Taking Stock
Preparing Inventory For The New Season
by Matt Morgan
Inventory is a year-round concern for salon owners, but in the high season, stocking lotions and other products takes center stage. On a basic level, the amount of product on your shelves is an indication of how much you care about your customers' tanning well-being, and in turn how much they'll care about you.
"If you don't have a good stock of inventory, people aren't going to think that you think very much of it, so of course they're not going to think very much of it," says Mary E. Lantz, president of Mary's Tanning Isle, Inc. in Lebanon, Ohio.
Why is it important to have inventory on-site? So what if you run out of one type of lotion? After all, in today's world of "you'll have it tomorrow" lightening-quick courier services, what's the problem with telling a customer you'll have it tomorrow?
Put in its simplest terms, tomorrow is too late.
Tanning lotions are an impulse buy for customers in Robert Bales' three Tropical Sun Tanning Salon locations in and around San Pedro, Calif. "I believe if you have the inventory, you have the product right there, they're going to buy it," he says. "But if customers try a product the week before, and the next time they come in you don't have that product--and you say, 'Oh, we'll get you that product tomorrow' because a lot of salons will overnight it--they're not going to come back the next time."
So we've established that it is in the best business interest of salons to keep their lotions stocked, but that's just the beginning. Larger issues loom, such as how salon owners know which lotions to carry and in what varieties and quantities.
Listen And Learn
"I use my employees," says Tabitha Myers, owner of Tanning Place in Nashville, Tenn. "I have a three-page worksheet that they fill out when I'm thinking about purchasing a new lotion." She keeps the results in a book and refers to them when necessary.
"A lot of times in the past, there's something that I really want to carry that I personally like, but they don't," she continues. "If they don't like it, they're not going to sell it, so I go with what they want."
Myers also listens to her customers. She offers them packettes, because it gives customers an option to "try before they buy," she says. "Sometimes you think there's a lotion that would be best for a customer, but there's something about it that they don't like."
Bales also gets inventory insight from customers. He always uses the packettes he receives in the mail, he says, because he can get firsthand information from the tanners themselves--the people who will be using the lotions he stocks on his shelves. If the customers don't like the samples, chances are they won't be interested in buying bottles either.
In order to ensure he's not wasting his products on customers who won't appreciate what he's trying to do, Bales is careful with who gets samples. "I'll give them out to 20 percent to 30 percent of my customers--the customers who are going to notice the difference of products," he says. "If you give them to people who haven't tanned in three months, they're not going to know what that product is, and they're not going to be able to go long enough in the bed to see what it did for them."
Recently, Bales sent a customer to tan with a packette of a new product from a manufacturer he carries. Despite rave reviews from the manufacturer and distributor, the lotion still needed to pass a more important test. "I'm not putting this on my shelf until I actually see the results of this product," he says. "I want to know from the customers what they feel--is it a tingle factor, a good moisturizer, all the way down the line."
If the product doesn't cut it, he'll not only think twice about carrying it, but he'll call his distributor with the information.
Using packettes and other samples as a way to test which products to carry works best if you keep track. Bales gets so many samples during his busy season, he can't remember who sent what, he says. That's why he developed his own computer database of information, which includes when he receives samples and who he hands them to, as well as pertinent information about the tanner--skin type, etc.--and the results of a brief questionnaire he gives to each person. Customers are able to comment on each lotion's smell, scent and texture, for example.
"You can tell a customer, 'Here, try this lotion,' and they're going to come out and say, 'Oh, it was OK,'" he says. "Well, what does OK mean? You didn't like the smell? You didn't like the texture? Was it greasy? Did it stain your clothes?"
Full Shelves
When salon owners have a good feel for what their employees and customers like, it's time to decide how many brands and how many lines to carry. Because of the variety of lotion preferences among tanners, it's wise to carry a variety from different manufacturers.
"You've got to give customers some options," says Myers of Tanning Place. "Not everybody likes a gel, and some people want to go with a lotion. That's why I like to have three lines throughout the year. If I have a good seller, I might keep three cases in stock."
Bales features two big-name brands, though he says many of the products smell the same. For that reason, he is sure to have select lotions from other manufacturers as well. He relies on his distributor for that information.
"A lot of my buddies only carry maybe two types of lotion, or even one type of lotion," he says. "I believe there are more types of skin types out there where you're going to have to carry more product."
In each of his three salons, Bales stocks at least eight bottles of each lotion on the shelves. "That's a pretty good inventory," he says. "That's a case of product per salon." His average order is roughly $2,000 to $3,000, where other salons might order one or two bottles at a time.
Lantz of Mary's Tanning Isle sticks with the three manufacturers that seem to be her best brands, and she keeps her shelves full "at all times," which is at least six bottles of each type. "It looks better for display purposes, for one thing," she says. "Also, that way you've always got enough on hand so if you've got a run of something, you've always got enough."
Private labeling is a main staple for Charlie Dixon, owner of eight Bronze Body Tanning Centers with headquarters in Beaumont, Texas, though he does carry a select number of other name brands. In the off-season, he researches which brands he is to carry for the year. How much he carries varies by season.
"I keep about six bottles of each lotion on the shelf," he says. "I keep enough on there where I can do a restock after each shift. I don't want anything to get down to one bottle. It's my personal preference. I feel it's too easy to run out. If you're at one, you're that close to having nothing there. That's my main goal--to never have an empty hole."
There is no one-size-fits-all model for a salon's product inventory. The number of pieces of equipment, ancillary services provided and location all play a part in determining how much lotion and other products should be on hand. By talking to employees and customers, attentive and educated salon owners can strike a balance that works for their business.
