Editor's note:
This is the People's Livelihood Investigation Bureau, investigating changes in people's livelihood where no one has seen it before. Pay attention to what you want to pay attention to and what you haven’t paid attention to, and investigate what you want to see and what you haven’t seen.
China News Service, February 6 (China News reporter Xie Yiguan) If you want to have a "beautiful" Spring Festival, you should get a "three-piece New Year set". However, many people walked into barber shops and found that the price of haircuts has increased again. .
"The latest haircut cost 99 yuan, which is still a discount price." Xiaoyu, who lives in Beijing, said, "The previous haircut was far less expensive."
Faced with the soaring price of haircuts, some people wonder, when did haircuts, haircuts, and haircuts cost from ten or twenty yuan to tens or even hundreds of yuan?
Data map. Photo by Zhang Yao
Washing, cutting and blowing prices are doubling
Xiaoyu still remembers that the last time she went to this shop to get a haircut, the price was still 59 yuan. "But this time I saw that there is no longer the 59 yuan range, and the lowest price starts at 99 yuan."
Xiaoyu was a little surprised by the nearly doubled price, but considering that she was familiar with this store, she still chose to get her hair cut here.
"After all, it's not easy to find a suitable barber shop. There have been too many 'mistakes' in barber shops." Xiaoyu told reporters.
If you have never had a bad haircut, you may be the "chosen one". For many people, the barbershop is a place where it is difficult to walk out with a smile.
I obviously wanted clavicle hair, but after the haircut, it became "shoulder-length hair." I wanted to trim my bangs, but ended up with "Sichuan bangs." If you still pay a high price for this, you will instantly feel that you are "taken advantage of".
Lily (pseudonym), who lives in Hangzhou, has had such an experience. She was originally a loyal customer of a barber shop. In recent years, the fees of the barbers she is familiar with have increased steadily, from 180 yuan to 380 yuan. "Basically, it will increase by 100 yuan every one to two years. The fees of other barbers in the shop The price often increased by 100 yuan, and haircut alone cost thousands of yuan every year." Finally, after spending a high price but failing to get a haircut, she angrily switched to another barber shop.
The price of haircuts has become more expensive, which is not the feeling of a few people. On a certain life service platform, the reporter randomly searched multiple barber shops in Beijing. The group purchase prices for haircuts were concentrated at more than 30 yuan. In some barber shops, the price of a single bangs cut was more than 50 yuan, and the price of a single wash, cut and blowout was more than 100 yuan. .
Previously, the "2020 China Life Beauty Industry Development Report" jointly released by the China Federation of Commerce and others showed that the unit price of hairdressing has increased slightly since 2018. In 2020, the average unit price of women is 137 yuan/item, and the average unit price of men is 137 yuan/item. 95 yuan/order.
According to statistics from market agencies, in 2021, the average unit price per customer of beauty salon stores in new first- and second-tier cities is higher, at 263.1 yuan/person and 260 yuan/person respectively.
Data map. Photo by China News Service reporter Hou Yu
Is the hairdressing industry so "profitable"?
It costs hundreds of dollars for washing, cutting and blow-drying, and thousands of dollars for dyeing, perming and care. People can't help but wonder why the hairdressing industry is so "profitable"? From a comprehensive industry point of view, hairdressing fees are expensive mainly because of high rent, labor and other costs.
Xiao Li (pseudonym), who had previously worked in a chain of barber shops in Shanghai, returned to his hometown to open a barber shop because he did not want to bear too much pressure.
According to him, the daily expenditure on rent, water, electricity, potion materials, plus food, etc. is about 110 yuan. After excluding costs, he can make a net profit of 200 to 400 yuan a day. "This kind of income is similar to what I make in big cities."
Xiao Li also mentioned that if you live in a first-tier city, the rent and labor costs will be much higher. "A friend of mine opens a barber shop in Jing'an District, Shanghai. The rent alone costs 30,000 yuan per month. In addition, large barber shops have front desk, assistants and other staff, so the fees are not high and it is difficult to cover the cost."
In recent years, rising rents in first-tier cities have increased the operating pressure on barber shops. It is not uncommon for barber shops to close their shops because they cannot afford the rent, water and electricity bills. At the same time, the number of barber shops continues to increase. Tianyancha's macro analysis data shows that there are currently more than 1.95 million "barber shop" and other related companies in my country. This has also intensified competition in the industry and made it more difficult to acquire customers.
Therefore, on the one hand, barber shops are keen to promote card processing and projects, but on the other hand, they are quietly raising the price of haircuts.
If you follow the same "Tony" for a long time, you may be like Lily, watching "Tony's" net worth "rising" and eventually unable to afford it.
Within the barber shop, there is a "promotion mechanism" of its own, from assistant to technical director to creative store manager, which requires both seniority and regular training. These "Tonys" are also keen on improving their titles, because in the barbering industry, barbers generally settle their wages based on a base salary and commissions, and the commissions are linked to their titles.
Therefore, we often see comments from netizens, "The teacher Tony I know has increased his income from 50 yuan 10 years ago to 480 yuan now." "The Tony I follow has increased his income from 280 yuan to 680 yuan."
If you go to an "Internet celebrity shop" in the hairdressing industry, with Instagram-style decoration, exquisite snacks, considerate services, and "high exposure" online, please remember that "the wool comes from the sheep."
Data map. Photo by Li Nanxuan
Abandoning high-priced haircuts, many people are flocking to quick-cut shops
Faced with rising haircut prices, consumers are not "lambs to be slaughtered."
After giving up the barber shop that charged 380 yuan, Lily chose a barber shop that only cost 68 yuan. "After the cut, it feels about the same as the 380 yuan one. Even if the cut is broken, I will forgive him."
And more people are flocking to quick-cut shops that only cost 10 yuan or 15 yuan. There is no promotion, only hair cutting, and it can be done quickly in a few minutes. The extremely cost-effective hair cutting method attracts many men to try it. “It’s not that barbershops are unaffordable, but quick-cut shops are more cost-effective” has become a tacit secret among men.
The owner of a quick-cut shop in Haidian District, Beijing, told reporters that there are quite a lot of customers in the shop now, especially during this time before the year, and you have to queue up to get a haircut. According to him, it can receive more than 200 people every day.
Some insiders pointed out that China's beauty industry has always had a directional problem. It is running on a sales-led model, but it runs counter to the real needs of consumers.
The rise of quick-cut shops may be people's "confrontation" with traditional barber shops that are keen to promote and set prices at will.
From the perspective of the industry, in the past, traditional beauty stores relied on information asymmetry to make money. However, the Internet has made the market transparent. Only by removing routines and focusing more on services can we win customers in the digital era.
After all, in cities today, you can see a barber shop almost every few hundred meters. Faced with a variety of choices, consumers can still "vote with their feet." (over)