Market Overview

The hair salons and barber shops market (based on the sales at the businesses) in FY2018 attained 2,138,200 million yen, 99.6% of the size in the previous fiscal year. In the barber market, use of beauty salons among younger male customers, or use of low-price barber chains have been increasing, which led more barbers to provide the services specialized in a certain category of services, such as haircut-only services.

The beauty salon market has been polarized between value-added salons and low-price salon chains with limited treatment items and services. There are some salons that have returned to the basics to provide not only the techniques and treatment services, but also upgrading the entire services in order to restore the prices optimal for such an upgrade. In addition, there are some salons attempting to cooperate with other beauty services to mutually attract more customers. Also, some attempts have been made to increase the sales of hair care products and other goods at salons in order to increase the unit price per purchase from the viewpoint of improving the productivity, managing to keep the entire market size as the same level as the previous year.

Noteworthy Topics

In the hair salons and barber shops industry, there has been rapid increase of “hair-coloring (or dying)” specialty salons in recent years. The fee is low, just as the same level as the commercially-available hair-color agents, accompanied by the perfection of dying by the professional colorists. The salons have attracted attention by those customers who require a certain level of techniques at relatively low prices, the tendency of such salons has become nationwide. To operate such salons, not only large and midsize hairdressing salons but also the companies in the dining or restaurant industry have started involving in the industry, trying to expand the business by franchising the salons nationwide or locally.


To countermeasure such newly entered companies, some cosmetic products makers for enterprises, dealers of beauty goods and services, hair-coloring consultants that consult also about enterprise management have been expanding their business ranges by supplying products and knowhow.


Together with some hair-cut only salon chains, these hair-coloring specialty salons emerged to satisfy increasing practical coloring demands have become a menace for privately managed local salons that provides the similar services.

Future Outlook

The hair salons and barber shops market (based on the sales at the businesses) is projected to attain 2,127,900 million yen for FY219, 99.5% of the size in the previous fiscal year. Out of the entire size, the barber market is likely to be 99.4% of the size of the preceding fiscal year to end up with 629,500 million yen, and the beauty salon market also declined to 99.6% of the size of the previous-year to be 1,498,400 million yen.


The hair salons and barber shops market has generally been failing to fully arouse the customers’ will to consume, the issue of which seems to drag on even after the consumption tax hike scheduled to start in October 2019. If the situation does not improve, it is obvious for the customers to visit the salons less frequently and to see the treatment at salons more severely from the viewpoint of ROI.


In addition, the hair salons and barber shops industry continues facing the following challenges to raise the unit price spent per customer at a salon through investment to and education for human resources: Enhancement of increasing sales at salons based on one-to-one marketing, i.e., to build relationship with each of the customers; and Revising prices to provide value-added services and combination of multiple services.   

Research Outline