Sally Beauty, the largest retailer of professional beauty supplies in the world, has big plans for 2016 that focus on a brand refresh and elevating the customer experience.
During the company’s Feb. 4 fiscal first-quarter conference call, CEO Chris Brickman discussed some of these exciting plans.
“The refresh of our own brand packaging in ion hair care is nearly complete,” Brickman said, according to Seeking Alpha. “The new packaging is highly complementary with the new hair care solutions center and looks comparable to the exclusive professional brands that we carry in our BSG (Beauty Systems Group) business. We expect to extend this strategy to our other own brand products in the coming months.”
The merchandise categories located at the front of Sally beauty’s 2,900 U.S. Sally stores have been refreshed and continue to realize higher sales growth than they did previously, Brickman noted.
“As we complete the refresh of our larger categories, such as hair care and color, we’re optimistic that the sales growth in these categories will also accelerate,” he explained. “These two categories represent over half of the aggregate sales in Sally U.S. We recently began the installation of the hair care solution center. The category reset is organized to help customers find products for specific needs like frizz, volume, color protection and damage repair. Although this initiative is a large undertaking, we expect to have all 2,900 U.S. Sally stores updated with the new hair care center by March. We don’t anticipate sales disruption.”
In April, Sally Beauty plans to take its first steps toward improving the shopping experience in professional hair color, its largest category.
“We expect to install an end-cap education center in over half of our stores, which outlines the easy one, two, three easy steps for do-it-yourself professional hair color,” Brickman said. “This new education center is designed to help consumers make an easier transition from drugstore box color to the professional hair color that we offer at Sally.”
What’s more, Brickman noted that Sharon Leite, the company’s new Sally President (who arrived via Pier 1 Imports), just began work last week.
“We’re thrilled to have Sharon on the Sally U.S. team,” Brickman said. “She is a dynamic retail executive and brings a keen understanding of customer engagement and a proven track record of building and driving sales in the demanding retail environment. I am confident that her consumer-led approach will accelerate our progress in becoming the leading provider of salon quality products in the retail sector.”
BSG has made “terrific progress” on expanding its CRM capabilities, Brickman said.
“These capabilities enable us to develop customized messages to licensed professionals based on their shopping patterns and unique needs,” he explained.
Consolidated net sales for the first quarter increased 3.5%, to $998 million.