NailSupplies.com - Tough as Nails.

Hair Care Nail Supplies ®

Reprinted with permission from Beauty Inc. Magazine, Volume 5, Number 2, July August 1998, Pages 34 - 36. Permission granted from the BBSI.

"Tough As Nails!" Distributor "Best Practices"
by Suzette Hill

Distributors share their most successful strategies for increasing nail product sales. Best of all – with just a few changes, their ideas can be applied to almost any product category or line!

When we asked several distributors to "name the techniques and programs that have the biggest impact on your sales," the answers surprised us. No, we weren’t shocked by the diversity of the replies. We were taken aback because, without exception, everyone said the same thing: "customer service."

In today’s retail environment, it really comes as no surprise. After all, why does one technician choose distributor "A" over distributor "B"? Sure, one may have a line the other doesn’t, but in the end, it all comes down to who provides the best service.

To continually improve their level of service as well as sales, these distributors have experimented with a number of programs. Here, they share the most successful with Beauty Inc.

"Virtual Stores"

Hair Care Supplies of Dania, FL, was one of the first distributors to recognize the future potential of the Internet when it launched its web site (nailsupplies.com) in 1994. The vision has proved to be "20/20". According to VP Alex Berman, 15,000 visitors shopped the online catalog in the first four months of 1998, and he receives anywhere from 25 to 75 new requests for passwords each day. "Over just the past two years, the site has paid for itself twenty times over," he said. "Right now, our web page accounts for a small percentage of our overall sales, but the number is growing," added Bobbi Berman, President. "Best of all, most of them are new customers."

Beauty professionals can view the company’s catalog, peruse manufacturer’s product descriptions and read about the company’s recent nails-only trade show, as well as link to other related sites. To prevent consumers from accessing the professional-only site, visitors must obtain a password before they can access the on-line catalog. "The web site is powerful because we’re able to update things very quickly," Bobbi noted. "We can change process and post monthly deals sheets as soon as they come out. Plus, we use e-mail to communicate with customers, which lets us answer questions very quickly."