In 2023, almost 123,000 hairdressing and beauty salons in Poland were indebted, according to data from the BIG InfoMonitor debtor register and the BIK database. The debt of such companies increased by PLN 45 million during the year.
At the end of last year, there were as many as 122.7 thousand indebted beauty salons in Poland, which is almost 10 thousand more than a year earlier and almost 64 thousand more than in 2010. At the same time, it should be noted that in 2022 and 2023, an average of 27 new beauty or hairdressing salons were opened in Poland every day, and yet there is still a shortage of people to work in this industry.
The success of the industry is turning against it, competition is growing strongly, and in addition, operating costs, rents for premises, bills for utilities and necessary materials, social insurance contributions and employee salaries. On the other hand, there are clients and their problems, although increasingly open to using the services of hairdressers and beauticians, at the same time stressed by the increase in prices and costs of living. They often try to save money and deny themselves many things. The effect? We can see it in our data. In the BIG InfoMonitor debtor register and the BIK credit information database, arrears of beauty and hairdressing salons increased by over PLN 45 million, or 42 percent, in a year. What is worse, the increase in these arrears began to accelerate. At the end of January this year, the outstanding debt exceeded PLN 153.7 million
– calculated Dr. hab. Waldemar Rogowski, chief analyst at BIG InfoMonitor.
Financial difficulties are causing the number of suspended companies in the beauty industry to grow. In 2023, 5,496 businesses decided to take this step, which is almost 1,500 more than in 2022 and as much as 5,000 more than in 2016. Financial liquidity problems most often occur in companies that provide hairdressing or beauty services in the following provinces: Pomerania, Mazovia, Lower Silesia and Warmińsko-Mazurskie, and least often in the east of the country.
The hope for the beauty industry may be the reduction of the VAT rate for cosmetic services, which from April 1 is to be 8%, the same as for hairdressers. Entrepreneurs hope that the lower VAT will make cosmetic services more affordable for ordinary citizens.