It appears to be everywhere in the USA, because it's the same here in Bowling Green, KY. I noticed it a few years ago and now it's gotten much worse. State Beauty Supply started to get rid of someof their nail products. Then they implemented some crazy thing called "broken case pricing", or some such as that. What it boiled down to was that if the individual State BS franchises ordered less than a case of 12 of any product, then they'd be charged more.
Evidently the factory worker had to take the time and trouble to open up a case, so the powers-that-be deemed it no cost efficient, so they tacked on an extra fee. Then in turn, our State BS (which is run by a very nice family) had to charge more for every product if the professionals bought less than 6, which is a half a case, so I'm not getting the whole gist. But this is how I interpretted it when it was explained to me. So if I wanted to buy 1 OPI color, it would cost me more than the going price. Never mind that I do not need 6 or more of the same OPI color, or the same Backscratchers activator, or whatever. But for some reason, the monthly sales items printed in the flyers were exempt, so if the item was on sale you could buy less than 6 and not get penalized. To me it was a bad business decision and I told the owners that (in a nice way) right before I took my business to Cosmoprof, but we'll get to that later. Then it snowballed, because techs traditionally don't make as much money as the stylists and why pay more for something when you can order it online AND have it shipped to you? So more techs started to take their business elsewhere, too. First CND was dropped. Then they started weeding out other nail items. I'd only drop in 1x a month to see what was on sale, but I refuse to buy non-sale items and get charged more! So now State BS entire nail area fits onto 1 wall....perhaps 5 feet wide x 7 feet tall, and I may be overly generous with those dimensions. They have 1 or 2 main products of Gena's foot care line, Backscratchers Stikr and Kikr and Extreme, and a few other things like a bucket of mini callus eliminators left over from Christmas, a bucket of small nail clippers, etc. They have near the register a rotating tower of OPI products, mainly polishes and such. And that about sums it up. The rest of the store I've noticed has been rearranged to make wider isles, which means they got rid of at least 1 isle and all those hair products that were on that isles shelves, too. It looks definitely more sparse and like times are hard for State BS. As for Cosmoprof....they are expanding their nail product lines, but still don't have the CND Effects on the shelves. Does this product really even exist? It's as elusive as bigfoot! I had to tell the staff about the new CND Shellac that was due out in May and I wanted to order some. Don't know how much it'll be or what colors are available, but if it does what it's supposed to, who cares? 10 to 1 Cosmoprof won't be able to order any for months.....probably will be a backlog at the factory or something. I bet I'll get it from an online source faster, wait and see. Another upside is that Cosmoprof doesn't charge for "broken case pricing", so I can buy 1 of something and pay the going rate. The downside is that some of their products, like the ginormous CND Scentsations lotions, have now turned to a funky brown color! They need to face facts.....no one is going to buy that stuff now! They need to just take the hit, ditch the expired products in the trash, and use that valuable shelving space for current products. Why would you want to sell a tainted product knowing full well that whoever buys it is going to be unhappy and most likely bring it back for a refund? The lesson seems to be that yes, our industry is changing and most techs are ordering more supplies online. That being said, why doesn't State BS (and Cosmoprof and others) develop an online presence? They could market it to the nail techs especially, reduce their overhead costs of stocking store products that may or may not sell, and capture a wider audience they are currently losing to other online nail sites? I'm not suggesting they close their stores, but just add an online division, too. If they have to truck products from their main distribution center to each and every beauty supply store, why can't they ship products from online sales straight to our salons, too? If, as a company, you know that you're losing nail product sales, wouldn't it be prudent to investigate the reasons why, then adapt your business to recapture lost sales? Perhaps the cost is not worth the gain? Or perhaps because they waited too long that it's reached the point of no return for the local beauty supply stores? Jill Wright Bowling Green, KY On Mar 31, 8:26 pm, Maggie in Visalia <onykoph...@yahoo.com> wrote: > Well, this is too long for my blog and it involves naming some names, which > is always a touchy subject that requires some careful thought before you do > it. Nevetheless, I gotta say: > > I went to Maly's today. I never go to Maly's. We only have one and it used to > be way across town so I just always forget about it anyway. I usually end up > at Cosmoprof-- which isn't any better for my needs. Which is how it came to > be that I took my license off the wall and hauled it down to Maly's today > because I didn't even have a Maly's card. > > What I am looking for is one of the Axxium gel polish kits from OPI. The one > that has "Strawberry Margarita" in it. It just comes out cheaper to buy the > box sets than to purchase the colors open stock. > > I'm not in love with the OPI gel polish BUT it IS available in the OPI polish > colors (which I'm also not in love with) which my clients adore. So despite a > hefty investment in Gelish-- which I AM in love with-- I decided to suck it > up and still stock at least some of the OPI gel polishes. > > The problem? I can't seem to actually GET them. First, let me explain that in > the town of Visalia which boasts a population of just over 100,000 people, we > have ONE Cosmoprof store, ONE Maly's store, and TWO Sally's. > > I do the vast majority (like 99.8%) of my supply shopping online. And OPI and > CND distributors continuously tell me that they are not "allowed" to ship > outside their "area" so I can't mail order products from OPI or CND. > > And neither Maly's nor Cosmoprof (at least anywhere between Tulare and > Fresno) carry CND's new Effects polishes. So I guess I'm not getting them. So > (raspberry) you, CND. I guess you have enough customers in areas of the > country where your distributors DO carry the cool new polishes to make a > profit and that's all you need? Thanks for nothing. I can't even find a > distrbitor for the Effects line anywhere near me on the CND website. I love > living in a black hole. > > THIS is why Young Nails is so flippin HOT in this area! We have a DISTRIBUTOR > here and between her and the option of ordering DIRECT, we can GET anything > YN here. And THAT is why the YN booth is CRAZY BUSY at all the tradeshows! > > But, believe it or not, the clear and distinct message that no one doing > nails in the 559 NEEDS the awesome new CND polishes is ENTIRELY BESIDE THE > POINT! (ok...at this point, is anyone else hearing my voice sound a lot like > the "Sicilian" guy from The Princess Bride?) > > Because my mission today was to drop a $100 (did I mention I JUST ordered the > ENTIRE Gelish line? I have spent a LOT of $$$ on gel polishes this week!) for > this Axxium kit. > > Which I knew Cosmoprof didn't have because I was JUST in there looking for > it, and every time I ask them if they are going to get something or if they > can order something, they sort of tilt their heads and look at me funny-- > like my dog does when I ask him if wants to take a bath. > > So I went to Maly's. Which usually has a better selection of OPI products. I > went through the process of getting my Maly's card-- you know they won't let > me buy hair color? Because I'm "just" a manicurist. I can buy curling irons > and hair dryers and shampoo for personal use, but no hair color products. > > I mean, I don't really NEED to buy color products, but it would be easier if > I could pick up my OWN pink dye so my stylist doesn't have to get it for me. > > But I thought I'd ask: What if I had brought my Establishment license instead > of my manicuist license? > > They said, "But it's a NAIL salon, right? So you'd still be restricted. If > you owned a HAIR salon, then it'd be ok." > > Um. But California doesn't have NAIL salon licenses vs HAIR salon licenses. > In CA, a licensed establishment is a licensed establishment. The fact that I > only offer nails now has no bearing on what type of salon I actually own. > (shaking head in confusion) > > Fortunately, the girls at Maly's seemed to understand that my questions were > mostly just questions. I guess I really don't care all that much what their > corporate policies are-- It's not like I can't GET the products somewhere > else and it's not really like I NEED to buy a lot of hair color anyway. And > it's not worth boycotting Maly's since they DON'T HAVE ANYTHING I NEED ANYWAY! > > But I did point out that in the future, I would know to bring my > ESTABLISHMENT license instead of my manicuring license, and when they ask if > it's a nail salon or hair salon, I should say "it's a full service salon." > > But again-- despite the fact that I think this policy is cockamamey > insanity-- it's also not really my point. > > They didn't have my Axxium kit either. In fact, they did not have ANY of the > Axxium colored gels. In fact, when I asked about them, the kind people > working at Maly's today looked at my with tilted heads much the same way my > dog looks at me when I ask if he wants to take a bath. > > They had NEVER HEARD OF colored gel. At all. And they seem to be under the > impression that, despite being authorized distributors for all things OPI, > they won't be able to GET IT FOR ME either. > > Now I would like to point out to the Powers-that-be and Whom-it-May-Concern > that it occurs to me that our various product manufacturers are not > altogether different from ourselves. > > There are a lot of them. They all all competing against eachother for the > monies of their target demographic, ie, us. Just as we compete against other > salons and fellow nail techs in town for our customer base. > > CND and OPI are just two names I am pulling out of the Big Hat for this rant, > but there are others too, who do not offer manufacturer-direct sales. If my > local distributor fails to stock an item, I can't simply order it from the > company website. > > And both of these particular companies have made my job difficult by refusing > to allow their distributors to distribute their products outside of their > territories. > > So I have to drive a significant distance to purchase certain products if I > really want them that bad. Which I have come to the conclusion, is more > cockamamey insanity. I am not going to buy 75 bottles of polish at a > tradeshow knowing that I won't be able to GET more of those polishes. > > MAYBE I'll buy these dang gels at a tradeshow. MAYBE I can get them in > Fresno. But I shouldn't have to jump through these hoops to get a product > that-- am I wrong?-- I THOUGHT these companies WANTED me to USE! > > I cannot believe that Maly's doesn't even KNOW what I'm talking about! They > don't even have it in their computer! And I can't believe that CND would > release a big fancy new polish line and NOT have it available to their > customer base! > > IT....MAKES.....NO...... SENSE! > > And don't even get me started on the equally clear and distinct message that > any notions of RETAILING products from these companies seems to be > discouraged, as I would then have to have one of these two distributors > SPECIAL ORDER products for me. > > I'm tellin ya.... if I had a million dollars. Hrmph. > > > > Maggie Franklin: Attitudes Salon; Visalia, CA > "Visionary rebel dreamer; obviously way ahead of my time." > Art of Nailz > Maggie Rants [and rav...@nails Magazine > Facebook -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. To post to this group, send email to nailt...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to nailtech+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nailtech?hl=en.
