The Top 5 Reasons To Invest in Great Clips in 2020

Wherever you are in North America, there is likely a Great Clips salon nearby. Since being founded nearly 40 years ago, Great Clips has established itself as an affordable salon-services brand. With more than 4,400 salons and over 1,000 franchise owners throughout 180 markets in the United States and Canada, Great Clips is one of the largest haircare name brands in North America.

Here are the top five reasons to franchise with this legacy brand in 2020.

Recession-resistant Business Model

Everyone needs to get their haircut. In 2019 alone, Great Clips completed over 115 million haircuts and their franchisees employed over 40,000 hairstylists.

“People will always want to have the convenience of getting their hair cut whenever and wherever they are, and we deliver that,” said Steve Hockett, CEO of Great Clips, Inc. “Whether it’s young kids, seniors or in between, Great Clips is proud to offer exceptional haircare services and products to anyone and everyone who walks through the door.”

The brand offers a great opportunity for franchisees who want to get into a business with the reassurance they’re not doing this alone.  By opening a salon in their community, franchisees provide a service in which customers have to physically come into the salon, no matter what the economy looks like– making it a recession-resistant business model.

Strong Franchisee Support Infrastructure

As the leading salon brand in the world, Great Clips offers time-tested support, tools and resources to franchisees that allow them to focus on building their business. This includes support in real estate, grand opening marketing, stylist training tools and much more. All salons are owned and operated by franchisees, which means 100% of the brand’s attention is dedicated to helping those franchisees grow.

“Our franchisees frequently tell us that Great Clips feels like family and we’re all eager to help each other out, at each level of the organization,” said Rob Goggins, president of Great Clips, Inc. “Part of that comes from being a private, family-held company. We have stated intentions of remaining so for generations, which means we think and plan for the long-term.”

Great Clips prioritizes owner success and growth. The company boasts an exceptional team of franchise-industry leaders who focus on the metrics that matter most to franchisees, including same-salon sales growth and same-salon customer count growth.

Marriage of Innovative Technology and Personal Service

By being the high-tech leader in the haircare industry, Great Clips offers innovative ways to support brand delivery and growth, improving the experience for salon teams and customers in a way other salons cannot.

“Our technological innovation around haircuts is very attractive to the younger generations,” said Hockett. “Almost half of customers that came in this year used Online Check-In to manage their wait time. That type of technology focus and personal connection with customers is powerful and creates recurring business.”

The Great Clips Online Check-In app has been downloaded over 12 million times and displays estimated wait times along with the ability to check-in online. The in-salon Clip Notes® service provides detailed, technical information about each customer’s haircut so customers can get the same cut from any stylist at any Great Clips location. The brand also provides franchisees with web-based business intelligence tools, an advanced POS system and a tablet-based app that delivers key operational data for every salon in real-time.

Now, Great Clips continues to implement systems that will position the brand ahead of the competition, including the rollout of the new salon management system Salon X across its franchise system that started last year. Shorthand for Salon Experience of the Future, Salon X will enhance the way Great Clips salons serve and engage with customers.

Legacy Brand Recognition and Creative Marketing Strategies

By partnering with a widely established brand, franchisees reap the benefits of powerful mixed-media marketing strategies, such as 2019’s national marketing partnership with the National Hockey League and the latest partnership as the official hair salon of the NCAA.

Throughout the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Great Clips invited hockey fans to vote for their favorite player hairstyles in a clever bracket-style playoff and to tweet the most iconic #HockeyHair moments. Executed across online, social media and broadcast news channels and advertised across its thousands of salons, the campaign generated 25 news stories to the tune of 74.7 million impressions, increasing awareness and bringing customers to local salons across the country.

Targeted Growth Model and Scalability

Although Great Clips already accounts for 50% of the salon segment’s market share in North America, the brand is always creating opportunities to open new salons and serve more customers. Even in the brand’s most mature market—the Twin Cities in Minnesota—there are typically a few new salons opening every year due to population growth, new shopping centers opening or shifting trade areas.

In 2019, Great Clips expanded into several new markets for the first time, including Portland, Maine and upstate New York in the U.S., as well as Ottawa and Winnipeg in Canada. In 2020, Great Clips is working on opening its first salons in Louisiana and Vermont in order to solidify its presence in all 50 states.

Great Clips’ scalable business model creates an attractive opportunity to expand into new territories. The average Great Clips franchisee operates five or six salons within five years of opening their first.

For entrepreneurs looking to get into franchising today, Great Clips’ strong franchisee support, recession-resistant business model, innovative technology, national marketing strategy and targeted growth are all reasons why the franchise remains a leading business opportunity in 2020.

To learn more about franchising with Great Clips, visit https://www.greatclipsfranchise.com/.