Where to source hair at favorable prices?
This week Kahagi from Kenya asked me where to source hair at favorable prices. The aim was to purchase the hair at conditions that allows women outside Nairobi to purchase gorgeous hair at a fair price.
What are the retail prices of hair in Kenya?
To answer the question, of where to find suppliers who offer hair at advantageous prices, we first must analyze what the price level is. The challenge with comparing the price of hair extensions or weaves is the quality element. You can compare the price in Ksh, but you do not know the quality. Except you first buy all the hair and test the hair after installment. But this is not really an option.
The various A grades will not help you either, it works to compare the hair of one single supplier, but you cannot compare these grades between different manufactures or suppliers. There is no hair police, so nobody checks if the A grades are a realistic reflection of the hair quality.
Today, I will only analyze the price of the hair based upon the price. Some stores do and some do not share their prices. For the purpose of this post I compared the prices of some products that seemed to be comparable.
What does the competition tell you?
I explained it was difficult to compare the hair of all the stores and re-sellers. But this does not indicate you have no figures you can use to estimate the price range for your hair. If you know these prices you will be able to start the calculation of what favorable prices you need.
For Kenya there are a lot of stores that publish the prices of hair, weaves and wigs on their website or Instagram account. I simply visited the sites and made a list of prices for Body Wave, Straight and Kinky, plus some wigs.
This exercise gave me for example the average retail price for body wave 16, 18 and 20 inches:
- 16 inch, Ksh 9,000;
- 18 inch, Ksh 9,800;
- 20 inch, Ksh 10,800;
You can make a nice bundle deal out of this!
These prices come from stores that have a certain reputation already. From a marketing point of view, you could consider offering the hair for a lower price. Next to the price of the competition, you need to take into consideration other points of the service offering. What about the transport, the expenses to store and conditions to maintain a good hygiene around the hair? What kind of after sales do you offer, will you accept returns, or only exchanges.
All these factors you must consider if you set your retail price.
How to calculate your retail price
I have shared several posts with how to calculate your retail price. For example:
How much to markup Donna Bella Tape In extensions?
How to create a profitable pricing strategy for hair extensions
You can use this information to guide you to calculate your selling price.
Human Hair at one third of the retail price
I can offer a bundle of Body Wave for say, one third of the retail price. In other words, you will have nearly 70% to cover expenses, like shipping (say USD 30 for the first 3 kilo and USD 10 for every extra additional kilo) and payment. Add the other operational and marketing expenses and you could have room to or lower the retail price if needed given the market, or you could have a higher profit margin.
If you want to be a middleman and purchase the hair to re sell to other stores or salons. You will have to control you expenses and keep an eye on the market. You will have to share the margin with the reseller. Here you can obtain a higher margin by purchasing the hair at a lower price by buying more kilos.
So, you can source the hair with me, or I can help you to find a reliable source for the hair.
Leave a comment if you are interested in hair for, at least, one third of the retail prices given.
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