The beauty industry is an enormous expanse that continues to grow in leaps and bounds. Physical beauty is a top priority for both genders with females being the biggest consumers of beauty products and services. Due to the high proportion of females in the population and also because of how early on they start using beauty brands, the market is quite big. There are quite a lot of diversified niches you can target as you seek to make money from this industry. It’s interesting to note that the beauty industry is one of the industries that remains impervious and thrives even in times of economic downturns.
Hair Salon and Barbershop
Every single day countless people in any location will be looking to have their hair done. This is a very interesting business venture which is greatly driven by referrals. It’s also characterized by repeat customers and thus creating a regular recurring revenue stream. The crux is to offer exceptional service and other value-added services so as to promote loyalty amongst customers. The approaches to this idea are varied e.g. setting up shop in commercial high-traffic areas, doing it from home or being booked and visiting clients at their homes. It’s usually strategic to combine both services (salon and barbershop) so that you capture both male and female clients.
Cosmetics Retail
Cosmetics constitute hair, skin, nail, fragrance products and so much more. The demand for these products is very high for individuals and other businesses alike. Within 15 years it’s projected that the cosmetics industry will be worth almost USD$1 trillion globally. Therefore there is money to be made from sourcing these products and retailing them. I would advise you to adopt the brick and mortar model and also the online model to maximize customer reach. Cosmetic products aren’t problematic to transport so incorporating e-commerce in your retailing (by virtue of an online shop) is quite noble.
Manicure and Pedicure Services
This is another high demand business domain that feeds off referrals and repeat customers. One of the advantages of this is that often times if you are to operate in a commercial area you need only rent out a working space as opposed to renting out room(s). Your toolkit is usually portable and that enables you to be mobile enough to visit clients in situ. With a simple tent or gazebo, a table and chairs you can even set up shop outdoors at strategic spots. This business idea only significantly needs your expertise otherwise everything else is quite inexpensive.
Massage Services
There is a tendency to believe such services to be an exclusive preserve for “rich” communities. With widespread campaigns and streamlining of such services, they can become easily accessible to everyone. A lot of locations don’t have businesses offering such services yet there are many prospective customers looking for them. There are various niches to choose from some of which are couples, senior citizens, among others. You can partner which other beauty service providers by possibly setting up massage work areas at their premises. This will be aimed at creating a one-stop feel for those beauty service providers.
Fitness Services
Physical fitness and looks are now highly sought-after elements of beauty by many. You can either start a gym or you can rent out spaces to offer various types of fitness regimes. Offering services like zumba, yoga, aerobics, boot camps, and many other forms of workout circuits are potential earners of huge amounts of money. This operates quite well based on the subscription model and possibly selling fitness-related merchandise, products or services.
Jewellery and Accessories
Beauty is no longer just about the physical attributes. They say beauty is mostly about the tiny details and that is why there is an increase in demand for jewellery and other beauty-related accessories such as handbags, clutch bags and so on. Most people don’t feel the beauty aspect is complete unless there are peripheral elements going along with the physical ones. So this is a business that has huge potential and mainly thrives off the retailing model.
Stylist Services
Here I’m referring to make-up artistry and the other value-added services that go along with that. Your niche can be individuals, exclusive events such as weddings, celebrities, among others. You could even build the business around offering training services or selling make-up kits.
Piercing and Tattoo Services
Though in the Zimbabwean traditional and cultural sense these are things regarded with so much scrutiny. However, there are a lot of people looking for such services. Many people looking for professional tattoo services have to find them in South Africa. So if you acquire training, source equipment and set up shop locally you’ll definitely make a lot of money. Piercings and tattoos are a big aspect of what some people consider beautiful.
Blogging and Vlogging
I’ve touched a lot on these two income-generating initiatives that are now commonplace. Blogging and vlogging works for any industry; the key issue is coming up with engaging content – in this case beauty-related content. You can blog and vlog about trending issues, products or services and DIYs (explainer posts or videos on how to do certain things). If you drive significant traffic towards your platforms you end up attracting beauty businesses looking to advertise on your platform.
Personal Branding
This basically has to do with image consultancy and the market for this is still mainly untapped locally. It’s about establishing a beauty business that incorporates a wide array of beauty services exclusively meant for consultancy or managing the images of public figures. You can also incorporate grooming and etiquette services or training services for corporates or selected audiences.
There is high competition amongst people to outshine each other in terms of looks and the ever-growing quest for people to emulate celebrities. This means the demand for beauty products and services can only surge continually. So it’s high time you occupy your own space in the beauty industry.
