There’s No Business Like Sun Business

It is the most wonderful time of the year…. no I am not nine months too early, I am referring to the start of the 2024 tanning season!

There can be no escaping the fact that the window of “off-season” appears to be ever-contracting; but to my mind, there simply is nothing like the growing momentum of excitement and expectation that permeates our industry at this time of year. New salons, new products, new customers, new dreams and expectations – everyone loves a new season!

I am very fortunate to have a circle of close friends who work within a wide range of different business sectors. They all work hard, are generally successful and overall have no intention of doing anything different any time soon. Yet I can say, hand on heart, that not a single one of them has ever mentioned an annual rush of excitement and expectation that we routinely experience in our industry as the new season approaches. And that is something that should never be underestimated, nor undervalued.

There simply is nothing like the growing momentum of excitement and expectation that permeates our industry at this time of year!

Whatever has gone before, a new season brings with it a fresh opportunity to do things even better, even bolder and even beyond our wildest dreams. Indoor tanning has firmly established a level of professionalism that regularly attracts new investment for those at market entry point through to opportunities for consolidated growth. And that is just on the salon side of the industry.

We have recently seen announcements of staggeringly beautiful new developments in the next generation of tanning beds, the result of many years of significant financial and technological investment. And let us not overlook the investment, ingredient research and refinement required to develop the new and advanced tanning lotions that provide such important revenue streams in our salons.

All of us collectively have an important role to play in ensuring the ongoing viability and vibrancy of our wonderful industry. We are so fortunate to work in a business that enables people to look and feel better about themselves. And, of course, with our offering, we are not talking about a one-off consumer purchase, a one-off expectation. When people go into a salon that offers the right environment, the right equipment, the right lotions, the right quality of trained staff, the right experience – what do they do? They will, of course, keep coming back for more AND telling their friends about it.

Whatever decisions we make for our businesses, we always have the opportunity to do the right thing, do the research, make the right decisions and in the long game, reap the rewards over and over again.

Our industry is evolving and having been part of it now for over three decades, I genuinely do not believe there has ever been a better time to be involved than right now. I am so excited by what I see and what I hear and I simply cannot wait to see what the 2024 season and beyond brings to bear.