Global recognition of NZ hairdressing franchise Rodney Wayne

13 May 2014

Rodney Wayne: Game-Changer
Global recognition for top NZ hairdressing franchise

There’s global recognition for New Zealand’s fastest-growing hairdressing franchise with industry guru Rodney Wayne’s group included in a documentary among three other international standouts in the industry.

The L’Oréal-commissioned film recognises that Rodney Wayne is the southern hemisphere’s most successful hair business in the eyes of one of the world’s oldest, largest and most respected beauty companies.

Wayne was filmed in Auckland last week, two days before flying out to Singapore for a Rodney Wayne franchise conference, featuring former Air New Zealand change driver Rob Fyfe and Google digital whiz Prabh Singh.

The film features four hairdressers from New Zealand, India, Brazil and the UK and will be showcased globally by L’Oréal. Wayne – a 40 year veteran of hairdressing – is being acknowledged for driving change within the group’s 37 salons and 15 retail outlets.

“When I started, I wanted to help people to both ‘look good’ & ‘feel good’ - a far cry from the ‘commodity hairdressing’ scene of those days,” Wayne says.

But he realised his creative flair was not enough; he could not do it all by himself.

“My challenge was twofold,” he says. “How to devise a system totally focused on satisfying client needs, by which others could deliver my values & standards. Second, I wanted to reproduce and grow that business model so that the maximum number of people - even non-hairdressers - could benefit in a variety of ways.”

The result: today the Rodney Wayne group is one of the fastest growing hairdressing franchisees in the southern hemisphere and remains 100 per cent New Zealand owned and operated.

The Group currently has salon retail outlets in major shopping malls nationwide in New Zealand and employs more than 400 staff. Wayne remains managing director of the franchised group.

In the professional retail market in New Zealand, half of total group turnover is in retail sales, thanks to a standardised rigorous training module for all franchisees and stylists and both in-salon and stand-alone retail merchandising sites.

Wayne has some firm opinions on the New Zealand industry. For a start - he’s actively seeking salon partners in Queenstown, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Tauranga and other areas.

In Singapore the group has been acknowledging the stellar efforts of its star salons. Fyfe has been talking about how change is constant and Singh – who is Google’s head of the Asia Pacific region – addressed the conference on doing business in the digital age.

“We want our people to return to their salons and shops with an open mind to change,” Wayne says. “Some of our franchisees have been with us for 20 years or more so they will recognise how we have been able to stay top of mind with customers.”

Julie Evans, CEO of Rodney Wayne, says the Group strives to be a leader, not a follower in the industry.

“Personal service is a watchword but we also need to ensure clients can access Rodney Wayne from all the places they are – and mobile is certainly one of those. That’s why we have a digital platform; we are on social media and have invested in cutting edge digital marketing, as well as traditional marketing. We can take our collections and product to consumers, and consumers can come to us via those channels,” Evans says.

As an industry game-changer, Wayne has been at the forefront of some major developments in New Zealand hairdressing that have lifted its performance to record levels.

The recent L’Oréal Hairdressing Industry Report tells us:
• 8,000 hairdressers and 1,200 apprentices are employed in New Zealand.
• They have a combined annual turnover of $0.6billion - more than each of retail giants in The Briscoes Group (Briscoes, Rebel Sport and Living and Giving) and Hallensteins Glassons.
• Kiwi women are spending more on their hair per visit than before the GFC and the number of young people entering the industry is growing.
• An average spend of $161 for a cut, colour and blow dry is the norm – with an average visit rate of every nine weeks for a haircut and every four months for a colour.
• Kiwi women now rank hair as their top day-to-day beauty priority and a necessity, not a luxury.
• It’s also Internet proof – while many high street businesses are battling due to the impact of online retail – there’s no app for a haircut yet.

About Rodney Wayne
Rodney Wayne is a nationwide hair salon founded by its namesake in 1980 in Auckland’s CBD. Today the nationwide franchise chain counts 37 salons to its name located mainly in malls. In total, Rodney Wayne salons employ 480 staff ranging from stylists and front of house through to management.
In 1993 Rodney Wayne opened the first of the ‘Shampoo ‘n’ Things’ hair care products retail stores. Today there are 15 of these stores nationwide. At Rodney Wayne the philosophy is that great hair is the simplest way people can transform themselves to look and feel fabulous.

ENDS

© Scoop Media