Lessons for Tanning Salon Owners – Learned from the Retail Christmas Season

By Rich Morgan, Looking Fit 2010 Advisory Board Member  

In addition to owning a tanning salon, my wife and I have operated a kiosk at our local mall for the past 16 years. The product has varied over the years, but for the last five years, we have operated a cinnamon roasted nut kiosk. What this has done over the years is give us a little wider perspective on the retail landscape. We interact with locally owned businesses as well as regional and national chains.

Going into this Christmas season, I was as nervous about what was going to happen as I have ever been. As we all know, the economy was a bit erratic, and I had read every story from every point of view that predicted what the Christmas season held for us. I swear that no matter what point of view you wanted to see, whether it was up or down or sideways, there was an expert telling you what you wanted to hear. We approached the Christmas season with much anticipation and fear.

So now here we sit, the middle of January, and the Christmas season that once lay in front of us is now in the rear view mirror. What did I learn? Nothing.

Talk about a let down – I really thought that I would come out of the Christmas season having a good hold on what the pulse of the retail customer was for the New Year. What I figured out is that the customer is confused and scared and not acting like they usually would. Normally you can get a feel for the customers after a few weeks of the season. They are either spending freely, being tight fisted, or only looking for down and dirty deals. This year they were all over the board. Some people who usually were above our price-point were forced down to our level. For many, our product was the deal they always thought it was, so they bought it anyway. Overall, we were up about 3 percent over last year. In today’s retail world, I will take that.

I talked a lot with store managers and owners all around the mall, some who were year-round store fronts and some who were seasonal. Some of those seasonal operators had multiple locations in other towns, too, and their experience was very interesting to me. What I heard over and over from people who were operating in multiple malls is that the smaller malls did better than the larger malls. The regional and national chain stores seem to be seeing more and more bargain-driven customers who are there for the deal and only the deal. It seems to be very hard to do that add-on sale with the customer who would have bought it last year.

What it boils down to is the customer seems to be cautious, yet willing to spend when shown a true deal. Customers are looking for deals and have come to expect them. They waited longer this year to spend their dollars, expecting the retailer to drop their prices right before Christmas. We have trained a generation of customers that they can force deals by not spending their money.

I don’t know for sure if I know anything that I didn’t know before Christmas, but I do know this. Many things about the retail landscape have changed, and probably for the long term. Also, many things have remained the same. Customer service, bargains and giving the customer a reason to buy still drive retail. As it has and always will.

A veteran of the indoor-tanning industry for the past 15 years, Rich Morgan is the owner of Oasis Tanning in Topeka, Kan., and is a member of LF's 2010 Advisory Board. He was introduced to the world of indoor tanning while working as the general manager of five video-rental stores, which began incorporating tanning services. Morgan and his wife, Lynn, eventually left to open Oasis Tanning.

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