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Introduction
To sustain in the industry, a firm needs to find its relative position and find out its strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, threats and it needs to identify its competitors and perform
competitive analysis. To explore the pattern of competition among different firms of a particular
industry, I have chosen the beauty parlors of my neighborhood, Bashundhara R/A.
Nowadays, due to the wide exposure of television, media and internet, almost all the women
want to look beautiful and maintain their position in the society. This beauty is the external
beauty that they try on themselves because these days women are more conscious about their
face and beauty. For looking beautiful and attractive, almost all of them spend some portion of
their personal or household income every month in the beauty parlors. For beautifying
themselves they often visit the beauty parlors and take different services. Previously the beauty
parlors provided very limited services. However, nowadays most of the beauty parlors have
expanded their services starting from threading up to spa and other exotic services.
In Bashundhara R/A, there are some small, one medium sized and one large beauty parlors. The
parlors chosen for this report are:
A. Shahnaz Husains Signature Salon Eves
B. Essence by Kelly Be
C. Rup Ruposhi Beauty Parlor
D. Shibanis Aroma Beautys World

Women living in Bashundhara R/A who feel of beauty care definitely think any one of the these
beauty parlors.

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About the Parlors
A. Shahnaz Husains Signature Salon Eves
The largest and most widely renowned beauty parlor and the market leader in Bashundhara R/A
is the Shahnaz Husains Signature Salon Eves which was established on August 2012. It is
situated at the Pizza Hut Delivery Building and its area comprises of few thousand square feet. It
is run by Miss Nazia Marzia, proficient beautician and chairperson of the parlor. This beauty
parlor is very famous for its vast range of excellent services and highly experienced and expert
beauticians and hairdressers.

The service provided by this parlor is superior compared to the other nearby parlors because they
possess all the state-of-the-art beauty and make up kit and they use high quality products for
providing their services. In addition, they have employed a large number of beauticians and
hairdressers who can serve up to 20 customers at a time without forming a queue.
The cost of availing the beauty services at this parlor ranges from Tk 40 for Eye Brows Pluck,
Tk 500 for regular facial up to Tk 15,000 for Bridal make up. Their price plan is the highest
compared to the other three parlors still lots of customers are attracted due to their superior
service and soothing ambient. Most of the women living in Bashundhara R/A are financially well
off and they visit Shahnaz Husains Signature Salon Eves because nowadays women are really
conscious about their prettiness and they do not like compromising with their face and beauty.
Therefore, averages of 45 to 50 customers visit this parlor every day.
Service
Premium Service
Make Up
1.Bridal
2.Party
Spa
Regular Service

Hair
1. Cut
2.Treatment
3. Rebonding
4. Color

Care
1.Hand
2.Foot
Facial Piercing Waxing
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B. Essence by Kelly Be
This is the market challenger in my
neighborhood. It is located next to Hotcake.
It is the medium sized parlor with an area of
800 to 1000 square feet and it was
established on January 2012. Owned by
Miss Jesmin Sultana, this parlor is famous
for its variety of services.

This parlor is providing services almost similar to the services provided by Shahnaz Husains
Signature Salon Eves. However, Essence by Kelly Be is lagging behind for the following
reasons:
They can provide service up to eight customers at a time (3 haircuts or threading, 2 facial,
2 pedicures and manicures and 1 piercing) which is very limited.
This parlor has some of the state-of-the-art make up and beauty kits and equipments, not
all of those. The machines that Essence by Kelly Be uses are not the latest one.
Due to smaller in area, this parlor does not have the facility of spa in their service list.
To overcome the drawbacks and to compete with Shahnaz Husains Signature Salon Eves,
Essence by Kelly Be came up with the idea of lower price, different packages, discounts and
home services. Thus, Essence by Kelly Be gets 25 to 30 customers daily.
Its price starts from Tk 35 for Eye Brows Pluck, Tk 400 for regular facial and ranges up to Tk
10,000 for Bridal Make up. Therefore, it is convenient for the upper middle class women or
female students of Bashundhara R/A to visit this parlor and obtain the services.




Service
Haircut
Facial
Waxing
Body
Massage
Piercing
Pedicure &
Manicure
Make up
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C. Rup Ruposhi Beauty Parlor
A very popular beauty parlor of Bashundhara R/A is Rup Ruposhi Beauty Parlor which is
situated beside the Best Clean Dry Cleaners covering an area of about 400 to 500 square feet and
was established on April 2008. It is the first beauty parlor of Bashundhara R/A and is known by
almost every women residing here. At first this parlor was doing monopoly business. However,
after the emergence of the other parlors it gradually became the follower due to financial budget
constraint while other parlors came up with better services with the state-of-the-art kits and
equipments and bigger budgets.
Therefore, to sustain in the industry, they are trying to provide the facilities according to their
position and capacity. For instance,
This parlor does not have a wide range of facial services and therefore, they try to imitate
the leaders and challengers by providing the facial services manually.
Besides, this parlor does not have the electric razors and other kits for haircuts. Thus,
they use only scissors for haircuts and therefore they can provide limited number of hair
styles to their customers such as straight cut, v cut and blunt cut.
Rup Ruposhi Beauty Parlor does not have any uniqueness in
its services, it provides the usual services offered by any
beauty parlor to the middle class women and housewives and
therefore it can be classified as the market follower. Thus,
they receive 8 to 10 customers everyday and they have the
capability to serve at most 5 customers at a time. The pricing
scheme of Rup Ruposhi Beauty Parlor is lower than the other
two parlors mentioned above. Its price starts from Tk 30 for
Eye Brows Pluck, Tk 300 for normal facial and ranges up to
Tk 8,000 for Bridal Make up. Thus, it is suitable for the
middle class women to visit this parlor and avail the services
for beautifying themselves.




Service
Haircut
Facial
Piercing
Pedicure &
Manicure
Make up
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D. Shibanis Aroma Beautys World
Shibanis Aroma Beautys World is the small sized beauty parlor in Bashundhara R/A which is
located at the Dutch Bangla Bank Building covering an area of about 400 to 500 square feet and
it started its journey in 2010. This parlor came up to compete with Rup Ruposhi Beauty Parlor
with similar kinds of services and is also the market follower. It also has financial budget
constraint like Rup Ruposhi beauty parlor and it doesnt have the state-of-the-art kits and
equipments.



Similar to Rup Ruposhi beauty parlor, to sustain in the industry, they are also trying to provide
the facilities according to their ability. For instance,
Due to low budget it doesnt have all the modern amenities and therefore, they try to
imitate the leaders and challengers by providing the services manually.
This parlor offers only two to three types of haircuts and facials and regular make up
service to its customers.
They have gone for mobility barriers by promoting Shibanis Aroma beauty products.
This parlor receives 8 to 10 customers everyday and they have the potential to serve at most 4
customers at a time. The pricing plan of D beauty parlor is same as Rup Ruposhi beauty parlor
and lower than the market leader and challenger. Its price also starts from Tk 30 for Eye Brows
Pluck, Tk 300 for regular facial and ranges up to Tk 8,000 for Bridal Make up. Thus, it is
suitable for the middle class women and female students of Bashundhara R/A to visit this parlor
and avail the services for beautifying themselves.

Service
Haircut Facial Piercing
Pedicure &
Manicure
Make up
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Nature of Competition
The beauty parlor business in localities can be classified into differentiated oligopolistic
competition because there are only few firms and each has some unique attribute or little
differentiation in their service. The chosen beauty parlors in Bashundhara R/A each has a slight
differentiation in them. For instance, Shahnaz Husains Signature Salon Eves provides superior
quality service and spa, Essence by Kelly Be offers different packages, discounts and home
services and Rup Ruposhi and Shibanis Aroma Beautys World charges the lowest price.


Unique attributes
Shahnaz Husains Signature Salon Eves: Superior Service, Expert Beauticians, and Large Area.
Essence by Kelly Be: Different packages, Discounts, Home services and Lower price.
Rup Ruposhi and Shibanis Aroma Beautys World: Lower price.



The competition between them is intense. The ratio of market
shares is fluctuating due to the entrants of the new and
potential parlors during the last five years. Moreover,
customers often change the parlor because of time constraint.
For instance, if one just needs to pluck her eye brows, she
doesnt need to be concerned about the quality of service.
Thus she will visit the nearest parlor and take the service.




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Matching with Principles of Competition
A. Barriers


B. Porter Five Forces
Among the five forcers, Porters two forces work for this industry,
Competitive Rivalry within an
Industry: The competition among
the parlors is intense, especially
between the market leader and the
market challenger.
Threat of New Entrants: The threat
of new entrants is also vital since it
doesnt require much capital
investment to set up a beauty parlor
and it is a lucrative and booming
industry.

Figure: Porters Forces
Entry and exit barrier in this industry is very low
because the cost of setting up a new beauty parlor
requires very low capital investment. An area of
few hundred square feet can be rented to set up a
parlor and requires only 2 to 4 employees. For exit,
there is no government restriction, pressure from
employee masses and absence of labor union
interference. Thus, both the entry barrier and exit
barrier are not severe in this business. Therefore,
anybody can enter in this business without any
difficulty and can exit effortlessly.
Entry and
Exit barriers
Mobility barrier in this industry is also low. Beauty
parlors can easily expand their business like selling
different types of beauty and herbal products or can
incorporate other fitness services.
Mobility
barrier
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C. Current strategies




Market Leader
Market-penetration
strategy: Currently
Shahnaz Husains
Signature Salon Eves
is planning to expand
its service to attract
more customers by
setting up a
gymnasium which
means the complete
solution of fitness and
beauty under one roof.


Flank defense: This
parlor does not offer
discounts for students
which is a weak side
for them. They are
planning to overcome
this by providing
discounts to students
with valid ID cards.


Geographical-
expansion strategy:
This market leader has
a plan for geographic
expansion to other
important places of
Dhaka city.
Market
Challenger
Attacking firms that
are not doing the
jobs: Other parlors are
not providing service
package and discounts.


Product
proliferation:
Increasing service
variety such as Spa.


Intensive advertising
promotion: Essence
by Kelly Be spends a
some amount of their
revenue on
advertisements in
Bashundhara R/A by
leaflets.


Prestige Goods: Only
Essence by Kelly Be
provides home
services by sending
beauticians to the
customers home on
phone calls.
Market
Follower
Imitator: Rup
Ruposhi Beauty Parlor
and Shibani's Aroma
Beauty's World imitate
the leaders features in
terms of providing
service. In addition,
they follow different
techniques and
strategies followed by
the market leader.


Cloner: The price
structure is almost the
same as offered by
Essence by Kelly Be
with a little variation.
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Discussion and Conclusion
Nowadays a significant portion of the women work and thus they are financially well off.
Therefore, this segment of the customers of Bashundhara R/A always visit the market leader or
Shahnaz Husains Signature Salon Eves. Also, most of the people living in Bashundhara R/A are
financially well off. Therefore, these housewives look for better quality of service rather than its
cost. Thus, it is an added advantage for the market leader to grab the maximum market share
because they are proving superior quality service in exchange of highest price. Moreover,
services provided by the beauty parlors are taken on a monthly basis. Therefore, even if the price
is a bit higher, women do not consider that rather they search for superior quality service because
women do not like compromising their beauty with money.
Female students and middle class women living in Bashundhara R/A prefer visiting the market
challenger or Essence by Kelly Be because it is easy on their pocket. Since this segment have
limited amount of money to spend their living with, therefore they often visit the market
challenger. However, once in a while or on special occasions they visit the market leader and pay
premium price to get the premium quality service.
In the competition between the market leader and the market challenger, the market followers are
losing their market share day by day. However, they are trying to sustain with whatever they
have. In the long run, they need to improve their quality of service and widen the service list.
None of the parlors in Banshundhara R/A can be classified as a market Nicher.
The parlors of Bashundhara R/A are trying their level best to satisfy their customers with the
quality of service. There are always chances for expanding the business as well as for exiting
from the business. There is also chance of adding some new facilities to the existing services.
Therefore, the parlor industry is doing very well in Bashundhara R/A and it has the potential of
growing.