Once you have completed your hair extension training and have a few practise models under your belt you will need to establish what prices you will be offering your services at. This can be quite a tricky task, as there are many factors that come into play when selecting pricing, and every business will be slightly different and competing in different markets. There are a number of different things you will need to consider, and here we will go through each of them to help you select the right prices for you and your business.
What Hair Extensions Services Will Your Business Offer?
Firstly, you need to identify what type of service you are going to be offering to your clients. Will you be offering a variety of different techniques, for example
micro ring hair extensions, pre bonded hair extensions and wefts, or have you decided that you would like to be a “specialist” business, focusing on only one method, e.g.
nano rings hair extensions exclusively. Will you be offering alternative hair dressing services such as cutting, blending and colouring? Styling options such as curling, or
retail products for your clients to purchase. All of these are important factors to help decide your pricing.
Creating A Brand For Your Hair Extension Business
Now that you have identified the type of services you will be offering, you will need to look at where in the market you would like to place your “brand”. Would you like your hair extension business to be cheap and cheerful, offering reasonable prices so that your services are accessible to all, or are you thinking of a more boutique image where prices are relatively high, but you will only be using the top end products, offering a glass of wine during the fitting (to over 18 clients of course), and throwing in a complimentary selection of
aftercare products.
Who Are Your Competition?
Now that you have decided on the services you are offering, and the type of brand you would like to portray, it comes to the most important aspect of working out your pricing - your competition. You will need to take a look at the prices of other hair extension businesses in your local area that are already offering the same type of services as you, as this will give you an indication of what customers in your area are happy to pay. This will vary greatly between areas, for example London prices will be considerably higher than other areas due to the location, and may not be affordable to other parts of the country. It is important to note here that this should not be done with the intention of undercutting your competition, but simply as a research tool. Undercutting others devalues your services and the industry in general, therefore it is important that you offer a price that is fair to your customer, fair to you, and fair to your experience and passion.
If through your research you find that a lot of your competition are offering cheap and cheerful prices, but you were thinking of a high end boutique service, you may need to consider that your local area is not suited to this type of pricing and rethink your costs. If on the flip side however you find that your competition are charging high prices for the type of services you would like to offer, you too can also consider these type of prices as long as your experience and products match the prices you are demanding, as they must be fair to your client as well as you.
Hair Extension Suppliers
Now that you have chosen the services you will be offering, the type of image you wish to portray with your branding, and have looked into your local competition, you will need to then take into consideration the type of hair you will be using, and finding great quality hair is the key here. You will need to find a supplier that stocks the type of hair you would like to offer, for example Indian remy, and work out how much purchasing the hair will cost you, as this will affect the profit you make on each client.
Finalising Your Hair Extension Fitting Prices
Now that you have all of the research you require, you will need to consider other costs that must be taken into consideration as well as the cost of the hair. You will need to consider how far you are willing to travel for free if you are mobile, as you will have fuel costs to consider. You will also need insurance for your business, and will need to purchase and stay up to date with your tools. All of these costs need to be factored into your pricing so that you have a profitable hair extension business.
An Example Of Pricing Your Hair Extension Services
Let’s look at a hypothetical situation to help establish pricing.
Sally is a newly qualified hair extensions technician. She is trained in 3 methods - pre bonded, micro ring, and wefts - and would like to offer all of these to her customers in the hope this will attract more business. She has looked at her local area and most other hair extensionists are charging around £250 for a full head of 18” hair extensions. Sally would like to use high quality products, and has found a supplier that charges around £130 for the amount of hair she will require for a full head. Sally is also happy to drive up to 20 miles to her clients, or will ask them to travel to her if they are further away than this. Sally would like to be cheap and cheerful like the other businesses in the area, but would like to focus on only high quality hair. So her pricing will look something like this:
Cost of hair and tools (e.g. micro rings): £130
Cost of fuel: £10
Total costs: £140.
If Sally charges the same as her local area, she will make around £110 for each fitting, which is a nice healthy profit for her business. She may however decide that she would like to be slightly cheaper than her competition as she is new to the industry and gaining experience as she goes, and could therefore drop her price to £200 for a full head, leaving her with still £60 profit per customer. She may however decide to offer a boutique style experience with a glass of wine, or complimentary hair curl and charge slightly more than her competition at £280, making a £140 profit.
Your Hair Extensions Business
Each and every business is different, with different priorities, profit margins and brands, so you will need to work hard to establish yourself in the market and build your clientele so that you can become a well-known and trusted hair extensionist in your area.
As you are starting out you might consider offering cheaper prices whilst you are still new and learning, and once you have nurtured your craft over a few years you can slowly increase your prices to reflect your experience and talent.
Choosing the correct prices for your area is key to gaining loyal and consistent clientele, so it is very important as a new business to take he time to understand your local market so that you can start your business on great footing.
SimplyHair Trade Account
Are you a new mobile hair extension business? Are you thinking of introducing hair extension services into your salon? At SimplyHair not only do we offer very competitive pricing, we also offer an exclusive trade discount to our professional customers.
A trade account is quick and easy to set up, simply click on the image below to submit your application and we will aim to have your account activated within 1 working day.
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