[olyhair]

I'm a hairstylist just starting with renting my own booth and I was wondering if anyone could give me advice on how much I should mark up my hair products ?

[Clough]

Hi, olyhair!

If it were me, I would be purchasing the products in bulk at wholesale prices and I would go to stores and find similar products to see what is being charged for them and mark mine up based upon the prices that I was finding.

I'm assuming that you are buying your products in bulk and at wholesale prices. Would that be correct? If not, then how are you purchasing them?

Thanks!

[olyhair]

I do buy products wholesale and usually the mark up is 100%. So it's all profit. But I was thinking about doing less of a mark up because I want clients to afford the products and continue to buy in the future. Plus I figure a little less of a profit is better than none at all. Thank you for answering so quickly.

[Clough]

What I know about marking of the products would be those that are concerning items that are related to music, musical instrument repair and paint type products, because these things are related to the businesses that I run privately. For instance, I know that the mark-up for prices in music stores around where I live is general 35 to 40 percent for instruments and not nearly that high for sheet and printed music. The mark-up for paint products can be as high as 50 percent or more.

I'm sure that the mark-up for cosmetics and the things that one might find concerning cosmetics and those items at a beauty or hairstyling salon would be different because being part of the retail service industry is part of those kinds of businesses.

What I do in my businesses is that I give people a break on the prices for goods that I sell to them in the course of repairing pianos as well as painting and decorating homes. However, I am primarily a service type of industry. Yours is both service as well as retail. What I sell to them is going to be used in the course of the type of service that I provide for them. What you sell to them is something that they might use for themselves and not in the course of providing service to them. So, there is a difference here.

I apologize if I got a little wordy here!

I admire the fact that you would like to give your clients a break in the price so that they can afford the products. I would also suggest that you do just that and say to the customers that they could buy the product for such-and-such a price elsewhere but at the great price at which you are offering it.

When word gets out that you give such a good deal on a product, then I'm sure that you are likely to get more clients for the service that you provide.

One catch for the customers might be, that in order to get such a great price on products that they first need to take advantage of the service that you offer.

Just my thoughts, anyway...