How to start selling hair extensions in the United Kingdom?

You want to start selling hair extensions in the United Kingdom, because you love hair and you are great with people? But what is the right time to start and what if you do not have too much money to spend? With five questions we will help you to start your own hair business in the UK. After reading this article, you will know what the best moment is to start selling hair in the United Kingdom!

Is it the right time for starting a hair extension business in the UK?

Yes, it is! There are two clear reasons to support this positive conformation. First:

• After the 13 percent drop in 2020 due to Covid-19, demand for hair shows a clear recovery in the United Kingdom in the last months of 2020 and early 2021. The demand for hair is getting back to the previous level of Year on Year growth. This is a good reason to sell hair extensions again in the UK. Customers are looking for hair to replace the hair they bought one to two years ago, and new customers have entered the market, and.
• an even more important evolution, there is a clear shift from in-store sales to online hair sales. Ecommerce is the clear winner of the Corona crisis in the UK. Your clients feel more secure to buy their hair online. Between 2 to 3 of every bundle of hair, wig, closure, clip ins, or other hair piece that was sold in-store before, are now sold online. Or soon will be. In the UK, selling hair is a booming online business!

The graph shows the monthly import of human hair in the United Kingdom in 2020. After the dip in the first half, you can see the recovery on the second half.

The market of hair extensions in the UK is stable

The demand for hair, expressed in the import of hair in the UK, has shown a stable growth path in the years before Corona. The graph below shows the year on year hair sales in the United Kingdom. You can see the drop in 2020.

The graph shows the normal level of steady growth of the demand for hair and hair products in the United Kingdom the last years, with the impact of Corona in 2020.

You want to sell all the type of hair available?

Wrong, it´s better to focus on one type of hair extensions for example Cambodian or Vietnamese and to become the expert on this for the United Kingdom, or region. You can offer weave, clip ins or tape in but focus on one type of hair. This will allow you to compete on service and not on price and will keep you in the hair business much longer.

You do not know what your target clients want?

It is simple, all you must do is to listen to your target audience, to find out what hair they are looking for. Use the social media from online hair and beauty stores to learn from the remarks in the comments. What are their followers sharing? What do they like, and what are their complaints about the hair? Does the competition need much time to restock? How much time before questions about the hair are answered? You can also investigate the general demand for hair extensions in the United Kingdom. Use information from your chamber of commerce, the United Nations or google trends. For the United Kingdom, which has according to the United Nations the biggest hair demand of the European Union, with a growing interest for clip ins and fusion hair extensions.

With this information you can perform a market survey by talking to people that might be interested in these hair extensions products. Prepare a list of questions that will help you to find answers not only on what type of hair they are interested in, but also how you should market your product and what kind of after sales services your clients are looking for. Do not forget to thank the people you interviewed, give them a small present and ask for their email address to contact them when you are in business.

You do not have the money to start selling hair in the UK?

There is always money for great ideas. Because now you know what your clients are looking for it is time to get some samples and to buy your first stock of hair extensions. If you have a daytime job, try to save a little and if you want some extra cash consider a small loan, from family. It is also possible not to borrow direct from your family but to ask them to help you to get a small loan.

You do not have a shop?

You can easily design your own Shopify store, this stable platform even offers a free 14 day trial, so you can start making money fast and cheap. If you need support to start selling hair in the UK, you can always check with us and visit our portfolio of stores.

Nobody comes to my shop

Why not, did you tell them about your shop? People like to see good products and they are always interested in something new. But they need to find this off course!

You need to promote your shop and that´s easy because you can already start with your friends and the people you interviewed. Build a mailing list, a mailing list is Gold for every business, because with a mailing address you have already one foot between the doors of your client. They will know who you are and if you email them on a regular basis with some new arrivals or special offers (Valentine!), they will think of you when they want to buy new hair extensions. Make sure you do not violate any spamming law, so use a trusted email provider. This will also allow you to send out a sequence of emails to your email subscribers, which will help you to focus on your business while maintaining customer contact. Register for our newsletter to stay informed with all the tips and insight you need to know to successfully start and launch your business.

I tweet and post every day, but nobody buys

Social media is about being social, not about the highest number of shout outs. A Twitter, TikTok, Instagram or Facebook account is free to set up, but need to be maintained for the best results. Through your social media you can reach a lot of people with your offers, but you should really invest in building a relation with your clients. Do not only tweet special offers ¨two bundles one for free”, etc. But interact with your followers. Retweet, comment and do not forget to thank them if they commented on your posting.

Clients start to visit their hairdressers more often, do not miss this

A survey from Salon Services shows clients are spending less on their visit to the hair salon, but they return more often. This gives you an increased number of contacts to offer your clients your product offering. Be ready for this an keep your client loyal by rewarding their loyalty using special offers or discounts. 1 out of two hair business use Facebook to contact their clients online, but do not forget the very popular Pinterest or Instagram. And… the men are getting more interested in hair too. They are willing to spent more, read our suggestions for this market.! See the complete survey here!

You are in business now, in five questions.

Do not miss the great chances the UK market is offering now and start selling hair online! We are always here to help you!