Top 10 Professional Skin Care Industry Trends for 2013

Curious about what's ahead? Here we look at the ten biggest professional skin care trends for 2013.

Although each year the new economy is full of its share of twists and turns, 2012 may go down in history as a turning-point year in the skin care industry. Challenges are still many as the skin care professionals who survived the economic crisis are navigating their way in this brave new world; however, things are generally looking up. Salon revenue showed a measured growth of 2.5% according to the International Salon Association (ISALON). The study reveals that 83% of salons have made one or more changes to their businesses, including an increased number of treatment offerings, new retail product offerings, additional salon programs and shorter treatment options, helping stimulate demand and increase the total number of salon visits.

To help you gear up for what the future holds for the professional skin care industry, following are the top 10 skin care industry trends for 2013 and beyond.

1. Progressive skin wellness

Clients are beginning to understand that skin care isn’t just a once-in-a-while pampering experience; it is a lifestyle choice. With the economy as a catalyst, clients became very aware of their priority lists and many of those who wanted to invest in beauty took the leap to becoming loyal skin care clients, justifying their visits to skin care facilities as an investment in their overall wellness. Another thing that is becoming clearer is the importance of a complete wellness lifestyle for skin health, which requires a whole spectrum of healthy living, including emotional, spiritual, physical, intellectual, occupational and social wellness. In the coming years, skin care professionals will begin to adopt ways to incorporate treatments to meet these wellness needs.

Taking a healthy and expansive interest in great skin at any age is a gateway into taking a healthy and expansive interest in whole-body health. Help clients begin that journey in your skin care facility by providing them with ways to expand their wellness interests, whether under your own roof or through business relationships with other professionals. Skin care is life… this mantra will help you and your team understand that the benefits you offer your clients are not just radiant, clear, young-looking skin; they are also the ways you touch them, helping them have the strength and knowledge to embrace a better way of life. And as the gateway to an improved life, your skin care facility will flourish with clients, both new and retained, who value your services as a branch of their own wellness.

2. Equipment-based treatments

Along with progressive skin wellness, facilities both small and large are adapting to the increased expectation that skin care treatments will show solid results. Whether clients are choosing more equipment-based services as an alternative to the more expensive cosmetic surgery or simply because they prefer a more noninvasive anti-aging solution, they continue to cast their sights on skin care facilities. Microdermabrasion, microcurrent, ultrasound, radio frequency, cold laser, LED, IPL… you name it, salons are making the investment and bringing high-tech solutions into the treatment room in an effort to show clients visible benefits, resulting in a solid place in their monthly budgets.

3. Increased focus on education and training

In September 2012, the Global Salon and Wellness Summit (GSWS) released an extensive study exploring the challenges faced by this growing industry confronted with a talent gap. The study examines the difficulties the industry faces in hiring qualified management personnel, the root cause of this high demand for talent and recommendations to address the workforce gap. The report was commissioned by the GSWS after 95% of delegates attending its 2011 summit reported lack of training/education as the greatest challenge facing the industry, and hiring qualified salon managers and directors the largest obstacle to the continued growth of their businesses.

This is not a new problem for the professional skin care industry, but it is becoming more of a threat than ever before. Although recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates jobs for licensed estheticians are predicted to increase the most out of all the jobs in the beauty industry over the next decade, the question is: How will those new estheticians climb the ladder and learn the business skills needed to go to the next level and help salons—and the industry itself—succeed?

4. Male Market

Men’s grooming is expected to hit $84+ billion by 2014! This is an amazing opportunity for those who want to tap into the other 50% of the population. Past are the days when men just wanted a $5 barbers appointment, they are now interested in all areas of grooming from hair colour, highlighting, waxing, custom cutting, facials, manicures, pedicures, spray tanning and last but not least products to take home. Males are also interested and actively improving their health and wellbeing and are no different to females in this area. Is seems it is no longer cool to openly neglect appearance and a healthy lifestyle. This new way goes hand in hand with the need for men to access beauty professionals to gain treatment advice and suitable products so they too can look and feel handsome… in a masculine way.

5. Skin Care - Brand Ownership

There has been a change in client purchasing behaviour in favour of online shopping. Having a unique brand of consumables including specialist skin care lines mitigates the competition and pricing pressure within the mass produced and widely available brands. Online product matching following professional recommendation has resulted in product sales moving from salon based retail outlets to online stores. Offering products under a unique brand and available exclusively through salon outlets and the company website offers salon owners the opportunity to mitigate the effects of the online shopping trend.

Loyalty, backstories, relationships, emotions, etc are all intrinsically tied with beauty products.  Product behaviour, message, and brand voice need to be consistent with its aesthetics and connected with the brand image. This is so tough for many starting companies to understand, but many consumers form emotional attachments to their beauty brands and products.  They have to capture what’s in the consumers’ heads and hearts.

6. Specialty Salons

The phrase “focus on what you’re good at” has never been more applicable than it is to these facilities. Instead of trying to please everyone all the time, these businesses know what they are good at and only focus on that. Whether it is lash extensions, waxing or express treatments, skin care facilities are popping up all over the country with a specialty. Finding a niche and excelling at it can often result in a  more loyal clientele than salons that try to do it all featuring a huge menu, but mediocre services. Expect to see more and more of these specialty businesses in the future for those clients who only want the best.

7. Cultural  Inspiration

Compared to the rest of the world,  the professional skin care industry in the Australia is in its early years, and it can learn a lot from looking beyond its own borders. Salons are reaching out to global cultures for inspiration on how to provide unique and effective professional skin care services for clients who want an experience along with results. Globe-trotting services that are spanning the hemispheres are coming from countries as diverse as Brazil, Thailand, South Korea and regions like the EU and the Middle East. International travel may not be in your clients’ budgets right now, but providing them with a treatment that opens the door to a different region can help provide insight into the skin care values shared by the world.

8. Active Ingredients

Active ingredients are supplying the professional skin care industry with the ability to provide tangible results to clients, and clients are often as curious about their effects as you are. “Skin care consumers are continually looking for the ‘next big thing’ to remove those wrinkles or eliminate that dark spot. This voracious demand will continue to drive the development of sophisticated new ingredients well into the future. For example, ingredients based on personal genetics that might delay cellular aging longer,” says Linda Walker, author of The Skin Care Ingredient Handbook (Alluredbooks, 2012; www.Alluredbooks.com). It is crucial that you know how to answer clients’ questions about what works, what doesn’t and why. By providing this in-depth knowledge, your client will start seeing you as a skin care mentor. And if you don’t know off the top of your head, research it and get back to the client. They will appreciate your efforts, and continued conversation will result in extended service opportunities, giving birth to a loyal client.

Feel-good-only products will become more obsolete, as consumers begin to experience the actual skin-fixing results of makeup such as mineral makeup. Hence, products that deliver results and not only aesthetic enhancement are continuing to gain popularity.

9. Being penny-wise

No one these days is into spending  money they don’t have to, and this requires offering value for your clients’ dollars. Throughout the past five years, if your business has survived the GFC, you have probably become an expert at appealing to your clients’ frugality. However, the need to continue finding ways to delight and amaze while offering an experience is evident. The old way of dealing with this is discounting, which not only de-values your salon and professionals, it can also de-value the industry as a whole. The current, and future, way of appealing to penny-wise clients is to find creative ways to help them spend money at your skin care facility that they may have spent somewhere else. For example, work with a local group to find ways to donate to their cause while introducing new clients to your services.

10. Supplementing Skin Care

The trend towards total health and wellbeing being important to all ages, and in particular the young adults, has opened the opportunity for salons to offer proven oral supplements with medically endorsed benefits.

Nutricosmetics (aka Beauty from  Within) – Think anti-aging supplements, wrinkle-reducers, collagen-boosts. There is increasing demand from clients for supplements targeting and enhancing skin health and overall wellbeing. Be aware of sceptics and choose the formulation and integrity of the supplements you intend to recommend.