Q&A with The Fab Four @ Enrich Salons

They are part of ‘Team Enrich’, they have Enrich Passports and their very own Planet Enrich! Meet the creators of this ecosystem – Vikram Bhat, Rohit Dedhia, Founder Directors; Bhupesh Dhinger and Sachin Kamat, Directors of Enrich Salons, whose unique ‘people first’ philosophy has not only created thousands of loyal employees across their 86 company owned operated salons, but is also helping them through the challenges of pandemic.

Sandhya Chipalkatti: How has business been for Enrich through the pandemic? How have you managed your team in this period?

We began addressing our teams and Customers, and our first video update was out on the 4th of March. Even before the formal lockdown we started taking steps sharing and following WHO guidelines and adding safety protocols. We connected with our industry peers, business partners and put out a Customer Advisory on additional safety precautions.

The first month of the lockdown, business was zero. We spent time comprehending the impact of the pandemic on our business. While countries, communities and companies were striving hard to increase their shareholder value, this mindset and behaviour allowed a single virus to bring the world to a standstill.

Realising that the virus can only be fought by all working towards larger common good rather than individual narrow interests, we modified our baseline campaign from ‘Love Begins with You’….to ‘Love Begins with Us’.

This ‘ME to WE thinking’ has been the guiding principle across our response to the pandemic. We applied this philosophy to our team, business partners and customers going forward and it was reflected in several initiatives.

“A crisis is also a bunch of positives and opportunities in disguise.”

For our team:

We decided to do everything to retain our team size, even if it meant reduced pay-outs. We had a ‘Daily Update Video’ for the team for the first 140 days and an informational webinar by Doctors on COVID. A ‘Mera Doctor’ Initiative with an empanelled Doctor was put in place for the benefit of employees and their families.

For our customers:

We conducted a customer survey and come up with grooming solutions for our customers. By mid-April, we started retailing grooming products from our catalogue and had them delivered by our team members themselves. We finally saw some revenue trickling in.

For other stakeholders/industry:

We contributed significantly to advocacy of our industry with the MSME Minister, Maharashtra Govt. etc. Team Enrich donated Rs 1.5 lacs towards supporting retail employees who had lost their jobs too.

By mid-May our salons in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat & Bengaluru reopened with strict hygiene & safety protocols and 100% of our team members were certified in the BWSSC and the CIDESCO Safety Protocols. Having had a quality vertical since 12 years, we already followed most of the now required parameters.

In every city where we reopened, the first week/fortnight has early adapters coming in and the male/female ratio now at 60/40. Post the first flush, footfall depends on the customer feedback.

Hopefully, new cases will drop before the festival season hastening our recovery of getting back to previous year’s monthly revenue, salon by salon.

How has COVID changed the way the beauty services business operates?

Both demand and supply have had lot of changes.

• Supply:

  Social distancing demands 50% staff/ alternate days/ shorter operating hours/ alternate seats empty, resulting curtailed capacity, further compounded by service restrictions and stock availability issues.

• Demand:

  While need for grooming will continue, several new –unprecedented factors influence customers’ outlook. Fear of infection; shrunken wallet; uncertain future – all driving towards a tendency to spend less.

Consequently, there will be fewer high-ticket services and upgrades to premium services.