Amazon to open London hair salon

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 20, 2021

It looks like Amazon is adding another new category to its retail offer with the e-tail giant to open a hair salon in London, it said on Tuesday.

The salon will cover 1,500 sq ft and two floors of a building in Spitalfields with the location set to be open seven days a week. The space is just a few minutes’ walk from the firm’s UK HQ.

Initially open only to the company’s employees, bookings will be available for the public within a few weeks, it said.

Hairstyling services will be provided by Elena Lavagni of London’s Neville Hair & Beauty salon.

The news comes as UK demand for hair salon services is high due to hairdressers having been closed for several months.

It’s a first for the company and shows that despite its already-dominant position in many markets, it’s continuing to explore new segments.

And like its other physical spaces, it looks like it will be used as a testbed for various new technologies. These will include augmented reality tech to allow customers to see what various hair colours will look like on them.

It will also use “point-and-learn” tech to provide information about products and QR codes that will take consumers to the relevant page on Amazon’s webstore. Customers will also be given an Amazon Fire tablet to use during the appointment.

“We have designed this salon for customers to come and experience some of the best technology, haircare products and stylists in the industry,” said the firm’s UK country manager John Boumphrey. “We want this unique venue to bring us one step closer to customers, and it will be a place where we can collaborate with the industry and test new technologies.”

Whether this develops into anything more than a new and limited way to surface the products available on Amazon is open to question. The company said it has no plans for any other salons at the moment.