Salon Tomorrow: The Circle Salon
by Stacey Soble | July 5, 2016
In Spring 2016, Qnity partnered with SALON TODAY to host the Emerging Leader Cup for a competition designing the salon of tomorrow. Emerging Leaders is a subset of membership of 2 to 10, an association for salons that operate businesses from 2 to 10 locations. The Emerging Leaders represent members of the group who are 30 years old or younger.
For the purposes of the competition, the group was divided into three teams and charged with the mission of sketching out a beauty concept for the future. The teams were judged on the originality of their salon concept, how they worked together as a team, the feasibility of their concept, and how well they presented their idea. After the presentations, the judges scored each salon and conferred together to select a winning team.
In the end, the judges agreed that the Co-Collective team just edged the other teams out to win, but they all felt there was value in sharing the ideas of all three teams. Here is the slide presentation and the concept by The Circle Salon Concept:
The Circle Salon: A Salon for the Future
Team Members: Jasmine Howard of Salon Red; Luca Boccia of Pyure Salon; Wagner Westerbeke of Gadabout Salons; Colleen Fahy of Spa Bleu and Darlin Stehle of Yellow Strawberry.
"We are here to serve the environmentally conscious, technology-driven consumer. Our core value is to give back, not only to the Earth that supports us, but to the community that makes our dream possible." This was the founding mission of The Circle Salon concept.
The team envisioned a salon that was actively involved in the community, with set goals. "We'd target 15 percent of our charitable efforts to water conservation projects, while also participating in different local charitable events each month, supporting local artists and musicians and selecting industry events where we could collaborate with others," Jasmine Howard says.
The team outlined sophisticated green best practices, including solar panels, a grey water recycling program, rainwater harvesting systems, and a full-scale recycling program. To reduce its use of paper, the salon would encourage guests to book appointments through a mobile app and offer online magazine subscriptions only. The team estimated that the green practices would save Circle Salon $29,070 over its first five years.
In addition to being environmentally savvy, The Circle Salon would employ technology to enhance the client experience. The team has plans for a Circle Salon app that would allow a new customer to send in a selfie for a consultation, and would encourage the client to customize her experience by selecting her desired add-on ritual, beverage selection and music choices when she books her appointment. The app would help the salon team in booking appointments and marketing promotions and open appointments through push notifications. Through the app, the salon team also could access technical videos and product information.
The team even developed a service wheel, which includes an in-app consultation, pre-consultation, welcome, technical service, recommended beauty regimen, in-app pre-book and promotion and reviews.
The team carried out the circular theme by designing a round menu and laying out the salon in a circular pattern.
2 to 10 project
Qnity