The Reality of Investing in a Sunless Spray Tanning Booth
Sunless Spray Tanning
Sunless spray-on tanning booths can offer people a way to spray on a tan that lasts for 3-5 days. With the expansion of the sunless systems to near saturated levels and the need for salons to offer something for everyone, it makes sense to buy a sunless tanning system. The question is: at $20,000 - $30,000 a piece, does the investment in an automated sunless system yield a worthwhile return for new salon owners? Where is the money at? The answer to that question may surprise you.
Sunless tanning booths like Mystic Tan’s MyMyst, Mist-on, Magic Tan’s VersaSpa, California Tan’s AutoBronzer and a few others offer an alternative to UV tanning. Consider this: based on a national average, 10% of the population is UV tanners and more may like to have a good looking tan but choose not to expose their skin to UV light or simply cannot get a tan through UV exposure. Using a spray tanning booth is one solution to this problem.
As a business owner, you are forced to make economic decisions about your equipment that will benefit the business most. If you are faced with a decision to invest in either a sunless spray system, or purchase an equivalently priced UV tanning bed, a UV system has shown to generate up to 3 times the revenue compared to an automated sunless booth.
To understand why this is, you need to look closely at the habits of sunless tanners, the sunless tanning process (including how a sunless booth is used), and the expected dollars generated from offering it.
The Habits of Sunless Tanners
Based on data from our own salons and from the many years we have offered a sunless spray system, we have come to learn that sunless users are not habitual or abundant. Meaning, the few sunless tanners that exist in any given market do not use it on a regular basis. Most use a spray booth when they need immediate color before a special occasion like a wedding or a night out. Few, if any, will use it regularly for cosmetic purposes and the exceptional few that show regular use will rarely sustain this pattern for more that a few weeks at a time. This is why most tanning salon owners that offer an automated sunless tanning system have trouble selling long term memberships or larger packages specifically for sunless tanning. People usually buy just 1-3 sessions at a time and tan once in a great while. This is a stark contrast to UV tanners who may tan 3+ times a week and sustain this pattern for an entire season.
A tanning salon relies on repeat clientele to generate sustainable revenue streams. Sporadic, occasionally used tanning devices do not encourage sustainable revenue. To illustrate this, look at the sunless-only tanning salons and sunless-only franchises that struggle to stay in business. These salons are forced into slashing prices on their pricing in order to be competitive or to tackle market saturation. In fact, many sunless-only salons find themselves converting to UV tanning beds for stable income or go out of business altogether. If you were to ask any industry professional the question: “Would you be able to sustain your business on sunless alone”? The answer would be overwhelmingly no.
The Sunless Tanning Process
When compared to a traditional UV tanning bed, using an automated sunless spray booth can be a rather unpleasant experience for many and usually involves a lot of work to get desirable results. Most people can expect the color to be noticeably different from their natural tan and it will often contain flaws in the form of streaks, blotching or an orange-red color particularly on the face. Most spray tanning booths will require one or more of the following steps to get good results:
- Exfoliate your skin a day prior to your session.
- Avoid using oil based lotions, moisturizers and soaps prior to tanning.
- Once in the tanning room, remove your clothing, jewelry, and makeup.
- Apply a sunless friendly moisturizer to your entire body.
- Place a shower cap over your head to prevent coloring the hair.
- Apply a neutralizing lotion to hands and toes to prevent darkening the palms, fingernails and cuticles.
- Place a clip on your nose to prevent breathing in the sunless solution during the session and use eyewear to prevent the sunless solution from getting in your eyes.
- Activate the spray tanning booth in some way. The solution contains organic, perishable components and should not be heated so expect it to be cold during your session.
- When the session is complete, you may be moist and cold from the sunless solution. Exit the booth and towel-dry any excess solution taking precautions not to cause streaking.
- Place clothes and jewelry back on and take care not to get any solution on your clothing.
- Total time: 15 - 20 minutes.
Because of the work involved, the strange odor of many sunless solutions, the unpleasantness of being cold and damp, the imperfections, and the lack of relaxation it offers, people are not drawn to it like they are UV tanning. Increasing state and federal regulations on sunless tanning application play a significant roll in user experience as well. As more users become aware of the FDA’s stance on the active ingredient in sunless solution DHA (Dihydroxyacetone) and take notice of the protective respirators technicians wear while spraying their clients, questions are raised as to the safety of long term exposure to the chemical.
UV tanning has long been regarded as therapeutic and effective at stress management because of the endorphin and serotonin release during and after the session. Growing stress levels and the need for relief from stress is seen as a driving force for the UV industry. In fact, this ‘feel good’ effect is arguably the most significant reason for regular tanning habits that result in a steady revenue stream for salon owners. Sunless tanning offers no such physiological benefits so the incentive for sunless booth users is limited to the cosmetic end result or the ‘look good’ motive.
Expected Revenues from Sunless Tanning:
Most salon owners finance their sunless purchase in some way. Even with a great loan on a $30,000 sunless spray booth, payments can be upwards towards $1000 per month. After specials, promotions, sales and package discounts, the average revenue hovers somewhere around $12 per session. That’s just less than 3 sessions per day to break even. Factor in your costs for sunless solution and you need about 4 sessions per day to break even. On a good month during the busy season, a mature salon might hit 6 sunless sessions per day on average over the course of the whole month but many cannot sustain these volumes for long. If you are a new business, plan on averaging 1 – 2 sessions per day for the first 12 months.
If you look at the numbers, many salons loose money by offering sunless tanning as long as they have outstanding debt attached to the booth. Once the debt is paid off, profits go up since no payments exist. Compare all this to a $30,000 UV tanning bed like the Velocity HP 1000 where average revenue per session is $20 and most salons pack it full of tanners for most of the day. You clearly get the most out of your investment and the highest chance of success with the UV tanning system
Conclusion
Market saturation, the habits of sunless tanners, the spray tanning experience and the expected revenue from offering sunless tanning do not create the most profitable environment for the salon owner. The decision to purchase a sunless system should be made after your have maximized your ability to meet demand for UV tanning and have the financial means to take a hit from the sunless purchase for at least the first year, if not longer.