential) and developing the shopping area to drive sales.
“The Salon Emotion program is just one of the elements of our strategy of transforming and modernizing the industry, and it’s very difficult to isolate the program’s contribution to the overall impact,” Pivet continues.
The hairdressing industry is the second biggest craft trade in France, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), and represents €6 billion euros and a workforce of 170,000 people; although suffers from having a number of lacklustre salons says L’Oréal.
So far, so good…
The cosmetics maker says it is this potential that influenced its campaign launch and has thus far seen a lot of interest and has been a success.
More than 15,000 hairdressers have already followed it in France, for example, and it’s the most requested education program among L’Oréal’s hairdressing partners.
“We’ve also developed dashboards for us to monitor the program rollout, as well as the impact on each salon’s results (number of visits, technical services and sales),” says Pivet.
“Finally, we’ve developed tools to measure satisfaction among hairdressers and salon clients. One example is Client Mirror, an online questionnaire that enables hairdressers to have their salons evaluated by their own clients.”
The French firm reports there has been a very significant impact on sales (an increase of 10‐30%, depending on the salon) and the number of technical services provided (especially colouring).
“The results of the pilots and satisfaction among our partner salons and their clients are very encouraging and reinforce our desire to roll out the program. It’s too early to talk about the impact on our business,” adds Pivet.
Rollout
The programme has been launched in France, where 40 pilots took place, as well as Spain, Belgium, Poland, Germany, Italy, and Sweden, with more due to follow later this year.
"As the leader in beauty and the partner of choice for hair stylists, it is our responsibility to help the industry reinvent itself and become more dynamic," says An Verhulst-Santos, President Professional Products Division.
Salon Emotion will give stylists who are eligible for the programme, support to improve their clients' overall experience, modernise their salons with complete and personalised guidance, and facilitate their access to financing.
"This last point is very important," adds An Verhulst-Santos. "Making it easier for stylists who run small businesses to secure a bank loan is essential to developing the sector."
