NHBF publishes ethnicity trends report Creative HEAD Magazine

The report reveals the ethnic minority majority locations where hair and beauty businesses are growing, and where they need support

The National Hair & Beauty Federation (NHBF) has released a report analysing trends within the sector by ethnicity across the United Kingdom. The report entitled ‘Analysis of the Trends Within the Hair & Beauty Industry by Ethnicity Across the UK’ aims to spotlight trends to help make the industry a more inclusive place. The report, complied by the Local Data Company, identified nearly 20,000 individual units, which used with census population data, determined the ethnicity for each postcode sector, enabling independent hair and beauty occupiers across the UK to be linked to an ethnic group based on location. Here’s a snapshot of the main takeaways: –

Market share dips in ethnic minority areas

The good news is that hair and beauty businesses are growing in areas with a larger Black, Black British, Caribbean, or African population, (from 2,141 units in 2017 to 2,340 in 2022). Yet their total market share has declined to 4 per cent in 2022 from 5 percent in 2017. The same trend is true for hair and beauty businesses in Asian or Asian British postcode sectors. While there was growth from 4,306 in 2017 to 5,471 in 2022, this cohort has also seen their overall market share reduce, this time from 11 per cent in 2017 to 9 per cent in 2022. Across hair and beauty, ethnic minority hairdressers face the biggest gap compared to the wider market, with African locations standing at 5 per cent and Asian locations at 8 per cent below the percentage in white locations.

White locations saw growth boost in 2022 – others didn’t

Only white ethnic group locations saw an increase in growth in 2022, which rose by 615 units, enhancing their market share. White majority areas saw a market share boost to 87 per cent in 2022, which is up from 84 per cent in 2017.

Over the last five years, it was Black, Black British, Caribbean, or African locations that saw the slowest growth rate at 1.8 per cent compared to the other ethnic groups. Black, Black British, Caribbean, and African locations in the South-East witnessed the biggest decline across both the one year and three-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR). However, these communities in locations in the East Midlands have been the most resilient, with the strongest one-year CAGR of all regions. In terms of fastest growing postcodes for this community, SW9 8 had the second biggest growth in the past five years, with a net total of 14 new locations in these areas. For declining postcodes, nine out of the ten are in Greater London, with B20 2 in Birmingham the only exception outside the capital.

For the Asian and British Asian community, Hayes, Luton, and Birmingham have seen the biggest increase in units over the last five years, while three Bradford postcodes feature in the top ten list. The London neighbourhood of Wimbledon saw strong growth both in the last five years and twelve months. In terms of declining postcodes, East London saw the biggest fall with three postcodes in the bottom ten.

Ethnic minority freelancers are growing

Interestingly, independent hairdressers across the Black/Caribbean/African and Asian ethnic groups are growing with the Black group leading the way at 10.2 percent followed by the Asian group at 6.5 per cent.

Barbering is big business among ethnic minority groups

As the top hair and beauty subcategory across ethnic minority groups, it makes up a third of all units for Black and Asian ethnic groups.

Business survival rate changes by race

Hair and beauty salon occupiers in white areas are more likely to survive past their third anniversary, yet Black, Black British, Caribbean, and African outlets have the lowest survival rate across all subcategories at 55 per cent, highlighting the need for extra support.

Richard Lambert, NHBF chief executive said: “This is a report that we have wanted to undertake for several years and I am so very proud that this has come to fruition. One of the principal roles of an industry representative organisation is to develop a robust evidence base to understand and illustrate the trends within its sector. This data is invaluable in supporting the organisation’s lobbying of government on behalf of its members, backing up the arguments as much as demonstrating the sector’s value and impact to the economy. This is by no means a comprehensive survey, it’s a starting point. We are now looking for further funding to conduct more detailed research to get a better understanding of these industry sub-sectors, as well as the specific obstacles different ethnic groups are encountering and how we can support them.”