The two camps have taken their sides. On the one side are nail technicians concerned over the future of their industry, worried that public access to professional products will be the death of their businesses. On the other side, there are those who downplay the importance of where products are bought and sold, saying there is no clearly “best way” to buy products: it’s merely a matter of personal preference. And in between is a group of professionals who want to see the integrity of their products maintained, yet who need to be able to buy products from a variety of sources and to choose a supplier based on many factors: price, convenience, education, and availability, among others.

This is the distribution debate, and today’s topic is “Does it matter where you buy your products?”

Nail technicians have so many choices about where to purchase products than technicians did just 10 years ago. Today, distributor’s salespeople call on salons in person. A technician can go to a local beauty supply store and look and try products before she buys or she can browse a full-color catalog and call in her order for mail delivery.

These expanded options attest to the increased importance nails have attained in the professional beauty industry and to the economic clout nail technicians and manufacturers have in the distribution “food chain.” The attention on nails is also due in no small part to tremendous consumer demand for nail care products. Consequently, the way manufacturers distribute their products has become increasingly complex.

For a clearer understanding of which distribution method best suits your business needs, let’s look at the most commonly used methods.

Full-Service Distributor

The traditional full-service distributor generally has a warehouse operation and services the salon with field salespeople. That means a salesperson regularly calls on a salon to take product orders, handle product questions or problems, and otherwise keep the nail technician informed about industry trends, new products, upcoming education, etc. Ordinarily you place an order, and the products are delivered to the salon.

Essentially, full-service distribution is a channel for professionals only to buy products. That means the public – your customers – cannot get the products a full service distributor carries. Obviously, this ensures that your clients cannot circumvent the salon in favor of doing their own nails with the same products you use.

Also, because full-service distributors sell only to professionals, your clients cannot get the same retail items you carry in the salon.

This is a very important issue because nail technicians need to concentrate more on their retail programs. Nail technicians and salon owners who understand that the route to greater earning power is through retailing at-home products argue that they are unable to do so because the very individuals who supply their retail products also sell them to the public. If these products are so readily available, the mystique of salon exclusivity is lost. Using a full-service distributor is designed to alleviate that pressure.

Only a fraction of what consumers are spending on their nail care needs is being spent in the salon. Although the nail salon should be the natural choice for a consumer who wants the best quality, best suited nail care item, it usually isn’t. When a woman thinks about buying a file or bottle of polish for herself, she most often thinks about buying those products at the drugstore or supermarket. Nail technicians need to work to change that mindset, but they should also realize that they need to offer a product that these potential clients can’t get elsewhere.

To sell a client a $5 bottle of nail polish or a $4 bottle of cuticle oil, you must convince her of your salon products’ value. Specifically, you back them up, guarantee your work, convince her that the products have a higher, professional-only quality, and assure her that she cannot buy them anywhere but at a salon.

If your client is convinced of the products’ value but she can purchase them herself at the same beauty supply store you do, and often for less than you’re charging, why would she purchase those items from you? She could save money and get the very same “salon-exclusive” products.

By restricting the sale of products, the full service method protects the nail technician’s ability to provide service with a unique professional product.

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Also at the very core of the full service philosophy is a dedication to education. Full-service distributors offer some of the best educational programs available to working nail technicians. Many manufacturers base their decision to take their products through full service distributors because many of these chemically intensive products must be used only by trained professionals.

Regardless of whether you buy from full-service distributors, direct from the manufacturer, or off the tradeshow floor, you should consider how a manufacturer backs up his products with education. If you feel you have reached a point in your career where you no longer need education, you probably need it more than ever.

Many large distributors augment their store operations with a mail order catalog, telephone sales personnel, and in-salon representatives. Some distributors even create separate nails-only divisions, sometimes renaming the division. These distributors believe that this strictly focused approach can only better serve the nail professional’s needs because of the specialized education required to sell nail products.

There are a few drawbacks to the full-service method of distribution, according to nail technicians. If a technician runs out of product she often has to run out and pick up something immediately. If her distributor doesn’t have a store operation, she will have to go to another beauty supply store. Also, even if her distributor does have a store, it may not be as conveniently located as one of any number of beauty supply franchises.

Also, because a full-service distributor carries only certain manufacturers’ products, he will often primarily promote one line. Some technicians don’t like the limits this places on their product choices. However, because of the attention and support the distributor is able to give the manufacturer, the manufacturer in turn can allow the distributor to provide extra incentives or programs to salons. Some examples would be in-salon education given by a manufacture’s educator or special prices on some items.

Buying Direct

Buying product direct from the manufacturer creates a very close relationship between salon and supplier. Advocates of buying direct argue that because of the direct communication between seller and buyer, the manufacturer is more responsive to nail technicians’ needs and can adapt to change more readily.

While many manufacturers who sell direct will require a copy of a license before they send out product, there is still a danger that some products will be used improperly or unsafely if technicians do not get the proper education that these products require.

With the manufacturer-direct method of distribution there is generally no concern that products will wind up in the hands of non-professionals. This concern really applies only to products such as liquid and powder systems, primers, and other application systems. With items such as polish, files, brushes, jewelry, etc., there is little danger to the salon’s retail efforts with these products because it would hardly be worth the savings for a consumer to order an item directly form the manufacturer.

As far as price goes, it is cheaper to buy direct on some items from some companies. You will have to shop around if there is a specific item that you order in high volume and if price is a big factor. However, when a manufacturer sells to a distributor, that price is usually lower than the technician could get the product for herself anyway. There is a built-in profit for the manufacturer and the distributor, which does not necessarily mean that the technician’s price is any higher.

Perhaps one of the main benefits of buying direct is that the manufacturer is likely to have adequate stock available to fill any kind of order. Technicians who repeatedly find a distributor out of stock will soon find another supplier.

Manufacturers selling direct often provide many of the same support services that full-service distributors do – namely, guarantees, return policies, price incentives, or occasional giveaways for regular customers.

Over-The-Counter Beauty Supply

Beauty supply stores come in a couple varieties. There is the full service distributor’s store operation, generally open to professionals only. Then there is the over-the-counter operation (sometimes called OTC or “retail store”) that serves the professional primarily but also is open to the public. If the store is for professionals only, buyers must show a valid manicuring license before making a purchase.

Some OTC stores price products differently for the professional and the public. For example, a store may put a “retail” price of $3 on a bottle of nail polish but charge the license-bearing nail technician just $2 for that same bottle. This system is called tier pricing.

While this system still makes professional products available directly to the consumer, the pricing structure is designed not to undercut the salon’s retail efforts by not offering the product at a cheaper price than the client would pay at the salon.

However, the retail price charged by the beauty supply may still be lower than the salon’s price, since the technician has to mark up the item 100% to cover her overhead and make a profit. Thus, the technician sells for $4 what the consumer can get at the beauty supply store for $3. In effect, the beauty supply store now competes for the very same customer as the technician.

Tier pricing can be potentially dangerous when it is used on such products as acrylic systems. In this circumstance, having a higher price may deter the non-professional from buying the product, but it does not ensure that these products are used by trained professionals.

The Health and Safety Issue

Besides the danger to a salon’s business by consumers using professional products and buying at home use items from non-salon businesses, there is real physical danger to an untrained person using these chemically intensive products.

A teenager, housewife, or amateur manicurist applying acrylic extensions with an instruction sheet could burn herself from over-priming or damage her natural nails by improperly applying the product. She might consequently blame the product’s manufacturer or artificial nails in general. Much of the bad rap that artificial nails have gotten over the years stems from this situation.

However, in some ways, the bad experiences of these individuals have actually helped the professional salon industry. People who gave themselves bad perms or acrylics had to rush to their salons for touch-ups or repairs; they then realized how good professional work looked and became converts.

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A good example of how home manicuring helped the salon occurred when gel light systems were introduced to consumers. These systems were sold at parties like Tupperware, through multilevel marketing organizations, at swap meets, and even in supermarket tabloid ads.

At first, the professional nail industry decried the existence of the home systems, fearing they would put legitimate professional systems and technicians out of business. However, those who tried the systems could not use them properly, yet they got a taste for artificial nails and flocked to their local salon for the “real thing.” Many others were forced to go to their salon for repair jobs. In both cases, the salon benefited.

To all of these arguments, some people will respond that the reason a client patronizes a salon is for the nail technician herself – her service and personality – and that the type of product a technician uses is irrelevant to the client, even if she can purchase those same products elsewhere.

This may be true in theory, and you certainly do need to provide a personal experience for clients, but others may argue that anything that hinders your ability to do business, however slightly, should be done away with.

If you want to maintain salon exclusivity in your retail program and to seize your fair share of the consumer’s beauty dollar, you need to carefully consider your options with respect to buying products. If you want to provide a professional service with a unique product, you may need to limit your patronage to full-service distributors or buying direct from the manufacturer. If convenience and great variety is high on your priority list, you may opt for buying from beauty supply stores. What you need to do is assess your own needs and balance what is offered by distributors and manufacturers to help you meet those needs. And if you’re inclined to be in this business for the long haul, it should concern you also which methods of product distribution contribute to the long-term health and prosperity of the professional nail care industry.

Distributors Address Technicians’ Concerns

We asked some leading full-service, professional-only distributors to address technicians’ concerns about product distribution.

“The prices at professional only suppliers are too high.”

What technicians must realize is that they are not merely buying products, they are buying systems. They’re buying education and advertising support, merchandising assistance and expertise, direct mail, programs that teach them retailing and client retention. You might pay a few pennies more, but you’re getting programs to build your business. – Rick Goldberg, Progressive Beauty Supply, Minneapolis, Minn.

“The salespeople aren’t very knowledgeable about nails.”

With a full-service, nails-only distributor, there are trained professionals who can speak directly with the technicians and answer their technical questions. They can help a technician choose the right product or service for a client. If we can’t answer a question, we can immediately put someone in touch with the manufacturer, who can help. A nails-only division allows us to concentrate on the nail technician’s needs. – Gladys Katsiafas, The Nail Source, Patchogue, N.Y.

“Sometimes it’s just more convenient to go to an OTC beauty supply store.” If it’s more convenient for technicians to go to an OTC, it’s also more convenient for their clients to go. When you’re choosing a distributor, you have to ask yourself who gives you the educational support, the professional product protection, guarantees, customer service, and the convenience of a store and telemarketers. Go with who gives you the most. –K.C. Cali, The Nail Network, Rochester, N.Y.

“Professional-only distributors have limited supplies and selections.” Part of that is the growing pains the industry is experiencing as distributors learn how to sell nail supplies after so many years of selling only hair products. Nails-only divisions are expanding their lines, but we do not intend to be all things to all people. By limiting what we sell we are able to maintain quality control and provide excellent educational support. –Joan Garrity, The Nail Force, Clearwater, Fla.

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