One segment witnessing a sustained upward trend since unlock happened in India is the salon services at home. Not only have new service providers entered this segment, even the older ones, which once shied away from visiting customers’ homes, have cast their aspersions away, and begun providing home services.
“There was a time, around three years back, when I wanted a masseuse for my motherin- law. She couldn’t visit the parlour and no parlour owner agreed to send a person home,” says Mukta Munshi, a resident of AGCR Enclave in East Delhi.
“Then a girl, perhaps pitying my position agreed to come home, but warned me against telling the parlour owner,” she says. “A few days back, the same parlour owner called me and asked if I needed any service at home. Such is the change that COVID-19 has affected,” she adds.
Though salons have opened and life has started somewhat getting back to normalcy, COVID- wary people are still not interested in stepping out of their homes and exposing themselves to the virus.
“We have been providing services since lockdown happened. Salons were closed but owing to online meetings, beauty services were still required. Who doesn’t want to look good on camera? So people had begun calling us, though the numbers were few initially,” says Waseem Khan, Founder, Nishal Parlour, Noida, adding that the queries began increasing after unlock happened. “Today, we are quite comfortable,” he says. Home Service Beauty Parlour, which has its presence across all metro cities since it began providing at home services in 2015, has recovered almost 50 per cent of its business, but had to slash its prices. “We expect more growth in coming time,” says its founder Someshwar Pandey.
Even the established names in the salon business like Housejoy, Urban Company and Yes Madam have been seeing a surge in numbers. While some like Urban Company have cut down their rates, Housejoy has kept it changed while Yes Madam has put in some additional cost. But this has not affected their customer base. “People are ready to pay. Though most are working from home, they still have to come on zoom calls and everyone wants to look presentable,” says Arpan Biswas, VPMarketing, Housejoy.
“But then we have always had competitive rates. We don’t believe in unnecessarily jacking up the costs and then giving discounts,” he remarks when asked if Housejoy will go the Urban Company way and reduce its rates. Housejoy has witnessed almost two time increase in its business, across all the six cities it is present in.
“While we provide grooming services only for women in Delhi-NCR, we provide these for men too in Bengaluru. The business is really growing at a fast pace there,” says Biswas. So much so that the company is now planning to expand its services for men in other cities too.
Agrees Mayank Arya, Co-Founder, Yes Madam which has its presence in 23 cities across Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka besides Delhi-NCR. “We too began providing salon services to men post-lockdown. The numbers are promising. We have achieved over 70 per cent of our business since unlock happened, and have almost touched 80 per cent in terms of revenue,” says Mayank. But as against others, who have either reduced their rates or have kept them same, Yes Madam has hiked them a bit.
“We are operating on a zero discount model since inception in 2017. Rather we are now charging an additional Rs 99 as convenience fee, and people seem to be okay with it,” says Mayank adding Delhi-NCR has fared the best among all cities. “The convenience fee is towards 13 safety protocols we ensure for our beauty partner and customer. If a customer has trust in you, he/she doesn’t mind paying a little extra,” says Mayank.
Trend will pick up
Almost all service providers are certain that the numbers of those demanding at home salon services will not only increase but a time may come when this becomes a norm. “People are asking for salon services at home as they find it convenient. More so, the rates are almost the same as those in salons in marketplaces. With time, it will be a habit. I see a future where at home salon services will rule,” says
Biswas. “No one knows when Covid will leave. Why risk your life when the same service can be had at home,” puts in Munshi.