How to Open a Tanning Salon
A tanning salon may be a service-oriented business, but it is also a type of business that significantly relies on having the most efficient and state-of-the-art equipment. If this is the kind of business you want to build, keep in mind that you may have to spend approximately $250,000 to $350,000 for your initial outlay.
Make sure that you have the budget you need for a tanning salon. If you were thinking of financing the capital for your prospective business, you will need a business plan, in order to convince a bank or mortgage company to give you a loan.
Choose a location. For tanning salons, there are primarily two types of ideal locations. One is an area that has no tanning salon existing. This could mean getting all the income from that area, but it may also mean that tanning salons are just not a hot business for that particular location. The other ideal type of location is a place near beaches and downtown, which are places where your target customers are likely to be found. This type of location will require you to face greater competition and operating expenses, but you are likely to enjoy higher income as well, if you manage to build a loyal customer base.
Think of a way to distinguish your tanning salon from the rest. All salons essentially offer the same thing and for the same rates. You must come up with an idea that would help customers choose your services over others. This could be a combination of product innovation and excellent marketing strategies. Keep in mind that product innovation does not require you to create a completely new technique for tanning (although that will always help), but rather you have to add something new to your product to make it different.
Product innovation can simply be a matter of packaging or bundling it with other services from your salon. It can be based on the use of new materials that would help tanning effects last longer.
Expand your network. The success of your tanning salon significantly relies on how fast news spread about your services through word of mouth. Build partnerships with other businesses targeting the same customers, but from other industries. Together, you may have a better shot of cornering your market.
Apply for the license to operate. Make sure that the layout for your salon is fun, fashionable and inviting, because those are the typical qualities that your customers are looking for. Make sure also that the people you hire to man your business are more or less the same, in terms of skills.