1. Starting a spa and salon business in SA
From trendy hair salons to corner nail bars, this comprehensive guide will show you how to start the salon or day spa you’ve always dreamed of. Since the dawn of the new millennium, the stock market has been in a freefall and the economy has been in the doldrums. But it was a good time to start a hair salon and day spa – and it still is today.
According to Les Nouvelles Esthetiques Magazine Editor and head of the South African Spa Association, Dr Nadine de Freitas, the total Spa industry revenue is R380m per annum, according to a recently completed bench mark study.
“In fact we only looked at the bigger Spas and spas in hotels, we didn’t take into account the small spas in South Africa, says de Freitas. How is it possible for a service sector like the beauty industry to continue to grow, given the state of the economy?
No doubt because many of the services offered by salons simply cannot be duplicated at home – or at least not duplicated well. In addition, in an age where people freely shell out R300 a month for limited cellular service or hundreds of Rands to lease the latest car with the most bells and whistles, the price of a haircut probably doesn’t seem very high considering the lift it can give your spirits.”
What all this prosperity means to you is that the prospects for people who own personal care businesses are bright. “Growth in the Spa industry, despite the recession is between 15-20%”, says de Freitas. In South Africa we also have a healthy hair salon industry. The Hairdressing industry in South Africa is actually divided in to two mainstreams.
“We have a very large Afro section and a much smaller Caucasian sector. The numbers are probably in proportion to the general demographics of our country; 85% Afro to 15% Caucasian”, says Wille J Pietersen, President, Employers Organisation for Hairdressers, Cosmetology and Beauty (EOHCB).
“Although we do not have official statistics, it is estimated that we have some 3000 Caucasian hairdressing salons in South Africa and more than 34000 Afro Salons. Statistics are not available as we have a very large Informal sector, especially in the Afro sector”, says Pietersen.
“It is estimated that the Caucasian salons could do a turnover of approximately R150 million per month on services only, we do not have the retail sales value available, although this could equate to some 10 to 30% of the services. The turnover in the Afro sector is not yet quantifiable”, explains Pietersen.