It seems that every year, your holiday season revenue is affected more and more. More salons are reporting dropping December revenue figures and more salons are reporting a quiet first two to three weeks of the December month with a big appointment rush in the last week. Pain in the butt.

Many think it’s because people are spending less and buying for fewer people. Whilst this may be true, I believe it’s to a small degree, the biggest reason is the ever-growing and unstoppable beast of eCommerce.

Let me start with some sobering stats from Statista

• In 2018, Australians spent $28.6 Billion (with a B) on online shopping. Now that’s a sizeable chunk-a-money taken away from brick and mortar businesses
  
  
• And it’s growing. Predictions are that they’ll hit $35 Billion in 2021
  
  
• Australia is currently the 10^th largest eCommerce by revenue market in the world
  
  
• In February 2019, 80% of people in Australia shopped online. Prediction for 2021 is 85%

These stats were published in early 2019. I’m sure the pandemic will accelerate the growth, and the actual figures will be even higher than predicted.

There are two main reasons why I’m writing this blog post

1. eCommerce

The first reason is to tell you that YOU MUST BUILD YOUR ONLINE BUSINESS

Not only is eCommerce a fact of life and your indirect competition (supermarket, department store brands, retail skincare stores like Mecca and Sephora) have been doing it for years but today, your own direct competition is expanding their businesses online. Plus there are newcomers such as doctors providing online prescriptions with retail products mailed on a subscription model.

If you don’t jump on the boat soon, it will sail away without you.

2. Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale

Secondly, I don't know if this is good news or bad news but the latest 'thing' to affect your holiday season revenue is the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Although it’s always been an American tradition, it seriously took off in Australia in 2018 and skyrocketed in 2019. You can imagine what will happen this year, ESPECIALLY because of the pandemic (stupid-dumb-pandemic).

So what does this actually mean? Well, it means that Black Friday and Cyber Monday have brought Holiday Season consumer spending forward, detracting from regular Christmas revenue. It’s always been this way in the US, and it’s proving the same here in Australia. This is what’s happening so if you don’t participate in these sales by getting your Christmas offerings out there earlier than normal, YOUR CHRISTMAS REVENUE WILL BE AFFECTED. So, as I say, adapt and adopt.

The reason I said that I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing is because if you DO participate and you do it well, then it’s not so bad. It just means that your November and December figures for this year should average out. You’ll have a higher November than normal and a lower December than normal. Here’s how I see it:

Less pressure – hanging your hat on the last two weeks of December is frightening and exhausting. The pressure is real and it’s strong

Fewer staff issues – If you do a lot of your Christmas gift selling in November, a lot of it will be done online and the stress of being short-staffed in a less concentrated time, is lifted

More recovery time – If you didn’t do as well as you wanted in November, then you still have 4 more weeks to lift your game with new strategies

More opportunity – On the flipside, if you DO really well in late November you have the opportunity to buy more and sell more in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Last year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales blew up on the Facebook feed. This year will be even more so.