Sally Beauty sees sales upturn in May

By

Robin Driver

Published
Jun 3, 2020

After a challenging April, where coronavirus-related store closures led to a drop-off in the beauty retailer’s revenue, Sally Beauty has seen strong demand in its reopening retail fleet and expects to report an uptick in sales for May.
 

Having temporarily closed all of its brick-and-mortar stores in response to the Covid-19 pandemic at the end of March, the Denton, Texas-based company’s sales totaled $95 million in April, the first month of the third quarter.
 
Although a substantial part of its store network remained closed in May, Sally Beauty estimates that the month’s sales total around $262 million as a result of increased demand in brick-and-mortar locations that have reopened, as well as substantial growth in its digital channels.

The company started May with 37% of its Sally Beauty Supply (SBS) stores open in the U.S. and Canada, and 10% in Europe, as well as 31% of its Beauty Systems Group locations in North America.
 
As of June 2, 2,458 (84%) of the retailer’s SBS stores in North America have reopened, along with 202 (44%) SBS locations in Europe and 1,009 (82%) of its Beauty Systems Group stores.
 
Sally Beauty has reopened all of its continental European stores and expects to have all of its locations in the UK and Ireland open by June 15.  The company’s stores in Latin America are forecast to open over the next 45 days.
 
Sally Beauty’s e-commerce sales have skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, seeing a 52% rise in March compared to the same month in the previous year. The strongest digital gains, however, were seen in April and May, when e-commerce sales increased 353% and 317%, respectively.
 
All of the company’s furloughed retail and corporate associates in the U.S. and Canada have been recalled, except for staff working in stores that are still closed.
 
Sally Beauty has also conducted restructuring that has affected approximately 190 positions, both in the field and its HQ. Looking to the future, the retailer intends to hire 120 new associates supporting e-commerce, digital product development, technology and analytics.
 
Sally Beauty expects to report its full third-quarter results in late July.