Some beauty services have doubled in price – customers are willing to pay more

Services have risen in price by as much as 40 percent.

Marija Antanaitytė, Director of Treatwell’s Beauty Services Platform, with Delphi shared changes in the prices of beauty services, that is, compared prices before the second quarantine (October-November) with current prices.

The biggest price changes are registered for hair care services, they have increased in price by 40 percent. Here you can see the greatest decrease in discounts. According to M. Antanaitytė, the price increase was mainly due to the extremely high prices for hair coloring services.

For example, hair bleaching has gone up in price by 100%, Shadow / sweep paint – 41 percent. (about 33 Eur), all hair dyes – 15 percent. (more than 9 euros) and female haircut: 18 percent. (around 4.5 Eur).

At that time, facial care procedures (cosmetology, eyebrows and eyelashes) became more expensive by one third (32%). For example, permanent makeup has gone up in price by 30% and various cosmetic procedures by 25%.

Prices for waxing services increased by 14%, nail care services by 11%, massages by 9%.

What led to the price increase?

“What we hear from the salons is one of the reasons that influence the price growth: the salons cannot accept as many customers, but the demand is very high. When there is a lot of demand, automatically and the prices go up. We saw the same thing after the first quarantine In general, the prices of beauty services are increasing.

Another reason, according to the salons, is the increase in the prices of the products, which is why the prices of services are also rising ”, comments the head of the beauty services platform in Lithuania.

When asked why hair coloring services have grown so strongly, the interviewee cited several possible reasons: “I think it has become more expensive due to rising tool prices. Also, painting services are often time consuming. The hairdressers themselves may be able to physically accept very few clients due to all the requirements. We have heard cases that due to the size of the salon, a hairdresser can work only a couple of days a week, for him it is very little, automatically his salary is very low ”.

According to the head of Treatwell, when the prices of services increase, customers are still willing to spend money, because the price increase is not that important to them.

“We investigated during the first quarantine, clients then said they would pay more for the services. They agree to pay more if they really know the salon meets the safety requirements, etc. ”, Says M. Antanaitytė.

The price increase can only be temporary

The interlocutor considers that the price increase can only be temporary. The situation was similar after the first quarantine.

“After the first quarantine, we saw that the prices rose and lasted around 2-3 months, but already in August we registered a price drop, a series of discounts were made. We suppose that the people who wanted to subscribe to the services went to do them the first months, and then the number of orders decreased, the salons began to lower prices, to make discounts to attract customers ”, he points out.

The Treatwell manager adds that, in general, not so many customers have returned: “Now some customers want to go back to quarantine very quickly, but others do not return for different reasons. For example, they work from home and say they don’t need beauty treatments. People don’t go on vacation, some services are no longer necessary automatically, some give up unnecessary beauty, luxury, pampering services ”.

Nowadays, according to her, the flow of clients has decreased, but for the first two weeks, beauty professionals worked on the principle of the conveyor.

“First it hit people who were very thirsty for beauty services. The masters of the necessary services, haircut or manicure, occupy the next month. Others, for example, masseurs will be freer ”, says M. Antanaitytė.

Association of Hairdressers and Beauty Professionals: Unfair to Clients

Jolanta Mačiulienė, president of the Association of Hairdressers and Beauty Specialists, which brings together almost 1,000 members, comments on the association’s members that the prices of beauty services did not increase during the second quarantine. That would be unfair to customers.

“On behalf of the members of the association, I can safely say that we did not raise prices because we have agreed to and follow that policy. Our pricing policy will certainly not change, because we have to think that it is not the best to play around with the price increase right now and “blow up” those customers. Time is not so much fun for everyone anyway, if we were to raise prices it would be highly unethical against customers. After all, no one is to blame, not us or our customers, for having to wait two months, ”says J. Mačiulienė.

“After the quarantine was launched, when we started working, my first question was: what will you do with the prices? Almost 90 percent. people responded that they would not really raise prices, because it is important for them to bring customers to the salons, those who came out in the shade somewhere, perhaps not everyone can afford it yet ”, he added.

When asked if security measures could have raised the price of services, the interviewee points out that the same measures were used after the first quarantine.

“What has changed is that we now use respirators instead of medical masks. The disinfectants did not change, they remained the same. It’s hard to explain why those prices are going up. Maybe someone just temporarily put on a respirator fee. But we must bear in mind that now it is difficult for everyone, the rise in prices will not solve the problems. I simply believe that we should be in solidarity and not do that ”, emphasizes the head of the association.

He also assures that the increase in working hours has nothing to do with the increase in prices: “Work is” stretched “because it wants to serve people so that they do not travel to another place. In the shadows, some of them have been making a lot of money in two months, unlike those who sat down honestly. “

According to the interviewee, clients are extremely understanding at the moment and almost all support the specialists before leaving, leaving a tip.

Laura Mociūnaitė, Senior Economist in the Bank of Lithuania’s Macroeconomics and Forecasting Division, says that prices for beauty salon services that have reopened may rise for some time due to the accumulation of demand, but this should be a trend to short term. .

“Price growth should stabilize as excess demand slows. In the long term, it will depend on the situation of the pandemic and related restrictions and the evolution of wages, since wages in the case of these services they represent a large part of the costs, ”L. Mociūnaitė told BNS.

According to her, shadow services through quarantine could cover part of the demand and thus reduce the demand for these services now, but this is unlikely to have a significant impact on prices.