We almost can’t believe we’re still writing stories about salons (and Australia at large) going through harsh lockdowns as we continue to struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic. While that fact may make us sad, the least we can do is learn from the last year and a half and Melbourne’s second wave in particular.
Over 2020 and 2021 we’ve written a lot about how salons going through the pandemic, lockdowns and then, eventually, salon closures, survived, maximised retail, stayed positive, made use of their time and more. While circumstances have shifted around government aid, location and time, much of the information continues to be important.
We’ve picked out three resources that, unfortunately, are still largely relevant for Sydney salons in lockdown and may provide help in these challenging times.
Stay strong Sydney, our thoughts are with you!
1. Elevate Retail Sales During Lockdown
Back in May of last year, before national salons were even legally shut, we were already talking about elevating retail sales as a way to fill in lost income. The key takeaways around this are communication with clients, marketing and social media and ease of the process for clients in delivery or click and collect. Find out how you can partner with your salon brands in this endeavour and make use of this crucial lockdown hack.
2. Offer Home Colour Kits
Even in lockdown, clients desperately want to keep their hair colour somewhat maintained and still require your professional expertise. Enter home colour kits and a fantastic case study from last year where BODA Hair Boutique in Melbourne acted as a blueprint of this process. Learn from their methods to use this salon idea for revenue, client connection and strengthening your necessary salon knowledge with clients.
3. Reflections from Melbourne
When looking ahead to and in the midst of a long lockdown, Melbourne salons lead the way, and their reflections after the second wave ended may provide both hope for the light at the end of the tunnel, and wisdom now. Renowned Melbourne salons discussed how they kept in contact with their teams, facilitated education, dealt with mental health issues, connected with clients, stayed afloat and then, eventually, came back to a huge response.
Sydney, take a deep breath and discover this essential reading that will hopefully help with the road ahead. For everyone else, reach out to your Sydney colleagues with a comforting word and some support. As always, we’re all in this together.
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