A new report provides insight into frequent employers of massage therapists—spas and salons—and how those businesses are evolving even as the pandemic continues. MINDBODY software company surveyed 1,230 U.S. consumers and 1,200 U.S. wellness businesses to create its State of the Spa and Salon Industry Report 2021.

A new report provides insight into frequent employers of massage therapists—spas and salons—and how those businesses are evolving even as the pandemic continues. MINDBODY software company surveyed 1,230 U.S. consumers and 1,200 U.S. wellness businesses to create its State of the Spa and Salon Industry Report 2021.

The results shows that salons and spas are focusing their efforts on attracting new customers. Fifty percent of respondents say they will be actively investing in growing and expanding the business over the next one to three years; 26% say they will be focusing on getting the business operationally stable and profitable; and 24% say they are operationally stable and will be looking to maintain the business and our current customers.

In commenting on that trend, the report noted, “Once-in-a-century disaster notwithstanding, salon and spa leaders are still reporting the same challenges they’ve always faced … The long pause in services has given way to a new paradigm: It’s time to grow. Across both franchise and non-franchise organizations, half of salon and spa owners say they’re planning to actively invest in growing and expanding in the next three years, which is encouraging news for the industry as a whole.”

A worriment in the salon and spa industry remains: finding and training staff, with 35% of non-franchise operations pegging this as a challenge while 32% of non-franchise organizations do so.

[Read “As Spa Industry Rebounds from COVID-19, Staffing Shortage Looms.”]

One important finding is the three most important factors when visiting a salon or spa:

  • 49% of respondents say price
  • 36% of respondents say cleanliness
  • 29% of respondents say skilled service provider.

The 2021 State of the Spa and Salon Industry Report follows MINDBODY’s Trend Report: How Salons and Spas are Adapting to Keep You Safe in 2021, conducted earlier this year. That report highlighted touchless spa treatments like cryotherapy, compression therapy, salt caves, infrared saunas, Ivy drips, hyperbaric chambers and float tanks, which spas had used during the earlier portion of the pandemic as social distancing measures were mandated prior to vaccines becoming available.

Mindbody is a technology platform for the fitness, wellness, and beauty industries.