More men please

Spending on male grooming continues to rise as men seize ever more opportunities to maximise their personal style. However, targeting the men's market can seem like an uphill struggle, with many salon owners believing that men spend less and demand fewer additional services such as colour and treatments.

In response to this, the Aveda Academy launched a new series of networking events focused on helping salons make the very most of their men's hairdressing business potential. The three events took place across the UK, and Salon Smart was lucky enough to join around 75 salon owners at the London meeting to hear how the Aveda Men business model works.

Mike McCloud, co owner of Fresh Lifestyle Salon & Spas in Islington and Blackheath, took to the stage first and put forward a convincing case for targeting male clients. With many salons struggling to reach the desired level of 85% productivity – where 85% of the scheduled hours are filled with bookings – what better way to fill the costly gaps than with a largely untapped market?

With a higher disposable income, the tendency to make fewer but more highly valued retail purchases, and to be more brand loyal, men could be invaluable to the future of your salon business. Forget the fact that men might spend less on a hair cut – what about the fact they might buy three litres of the same product every three months (men tend to buy bigger, even if they don't need that amount of product), or that they take less time to service? They also get their hair cut on average twice as often as a woman.