Susan Gordon, Staff Reporter
Raymond Campbell: You don't have to be a barber to build a brand. - SUSAN GORDON PHOTO
BUSINESS IN the hair care services today mirrors the opportunities in the financial sector some twenty years ago, says proprietor of Images Hair Shoppe Raymond Campbell.
The former Jamaica country manager for FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited believes conditions for the evolution of the hair care business are no different from the supermarket or financial services sectors. With his latest addition on the market which emerged just six months ago, Mr. Campbell intends to be a forerunner in establishing a strong national brand in hair care.
Noting that there are about 7,000 hair professionals operating in Jamaica, he said an estimated minimum revenue of $200,000 per annum from each of these shops easily points to the local industry being able to gross more than $1.4 billion each year.
LOW BARRIERS
Mr. Campbell envisions the hair care business becoming more organised, leading eventually to mergers in the sector. He noted that at present the industry is characterised by small shops spread across the island.
"With the existing conditions of low barriers, a large number of players and the absence of a strong national brand," he said, the first business which can stamp its mark on this nascent sector will become a dominant player."
"It's a similar thing with supermarkets. They were once small shops," he added.
He said in the United States there are more established brands especially on the women's side but that the hair care industry in Jamaica was underdeveloped. Hair care brands in Jamaica are built around personality so, if the individual stops practising, the brand dies.
"This is how immature markets operate," Mr. Campbell told Wednesday Business using the analogy of the banking system of the early '80s when persons depended on one trusted staff member to do transactions at the bank for them.
PREPARING FOR TRANSFORMATION
With the KSAC working at improving what its chief revenue officer, Lebert Mc Kenzie, describes as an extremely low level of compliance in the industry, Mr. Campbell is preparing his business for the transformation.
"You don't have to be a barber to build a brand," he said. Images Hair Shoppe offers a reward system for regular customers, as well as monitoring and tracking all the services and staff wages by way of a computer system.
Located in the Liguanea Post Mall on Hope Road in St. Andrew, Images Hair Shoppe is a barber and hairdressing salon. In addition to securing quality and professional hair care, clients can take advantage of the kiddies corner; self-service bar; vending machines, snacking area; television sets; music and reward system available there. Wheelchair customers also have access to the Shoppe.
Asked whether it was a good idea to expand in a market that is already saturated, Mr. Campbell told Wednesday Business that the success of any product is highly dependent on whether it meets customers expectations. And he is not giving himself a rigid schedule for carrying out his expansion.
He said one measure of success he is using is the high level of return customers the business is experiencing and the fact that it can sustain itself after just six months.
Looking at the eventual state of the hair care industry he said, "It would be better to have between five to 10 shops as the commercial banks and food outlets do rather than say two or three."
Outside of his entrepreneurial activities, the chartered accountant also provides advisory services at KMPG Peat Marwick.
