On top of that, COVID-19 dramatically boosted our usage of technology, as every business and transaction had to digitally transform itself to make it contactless. Naturally, the more we shop online, payment modes followed, moving Singapore towards a cashless society.

Singapore is very advanced with well-developed payments infrastructure, as compared to other countries. So, it’s fair to say this innovative evolution is just the beginning. Read on to find out 5 Digital Payments Trends to watch in Singapore 2022.

1. Buy now pay later

Would you rather tell your customer a package is $500 or only $41/month for 12 months interest-free? 

Installment payment plans are nothing new for large purchases, but the emergence of “buy now pay later “ (BNPL) has become one of the hottest trends as they allow any retailer to offer installment payments for any product, appealing to young consumers. And usually it’s interest-free.

In 2021, buy now, pay later was 3% of the online payment market and is expected to rise to 13% in 2024. So if you’d like to boost your sales game, consider signing up with a BNPL provider.

2. Pay by link and digital invoicing

COVID-19 welcomed different ways that promote social distancing, including people paying for their purchases remotely. Payment by links and digital invoicing are simple, stress-free methods and allow customers to make payment at their own convenience.

3. Digital Wallet

A digital wallet or e-wallet is what allows you to safely store your favourite debit and credit cards on your mobile devices, so you can pay in-person, in-app or online. According to a study by Visa, more than half (56%) of Singaporeans used mobile payment methods in 2021, 12% higher than in 2020. Popular digital wallets like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay have paved the way, even allowing you to earn cashback and extra rewards for purchases you make every day.

How will digital wallets change in the coming year? Better biometric authentication and artificial intelligence for prevention or better tracking of frauds and theft.

4. Contactless card payment

Because they are supported by most payment stations, contactless card payment is a leading method. No need for wallets with cash and cards. Just tap your card on the payment terminal, and you’re done.

5. Pay by QR code

Paying via a QR code has quickly become a common payment mode in Singapore, especially since we can safely say most people in Singapore, if not all, are familiar with scanning a QR code with the usage of TraceTogether check-in in Singapore due to the pandemic. All you need to do is scan the codes displayed on the terminals using their mobile phones to have their payments processed.

Not only are QR code payments an easy option to offer, they are fast, safe, and fuss-free. It will be interesting to see how this technology adapts to the ever-changing world of technology.

Digital Payments is here to stay

Thanks to their ease of use and convenience, digital payments are here to stay. Businesses have to step up to embrace new digital payment trends, while ensuring we protect and safeguard our customers’ data. Thus, it is important to find a reliable payment method to offer your customers.

It is tough, draining and risky. Running a business isn’t easy—it comes with countless challenges along the way, and each day presents a new challenge for the owner to solve. 

Running a salon of any sort is the same. At a glance, it might seem like a simple task to set up a salon, get customers and provide good service. However, there’s definitely much more to all these. Salon owners face a multitude of problems on a daily basis, and we’ll be exploring them below, with some suggestions on how best to face and overcome these challenges.

1) Competitive Market

The beauty and wellness industry is a competitive space to be operating in. Everyday, a new salon pops up somewhere. In Singapore alone, there are more than 18,000 salons on our small island, according to IRAS. It is common to see dozens of salons of sorts in shopping malls. To do well in a competitive and highly saturated market, there are a few things for you to note as a salon owner. 

Having more competition means that your salon will need to stand out amongst the rest in order to get the attention of customers and to increase patronage. There are a few ways to help your salon stand out. Providing value is important, after all when faced with many options, customers will often narrow down their choices by going with the one that provides the best value for them. 

When it comes to providing value, customers decide based on factors like the price of packages offered, quality of service and products used, cleanliness, location and member perks. While pricing is undeniably one of the more important factors, service matters a lot too. When it comes to the price issue, it’s fine if your salon doesn’t offer the best prices in town—after all, it depends on which group of customers you are looking to attract, be it low, middle or high end customers. If you’re not focusing on price, other factors like quality of service and products and member perks will be important for you. Going through the reviews of many salons online, a distinct point being noted is the focus on the level of service that the customer receives—most customers bring up that they prefer salons with well trained staff who are able to meet their requests. Location matters too—the more salons there are within your vicinity, the more you need to focus on making yours stand out. And yes, it is possible to be a small but hugely profitable salon if you’re able to target the area that your salon operates in and establish a good reputation within an area. 

Another point to note is that in the highly competitive beauty industry, it is essential that your salon keeps up with the latest trends. Salons are expected to be the pace setters when it comes to trends (haircuts, dying, nails etc). Hiring experienced staff with an extensive background of trends will be helpful, and you should also send your team of employees for refresher courses to bring them up to speed.

2) Attracting and retaining customers

When it comes to running a business, customers are everything. Customers are the lifeblood of every business. The issues of getting new customers and retaining existing ones are often the toughest problems that any salon owner faces on a daily basis.

The ability to attract new customers is hugely dependent on the salon’s value proposition, which we touched on earlier—the ability of a salon to stand out from the rest based on factors like price, service, location, cleanliness and member perks. To get customers’ attention, effective marketing is needed to advertise your salon’s offerings. For marketing, consider these options:

• Social media & online marketing
• Listings on beauty platforms such as Faves & Vaniday
• Email & SMS marketing
• Influencer marketing
• Referral programs
• Collaborations with other suitable brands

Attracting new customers is only half of the equation. After all, getting new customers is useless if you don’t retain them. Yes, it is difficult to have and maintain loyal customers because running a salon is highly competitive with countless other salons in the market fighting for the same customers. 

While discounting might be a good short term strategy, you should not always fall back on it because that will cause customers to expect discounts all the time. Instead, focus on delivering a great experience that makes customers return. Salon reputation is built on trust and good experience. Get customers to leave reviews of their experiences—have incentives layed out for those who leave reviews for your salon. To get existing customers to return, having a loyalty program will be useful as well. Make it easy for customers to book their appointments and have your employees try to get customers to make a booking for their next appointment before customers leave the salon.

While providing a great customer experience is of utmost importance, don’t forget to stay in contact with your existing customer base. Stay in contact with your customers via social media and individual messages, updating them regularly on the latest promotions and offerings by your salon.

3. Managing Your Team

Working in a salon can be a tough job. The employees are expected to stand for long hours while attending to customers, and on busy days such as weekends, that can get really tiring. As a salon owner, you might be fired up and enthusiastic because it’s your business, but your staff may not share the same level of enthusiasm for their workplace as you. It is your responsibility to encourage and motivate them.

When managing your team, implement a system which rewards staff members who meet certain objectives, such as selling to customers. By doing so, your staff will be more motivated when working and to provide better service for customers. It’s difficult to get your employees to help sell your products if there is no incentive for them to do so. Ensuring that you hire sufficient staff is important, especially if your salon is always busy, as overworking your staff will lower their motivation and productivity levels, and it is one of the top reason behind staff quitting their jobs.

Managing a team on top of the challenges you have daily isn’t easy, but your employees are your business asset, and it is your responsibility as the salon owner to encourage them and give them a good workplace experience. Being kind to your staff and treating them as an integral part of your business will make them feel valued. Make your employees happy to stay by improving welfare packages and creating a work schedule with better work-life balance. Rewarding staff members accordingly and ensuring that they are being taken care of will go a long way in creating a better working environment for your team to show up every day.

Especially so in the beauty and fashion world that we live in today.

With the increased media reach, celebrities, artistes and influencers are always in the spotlight, with the world watching them and trying to keep up with the latest styles that they are coming up with. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram and now TikTok have made it easier for fans to catch on the latest fashion and well, unlike in the past where most of the coverage is restricted to print media and the television.

Recently, with the coronavirus and pandemic affecting most countries in the world, this has led to disruptions in many different industries, including the beauty industry. People are spending more time staying indoors as opposed to dressing up and heading out. The way that they spend, services and products they spend on are also changing too. 

Like it or not, the coronavirus has brought about some changes to the beauty industry, changes that might be here to stay for a period of time Well, until the virus clears up at least. If you run a beauty business of any kind – a hair salon, massage parlour or beauty make up label, here are some trends that you might want to take notice of so that your business remains relevant.

#1: Online Focus: E-commerce

With the Covid-19 virus keeping countries under lockdown, most people are being kept indoors. Even though countries are lifting lockdowns, governments are still advising people to stay at home in order to prevent the virus from spreading. As a result, retailers and physical stores are seeing sales volume fall drastically. In Singapore, where the Covid-19 restrictions maintain that groups of two are allowed to dine in currently, malls and retail outlets are being hit hard financially. According to an article by Channel News Asia, jewellery and ear-piercing store Stellar, which used to rake in as much as $3300 in sales every Sunday at its outlet at Vivocity, commented that there are days where it made only $2 for the whole day, due to the Covid crowd restriction laws that have reduced crowds. 

During such a time when people are not heading out, it is absolutely essential for brands to establish an online presence if they’re to continue to reach out to their customers. In fact, if your beauty brand has yet to gone online yet, it might be a little late. Well, better late than never.

In fact, the pandemic caused a shift in Singapore consumers’ behaviour and thus spurred Singapore’s digital economy to earn additional US$500 million annually, while some businesses saw up to three times their normal growth, according to Accenture.

This is a good time to:

• Start an ecommerce for your brand if you have yet to
• Double down on ecommerce efforts to grow your brand

With more people going online, there has never been a better opportunity for your brand to reach out to consumers who are deprived of the ability to shop in physical stores. Besides, it is a great way to increase revenue 

Below are some great guides on how your brand can leverage on ecommerce to continue growing amid the pandemic, which seems likely to drag on for some time:

How to build a successful ecommerce brand from scratch by Neil Patel

53 Experts Share Their 10 Quickest Ways to Increase Ecommerce Sales by Big Commerce 

6 Clever Ways to (Ethically) Boost Ecommerce Store Sales by Neil Patel

Besides ensuring that you have an ecommerce website and storefront set up and optimised, another area that you can focus on right now is to ensure that your social channels are optimised and shoppable.

With more people spending time on platforms like Instagram, having a shoppable instagram feed will make it easier for audiences to make purchases from your brand online. Here are some Instagram ecommerce features to make use of:

• Instagram shop
• Facebook pay
• Instagram Live Shopping
• IGTV shopping

#2: Reduced overseas travel = more budget and demand for beauty and wellness services

Locally in Singapore, with Covid-19 limiting most people from traveling abroad leisurely for the past two years, most people are looking at other ways to take care of and pamper themselves amid these stressful times.

According to Channel News Asia, many are turning to local operators to get their massage fix as well as other wellness services, with more facing aches and pains working from home, and with borders still closed.

Even the demand for aesthetic procedures has gone up, Singapore plastic surgeon Dr David Loh of David Loh Surgery told Insider. “Because people can’t travel, they are looking for other ways to treat themselves. They will buy luxury goods or have a filler treatment to freshen up their look.” 

Despite, or perhaps because of, the pandemic, the wellness industry has seen an increase in demand for services like massages, spa and other personal wellness treatments given that individuals, who are stressed out from working from home and feeling cooped up due to the lack of travel opportunities, are more willing to spend on services to ease themselves from the tension that the pandemic has heightened. 

Although it is also true that consumers might seem to be more cautious with their spending habits because of the falling economic outlook caused by the coronavirus situation globally, a lot of consumers are still willing to spend on products and services that make them feel better.

Instead of tightening marketing budgets, now is actually a good time for salons and beauty businesses to continue to market their product and services and to come up with new promotions that will draw the attention of consumers who are looking to spend.
Besides getting new sales, businesses should also focus on reconnecting with their existing customers, given that it may cost 5 times more attracting new customers when you can spend way less to nurture current customers. Here is a previous article which includes some ideas on how to get more recurring sales from your existing customers and increase customer loyalty.

#3: The shift towards self care

2020 has been a redefining year for the beauty industry. As countries are hit by lockdown and stay home notices, work from home has become the norm.

With less people travelling to offices, the need for beauty products such as lipstick, mascara and concealers – mainly cosmetic products, has dropped. The falling demand for cosmetic make up products is further supported by the fact that less make up needs to be worn since individuals are required to mask up more.

A survey conducted by Milieu Insight on May 2020 found that 40 percent of respondents in Singapore stated that they were spending less on cosmetics or make up products during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the same survey, about 23 percent of the respondents also mentioned that they did not spend on cosmetics or make up products.

On the other hand, the global health crisis has highlighted the importance of taking care of ourselves. According to Vulcan post, Singaporeans are spending more effort to maintain themselves, with skincare items like facial masks seeing an increasing popularity online. Also noted that another emerging beauty-wellness area to monitor is “functional fragrances” – scents purported to have effects like reducing stress.

With long work from home hours and people moving and exercising less due to gym closures, body aches are common issues amongst many working adults. This has seen an increase in demand for massage fixes from local operators. The pandemic may have even helped business for businesses like home massage services, since customers are “more open than before” to having treatments done in the comfort of their homes given that some people choose to avoid visiting spas to minimise the risk of catching Covid-19.

With the pandemic driving more demand away from cosmetics products and services towards self care, it is worth taking note of that for beauty businesses so that they can make the necessary changes regarding the type of products they choose to bring in, as well as the services, products and promotions that they offer to customers. With the right strategy, products and services, it is definitely possible for businesses to cope with the pandemic.

Since COVID-19 started in February last year, the beauty industry, along with many other industries, has been taken by storm.

3,800 businesses across all sectors shut their doors for good in April 2020, according to an article by the Straits Times.

It’s definitely a tough time to be in business.

However, as with any major economic downturn, there are both winners and losers.

Amid the pandemic, you’d be surprised to know that some beauty businesses are actually thriving and expanding.

Yeah, not exactly what you were expecting.

Businesses expanding even as the pandemic rages on? 

Yep, I know it’s surprising, but if you look carefully around you, there are still opportunities for growth for your salon or spa.

You just need to know how to navigate the waters carefully.

It’s not all gloom and doom if you know how to leverage the current situation to your advantage – what are some trends and opportunities which can help you grow your salon amid the pandemic that you are not seeing?

Read on to find out more.

#1: Comply With All Safety Measures

It’s true that your customers love and want their facial treatments and their body massages during such times when they can’t travel.

However, they will not visit a salon or spa that does not take customer safety seriously amid this pandemic.

For most customers, safety still comes first, and they need to see that your salon prioritises their safety in order to get your trust and return for more appointments. 

It is also important for businesses to turn away customers that do not comply with these safety measures in order to ensure the well-being of all staff and other customers.

As a business owner, you need to show to your customers that you do care for their well-being – by sending them reminder messages, making information on the steps and measures you are putting in place to combat the pandemic readily available on your website and social media profiles. It is essential to be proactive at doing this so that customers feel that it is safe to go for their regular appointments and trust your brand. Below is an example of an advisory post by G Spa on their Instagram page.

 In such posts, it is important to let customers know the following:

1. Operation hours/closure if applicable
2. Update on services provided
3. Safety regulations to abide by
4. Other steps and measures taken by the staff and salon to ensure their well-being

For more information on the latest advisory on COVID-19 for businesses, refer to the information released by Enterprise Singapore which was updated on 14 May 2021

#2: Engage Current Customers

Getting new customers is great.

But that’s not the easiest always, because new prospects are not familiar with your brand and service – and it takes more time to convince them to try you out.

Not as familiar as your current customers at least.

And this makes it easier to sell more to your current customers.

Focus on customer loyalty:

• As mentioned by a Forbes article, “don’t spend 5 times more attracting new customers, nurture the existing ones.”

• According to Marketing Metrics, the probability of selling to an existing customer is up to 14 times higher than the probability of selling to a new customer.

• Bain & Company and Harvard Business School report that “increasing customer retention rates by 5% increases profits by 25% to 95%.”

For beauty businesses where customers visit once and never return, here are some tips on how you can get more returning customers and create customer loyalty:

• Build Trust & Deliver Great Service: Earning your customers’ trust is at the core of building customer loyalty. In these pandemic times, carrying out the above mentioned steps to ensure the safety measures are abided by is important to earn customers’ trust. 

Other than that, delivering an amazing service is important. Your whole team needs to be trained to give customers top notch service – and this doesn’t just limit to your service staff – it includes all contact points of the business, be it the receptionist, masseuse, outlet manager, sales staff or the person answering to the website enquiries. Yes. Service entails everything that the customers go through, not only the service they sign up for – it’s the whole customer experience that matters. This is also how you can differentiate your brand from the competition and make it more appealing for both current and new customers alike.

On this point, one of the functions in our WESS software is the ability to track the performance of your staff. With this function, you can easily calculate employee commissions, manage employees and reward the best performers accordingly. 

• Special Promotions: Do you have incentives just for recurring customers? Are you offering special promotions for your most loyal customers? Customers these days are in it for the best value deals – they switch service providers based on which ones have the best deals. Having promotions and loyalty programs like reward point based systems will motivate customers from coming back to you. Coupled with great service, your customers will see no reason why they shouldn’t return to someone they are familiar with, who gives great value and delivers good service. 

Besides, with travel plans getting cancelled due to the pandemic, the trend is that people are pampering themselves more in recent times. Having the right attractive promotions during this time can draw in more customers. Best promotion wins.

The WESS software allows you to create promotional discount coupons and reward programs catered to your beauty business easily without any hassle. 

• Send Them Constant Reminders: With so many things going through the minds of your customers, you need to constantly remind them about your brand. There are many ways you can go about doing this – social media posts, email newsletters, text messages are perhaps the most effective ways of communicating with your customers. Have a new service/product? Make it known on your social media. New promotion? Text it to them. It’s great to remind customers about your brand as long as you do not overly spam them. At WESS, our marketing feature is a favourite amongst many salon and spa clients because it has allowed them to engage with their customers by sending them SMS texts and in doing so, get more returning customers.

While you focus on getting new customers, you should definitely also make an effort to engage with your current ones so that they return for more of your product and/or service. It’s always easier to sell more to someone who has bought from you since they already trust you.

Trends change all the time.

Those who are able to keep up with the changing trends will survive.

Those who don’t will be swept away by the waves of change.

Running a business of any sort is all about being able to spot the trends and adapting, fast.

As a salon owner, you need to be able to study what the market wants, and then work to provide that to your customers.

What are the products that customers are looking for and buying more of currently?

Which are the services that are popular with customers?

You need to always be studying the market and the trends, for your business and your industry.

With the pandemic, certain trends have emerged in the past year. The following are some trends that stuck out amongst others:

• Self-care has become a necessity amid the pandemic: According to an article by Channel News Asia, the cancellation of vacations due to the pandemic has seen budgets redirected to self-care activities. An increasing number of people have been more willing to splurge on expensive beauty devices like facial rollers, LED light devices, eye massagers and also pamper themselves with luxurious beauty services like spas and massages. With little hope for an overseas holiday, more consumers will be spending locally in the days to come. 

How your beauty business can leverage on this: Now is the right time to design attractive packages and promotions. With more people willing to spend on self-care, you need to make sure to have the right offers in order to attract them to your salon or they will flock to your competitors who are offering better value packages.

• Digital continues to rise: Direct-to-consumer e-commerce, online presence which includes having an optimised website as well as well-managed social media profiles are becoming increasingly important and necessary in this digital age. The pandemic has hastened the pace of digital use, with consumers stuck at homes during lockdowns. For your beauty business to remain relevant during such a time, online visibility is extremely crucial since that is where your consumers are at. 

How your beauty business can leverage on this: If you have not done so, you should ensure that your business has at least a proper website as well as a social media profile set up. This is just the bare minimum you can do, and not doing so will make your business irrelevant. To fully take advantage of the digital age, you need to be able to sell your products and services online. Social media is a great way to engage with your customers. To help businesses adapt to the digital age, Enterprise Singapore is offering the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) – you may find some resources to tap into with this grant if you have yet to do so.

• DIY and self-care beauty products are selling fast currently: With more people working from home as well as the need to wear masks when outside, makeup and fragrance products are less relevant in such times. On the other hand, other products such as nail care, skin care, hair care and bath & body products appear to be benefitting from the self-care and pampering trends, according to a research report by Mckinsey done on the beauty industry. 

How your beauty business can leverage on this: This is the time to play your cards smart – other than observing and adapting to industry trends regarding the fast moving products amid the pandemic, you should be analyzing which products and services are selling well for your business. The WESS software makes it easy for you to analyze your product and services sales to understand better which are the ones that are performing well, so that you can focus more of your time and effort on them.

Adapt, make the right decisions and be patient

It is no surprise that many businesses are struggling during this long battle with COVID-19. But you’d be intrigued to find out that there are still beauty businesses that are expanding and thriving during such a time when others are shutting down, according to an article by The New Paper. Those businesses that manage to thrive amid the pandemic are the ones that have successfully adapted to trends and digitalized – and they are proof that your business has the potential to do well during this tough period as well, if you play the cards right, make the right decisions and be patient. 

As the leading software provider for beauty businesses for over 12 years, WESS has been trusted by over 1100+ salons in Singapore. With all the crucial features you need to run your salon effectively, such as tools like fast and easy appointment scheduling, marketing features to help you engage with customers and create reward point systems which help with customer loyalty as well as product and service analysis amongst many others, we can help your salon to navigate through these rough times.

Enjoy the full benefits of our digital solutions at a fraction of the price with the PSG grant supported by Enterprise Singapore – apply now to enjoy 80% off our packages. Click here to get started.