Custom at-home hair color company eSalon goes international

16-Dec-2014 - Last updated on 16-Dec-2014 at 15:40 GMT

The California-based e-commerce company opened a London office and launched sites serving consumers in several countries.

eSalon is now shipping custom hair color to consumers beyond the US—to Canada and the UK as well as Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain and Sweden.

Global URLs
To expand the reach of the company’s e-commerce presence, eSalon (which began at eSalon.com) is now operating regionally specific sites: eSalon.co.uk to serve the UK, eSalon.eu.com for countries in the European Union, and eSalon.ca for Canada.

Taking e-commerce global for personal care brands isn’t as simple as it looks on the frontend. “We are seeing increased demand from retailers looking to expand into foreign markets and it takes a great deal of skill and understanding to deliver the best experience in these different territories. Each has their own nuances which need to be kept in mind,” Jon Woodall, managing director at e-commerce Space 48, said regarding business’ market-specific work on the Charlotte Tilbury US site.

Custom, digital, convenient
eSalon has latched on to several of-the-moment consumer trends. The company provides an automated service where consumers complete a survey, get attention from a remote colorist and purchase a personalized at-home hair coloring kit that comes by mail.

The company aims to fill a niche between at mass color kits and premium salon services. "Until now, a woman's only option was to spend a significant sum in a salon, or try to choose from endless aisles of one-size-fits-all boxed colors," says Francisco Gimenez, co-founder and CEO. "We've turned the color market on its head, by delivering custom formulated salon-quality color for less than they would tip a colorist. We are excited about our continued success, confirmation of our vision and expansion overseas."

What’s working
Keeping up with consumer expectations and offering innovative digital service in the personal care space looks to be a scalable business for eSalon.

In September of this year, the company (which launched in 2010) announced shipment of its 1,000,000th hair color formulation. eSalon has more than 100,000 currently active clients and 85% of those receive hair color kits via an ongoing subscription.

“Not since the ‘Miss Clairol’ home hair color kit debuted, in 1956, has an upstart impacted the industry like eSalon.com,” rejoiced Gimenez at the time. “We’ve been able to reach this significant milestone, not by focusing on numbers, but on the specific needs of each customer, one at a time,” he explained in a media release.