Insider nails

Business Trends

Both the treatment and retail sides of your nail business remained pretty much on a par with last year, with treatment sales slightly better. It’s good to see the majority of you charging for the extra time and skill it takes to create detailed nail art, especially as technical ability is the quality you put at the top of your list when recruiting techs.

Only a few of you branched out to try a new polish brand in the past year, but if you do feel like a change be sure to browse the nail stands at Professional Beauty North in October. Turn to page 90 to choose which Christmas gifts you want to add to your wish list.

On the spot

How do you charge for nail art?

1. Per finger

2. By additional time

3. Don’t charge extra

4. Based on intricacy of design

22%

Have tried a new polish brand in the salon/spa this year

When hiring a nail tech, which qualities or characteristics are most important?

1. Technical skills

2. Personality

3. Artistic flair

4. Passion

METHODOLOGY Insider is compiled from a monthly telephone survey of spas and beauty salons. The survey is conducted by us, exclusively for you. The people who participated represent a cross-section of the industry from high-end spas to high-street salons. They were polled by phone from September 4–8, regarding business for the month to August 31. Nail business for the Insider Nails page was calculated from data provided by spas and salons that offer nail services among other treatments. The figures given represent the average score for each answer. Brands are ranked when mentioned by several respondents. Those listed at the top received the highest number of mentions. Thank you to everyone who participated in this month’s survey.