How Selling Single-Use Products Can Dramatically Increase Your Profits

Small changes can have dramatic results when it comes to profitability.

If you’re in the business of retailing products at your Salon or Spa, you spend a lot of time thinking about your biggest sellers and strategizing efforts to sell more of them. However, you might be better off if you also devoted some of that valuable energy to the less expensive products, like single-use disposables. 

Whether you're running a spa or salon with retail offerings or just a website selling your items, strategically adding single-use disposables (accessories-sundries) to your lineup can help you build customer loyalty, attract new customers, and even increase your average retail sale. Here's why:

Build Customer Loyalty

Stocking your salon, spa, or online shop with useful accessories and sundries can indicate you have a solid understanding of your customers’ needs and wants. In the process, you can earn a reputation as the go-to person in the business.  If you're stocking the basics (yeah, we’re looking at you C.A.R.E.!) to fulfill your customers’ needs, they will remain loyal to you.

The key here is to train your staff accordingly and tailor your online recommendations to suggest sundries that are both useful and interesting--without falling too far beyond the bounds of a given customers' interests and needs. This requires a solid understanding of both your product offerings and your customers.

I recently had a conversation with Kathy Limburg, an esthetician partner and educator at RE Salon and Medical. She provided me with some fantastic insight about her experience with stocking single-use disposables: 

“We stock a limited number of accessories- sundries that are specifically tailored to what skin care products the customers are buying. We don't go overboard with including every accessory-sundry in the world; instead, we listen to our customers needs and then supply them with accessories-sundry products to help them address their needs and wants. We often have questions about applying and removing product.  

We use Intrinsics® Premium disposable products specifically the 4x4” Silken® Wipes and 4x4” 100% Cotton Wipes in our treatment room and during our procedures, especially during our peels and facials. We simply suggest to the customer that we sell these products in 2x2”’s and that these products would be great to take home for their self-care regimen.  Especially when using toners, moisturizers or facial masques. 

We tell them how to apply the toner or moisturizer with the 2x2” Silken® Wipes and how to remove the facial masque with the 2x2” 100% Cotton Wipes. We explain that the Silken® Wipes are very low lint and non-absorbent, so you would waste a lot of your toner or moisturizer and you won’t have to deal with those linty fibers that are often left behind by the discount stores’ cotton balls and cotton rounds. 

Then we explain how absorbent the 100% Cotton Wipes are, ideally used to remove the facial masque or just simply to remove their make-up quickly and thoroughly at night, plus leaving no linty threads behind. By selling these accessories-sundries (the 2x2” Silken Wipes and 2x2” 100% Cotton Wipes), we signal to our customers that we care about taking the time to understand their interests, wants, and needs, and it's proving to be an effective means of building customer loyalty and rapport.” 

Attract New Customers

Whether your salon or spa is located on the street or online, sundries can draw customers in for a number of reasons:

1. Incorporating sundries into sales displays improves the quality of the displays, thereby making them more engaging. (For example, compare a mannequin wearing a dress to a mannequin wearing a dress that's perfectly coordinated with jewelry, a handbag, shoes, etc.)
2. Investing in trending, seasonal, and/or locally relevant accessories can help you capitalize on attention from people who may be newly interested in your niche, on account of said trends.
3. New customers may not be willing to purchase your pricier products if they aren't familiar with your company, but they may be inclined to make a lower-risk investment on less-expensive accessory. Offering these lower-cost items, alongside more expensive products, can help capture conversions from more price-conscious shoppers.
4. Including single-use disposables in your inventory allows you to offer variety without majorly increasing your overhead. This diversification, in turn, can enable you to cater to a broader demographic.

Facilitate Cross-sells or "Down-sells”

Accessories-sundries, especially those single-use disposables, tend to be lower priced, which means it's not as hard to convince customers to invest in them. Therefore, stocking sundries is a great way to enhance your ability to cross-sell or "down-sell”. More products = More happiness for everyone! 

If a customer is already committed to a purchase, you might cross-sell them on an sundry that will enhance their experience with that purchase. For example, if someone purchases a product that requires batteries, offering batteries would make for an easy cross-sell that can increase order value.

If a customer is about to abandon a purchase, then you might consider "down-selling" them on a related but cheaper product. That way, you capture a sale (and a customer) in a way that you wouldn't be able to do if your inventory was more limited. In both cases, you have the opportunity to win customers' favor by demonstrating that you're thinking about their needs.

While it's important to sink most of your energy into your big sellers, don't overlook the value of accessories, especially single-use disposable products. Adding a few relevant, cost-effective accessories to your inventory is a great way to boost your average order value, attract new customers, and signal that you're looking out for existing ones. Now let’s get to selling! 

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