Release Date: 2004/06/01
New Clicks has launched a pilot project for a new brand, Style Studio, which combines a retail store selling professional hair care products with a hair salon. The store format is unique in South Africa, with stores carrying a comprehensive range of hair care products and related hair and beauty accessories, with an 80% weighting to the retail front shop and 20% to salon services.
Style Studio is positioned as ‘a one-stop beauty store specialising in professional hair care, offering women a unique and non-intimidating shopping experience’.
The target consumer for Style Studio is similar to that of The Body Shop, namely urban women in the 24 to 45 year old age category with a high level of disposable income.
The first Style Studio store in Canal Walk near Cape Town opened last week and will be officially launched on 29 June. Plans are afoot to open a further pilot store in Cape Town and one in Pretoria within the next two months. The market acceptance will be tested over the next six to 12 months, and should this concept prove viable, further stores will be rolled out nationally. As the brand is positioned for prime retail locations only, it is anticipated that the number of Style Studio stores will peak at around 30 over the next three to five years before reaching saturation point.
Style Studio is based on the successful Price Attack concept in Australia. New Clicks acquired Price Attack in July 2002 and the brand was trading out of more than 100 stores when the group sold its Australian operations in January this year. Based on the experience and learnings from Price Attack, New Clicks identified the need to offer women a specialist hair and beauty care store.
New Clicks aims to be dominant in the health, beauty and lifestyle categories, and Style Studio will allow the group to grow the hair care business and entrench itself in the professional and exclusive consumer hair care market.
Professional hair care products are currently only available through hair salons and are not sold in retail outlets. Most major professional hair care brands and products will be sold through Style Studio, as well as colour cosmetics, hair accessories, nail care and professional hair care appliances.
The brand’s differentiator will be the personalised service provided by the staff who will all be product specialists, having undergone intensive training from each supplier, and the unique product offer and mix. Style Studio allows for these products to be sold in an environment with qualified staff and hair stylists.
The project is being spearheaded by New Clicks merchandise leader, Raymond Godfrey, Tshepo Modise, head of marketing for Discom, and hair care specialist, Grant Heynes, category head for Discom.
The cost of developing and fitting the 103 m² Canal Walk Style Studio store was approximately R550 000.
Ends
Issued by Tier 1 Investor Relations on behalf of the Clicks Group
For further information kindly contact
Graeme Lillie, Tier 1 Investor Relations 021 702 3102 / 082 468 1507