The beauty sector is showing signs of recovery as beauty and personal care businesses have reopened their locations around the world. The data from Square, the software, payments and hardware company for all types of businesses, show that gross payment volume and appointment bookings now exceed pre-pandemic levels, in a demonstration of incredible industry resilience.
Due to lockdowns and mobility restrictions over the past year, the sector underwent drastic changes. Beauty businesses of all sizes adapted to continue operating and stayed by the side of customers with new alternatives, such as the sale of products online, the reconfiguration of their salons for social distancing, the offer of virtual consultations, the sale of home beauty kits or the use of customer relationship management (CRM) tools to better target customers through marketing campaigns
The state of the beauty sector
Despite the challenges that the past year brought with it, the beauty industry quickly adapted and is now proving its strength more than ever. According to data from Square Appointments in the United States, the company’s integrated software solution for managing appointments, reservations completed in beauty and personal care businesses are now above pre-pandemic levels. Specifically, they have increased by 81% since February 2020 and until the middle of the year.
The gross volume of payments of beauty and personal care companies has also increased, with a 121% YoY increase until the middle of the year. Recruitment has also caught up with growing demand and in April 2021 alone, the number of on-staff employees in beauty businesses increased by 34% over the previous year.
New beauty trends emerge
With the increase in visits to beauty and personal care businesses, the beauty services that have attracted the most customer attention during the pandemic are now still the most in demand. Among them, those that saw the highest growth were: body contouring (363% increase), eyelash extensions (283%), lip masks (238%) and nail Design (221%).
Square Appointments Service Supports Business Recovery
With all-in-one scheduling POS software for beauty and personal care, Square Appointments has enabled businesses to be agile and adapt more quickly, ultimately helping to recover from the pandemic in less time than expected.
During this period, companies using Square Appointments have seen an average 23% decrease in customers who do not show up for a reservation and a 63% increase in completed reservations, which has helped companies maintain their calendars to maximize sales when they need it most. Beyond its reservation capabilities, beauty and personal care companies use Square Appointments not only to sell services, but also products to increase the total value of their orders.
Solutions adapted to the personal care sector
With a suite of products that are fully integrated with each other, Square offers solutions for multiple business needs in one place that enable businesses to save time, adapt Y grow up. Hairdressers, physical therapy centers, psychological offices, beauty centers, nail salons or tattoo studios are just some of the professionals who can use Square’s tools to offer effective customer service from the beginning.
Square allows you to create a appointment management system remind customers of the visit via SMS, make payments through the website and minimize customer waiting time through efficient appointment management, all from one place. In a single tool, you can manage the reservation and its payment, reducing the time spent on paperwork and increasing the time available to serve customers.
In the fitness sector, for example, being able to accept payments both online and in person is crucial to growing the business, since with the pandemic many trainers have adapted to the situation and offer their services also virtually. Reece Markwick, Hove Personal Trainer, has as many clients online as in its face-to-face classes, even some who opt for both options depending on the moment. “With Square, I am now able to train people from all over the world through their online payment technology and cutting-edge coaching platforms, adapting my business model to current needs.“, it states Markwick.
Soon in Spain
The company, founded in 2009 and based in San Francisco, is already present in Australia, Canada, Spain, the United States, France, Ireland, Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom. This year it began its expansion into Europe, with the launch of its services in Ireland and, more recently, in France. Spain is the third European country where Square lands, a market in which SMEs represent 99% of business computing. The company plans to officially launch its products in Spain in early 2022.