S
Starter Story
Business Idea
Start A Barber Shop
About
Starting a barber shop requires a great deal of effort, dedication, and most importantly passion.
If you're interested in how to sell barber shop, or selling barber shop online, you can use this page as a guide for everything you'll need to know.
Want to learn more? You can check out our full guide on how to start a barber shop ➜
Key stats
market size
$5B
revenue (monthly)
$125K
starting costs
$29.8K
gross margin
9%
avg product price
$55
time to build
10 months
growth
Press
business model
Brick & Mortar
time investment
Full time
Startup Costs
| Min Startup Costs | Max Startup Costs | |
|---|---|---|
| Employee & Freelancer Expenses | $0 | $5,500 |
| Equipment & Supply Expenses | $550 | $6,500 |
| Website Costs | $232 | $6,500 |
| Business Formation Fees | $600 | $4,700 |
| Retail Business Expenses | $0 | $16,150 |
| Inventory Expenses | $300 | $10,000 |
| Advertising & Marketing Costs | $75 | $5,036 |
| Software Expenses | $150 | $2,420 |
| Other Expenses | $0 | $800 |
| Total Startup Costs | $1,907 | $57,606 |
Successful Businesses
| Business | URL | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Reservio | reservio.com | #70,846 |
|
Floyd's 99 Barbershop | floydsbarbershop.com | #174,162 |
|
BarberShop.vn | barbershop.vn | #354,203 |
|
Barber Depots | barberdepots.com | #394,019 |
|
Bishops Cuts/Color | bishops.co | #587,041 |
|
V's Barbershop | vbarbershop.com | #594,597 |
|
Peoples Barber | peoplesbarber.com | #632,546 |
|
Arrow + Pedro Williams | guaranteedshorterhair.com | #649,001 |
|
Nearcut | nearcut.com | #677,297 |
|
Razors Barbershop | razorsbarbershop.com | #806,230 |
|
The Barber Shop | thisisthebarbershop.com | #1,191,942 |
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Description |
|---|---|
| Flexibility | You can put as much time into the business as you'd like. If you like the work and have some initial experience, you can start small and manage all aspects of the business on your own. |
| Meaningful business connections | You never know who you will meet as a barber shop. This could be the start of an incredible business opportunity! |
| High customer retention rates | Once a customer invests in your product, they've invested their time and energy to utilize your product/service which is highly valuable to them. Typically, your product or service becomes indispensable to your customer. |
| Control of workload | With starting a barber shop, you have the unique ability to choose how little or how much you want to work. You also have the freedom to decide which projects you want to work on, and can turn down the ones that do not interest you. |
| Gain exposure and experience | This career allows you to gain experience working for multiple different businesses - which will benefit your resume and also keep things interesting for you! |
| Unlimited income potential | With starting a barber shop there is no cap as to how much income you can make. The stronger your business skills and the more energy/time you put into your career, the more you'll make. |
| Cons | Description |
|---|---|
| Motivation of employees | If you plan to have a sales/content team on board, finding creative ways to motivate them can be a challenge. It's important that you're able to offer great incentives and a good work environment for your employees. |
| Longer Sales Process | A barber shop can be a big time and money investment for your customer, so it's important you plan and predict a longer conversion funnel and stay in communication with potential customers. |
| Low margins | The gross margins for your barber shop are typically around 9%, which can make it more challenging to incur new expenses and maintain profitability. |
| High employee turnover | In the barber shop, employee turnover is often high, which can be quite costly and time consuming for your business. It's important to try and avoid this as much as possible by offering competitive pay, benefits, and a positive work environment. |
| Taxes | As a barber shop, you typically pay self-employment taxes which can be quite high. It's important to understand what you will be paying in taxes each year so you can determine if the work you're taking on is worth it. |
| Niche Market | A niche business is not necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it can be the key to your success. However, it can be more challenging and time consuming to find the perfect niche market and target audience. |
Marketing Ideas
-
1
Affiliate program
An affiliate program is a way to reward people outside your organization to share your product.
-
2
Word of mouth
The most tried and true way to grow a barber shop is through word of mouth - some entrepreneurs would say it's more important than all social media.
-
3
Advertising on social media
Social media advertising is one of the leading ways to get the word out when it comes to barber shop.
There are various different Social Media platforms available to you. Some may be more critical for your marketing efforts than others, however, it's important to have an understanding of what's out there and available to you.
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