WSJ on QB Net

[gkanai]

Seven years after opening his first no-frills QB House barbershop in downtown Tokyo, Mr. Konishi's QB Net Co. Ltd. has 200 outlets nationwide providing the formerly impossible: 10-minute haircuts for 1,000 yen. A mildly deflationary spiral has allowed the company to keep the price at 1,000 yen -- a key selling point. The number of customer visits, meanwhile, surged to more than 3.5 million last year from 57,000 in 1996. Revenue for the fiscal year ended June 30 soared to 1.92 billion yen ($16 million), and QB House barbershops have spread to Singapore, with plans to expand to at least 1,000 outlets around Asia in the next 10 years.

The man who revolutionized Japanese barbershops sat down recently to offer his ideas on how to cut a niche in Japan's cloistered, sometimes quirky marketplace. Japanese markets may seem daunting with their myriad regulations and reputation for resisting anything that defies tradition. Mr. Konishi says, however, that newcomers can topple the status quo by appealing to Japanese consumers' overwhelming hunger for more choices and greater innovation. "Imagine yourself as the end user and then look for how the end user is inconvenienced," Mr. Konishi says. "Look for areas of dissatisfaction, and here you will find your business opportunity."

http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB106382387378978500,00.html

Sorry, subscription only. Email me if you're interested.

[Taro Toporific]

.... A mildly deflationary spiral has allowed the company to keep the price at 1,000 yen ... newcomers can topple the status quo by appealing to Japanese consumers' overwhelming hunger for more choices and greater innovation. "Imagine yourself as the end user and then look for how the end user is inconvenienced," Mr. Konishi says. "Look for areas of dissatisfaction, and here you will find your business opportunity."
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/0,,SB106382387378978500,00.html

I don't have much use for a Bar Ber except to get my eyebrows shaved.

However, a wise old Mexican barber in the States and long-time illegal alien once explained to me the price of a hair cut was the best way to judge the true cost of living in any country. As young man he had traveled the world as a seaman and learned to barber aboard ship. He quite astutely found that all cost of living indexes were skewed in strange ways EXCEPT the price of a haircut. The fact the standard Tokyo haircut of 2,000-2,800 yen has dropped to 1,000 yen at "QB Net" is a true indication of how f-ed Japan has become...deflation, I love it!

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Cut-price barbershops in local govts' crosshairs

Cut-price barbershops are bristling at growing moves by prefectural governments that require them to shampoo customers' hair--a service they do not offer for time and cost reasons. Nineteen prefectures have ordinances that require the discount barbers to install basins for washing hair, due to hygiene concerns. The Miyagi and Yamagata prefectural governments have submitted ordinance bills to their assemblies. Low-price barbers offer only haircuts without shampooing. Customers are often in and out of the chair in 10 minutes and pay only 1,000 yen. The barbers, which have mushroomed since 2007, have been a godsend for thrifty customers. "It's great that they're so cheap. I come once or twice a month," a 59-year-old man, who lives away from his family because of his job, said one weekday afternoon at a barber in Sendai, where a steady stream of male company workers came in for a trim. Parents and their children often come in together at weekends.

The Miyagi prefectural government says 75 cut-price barbers operate in the prefecture. The bulk do not have basins for shampooing customers' hair, but instead use a vacuum hose to suck up hair clippings. However, the vacuum cannot suck up every stray hair, so staffers tell customers to wash their hair as soon as they can after leaving the shop. An association of hairdressers and other concerned organizations submitted a petition to the prefectural assembly in February calling for barbers and hair salons to be obligated to install hair-washing facilities. Association head Tsuneo Hino suggested hygiene was the main reason for this petition. "This matter affects our credibility at a time when many people are worried about the new strain of influenza," Hino said.

The prefectural government proposed the ordinance after gathering public opinions and confirming that most residents support the proposal. QB Net Co., a major Tokyo-based cut-price barber chain, has scoffed at the need for such ordinances. "We sterilize the mouth of the hose after each use," a QB spokesman said. "We meet sanitary standards set by each local government. We want to know what the real reason is behind these ordinances." The manager of the Sendai barbershop warned that requiring barbers to wash customers' hair would end up hurting customers in the pocket. "Washing hair takes time and forces other customers to wait longer," the manager said. "I'd have to consider raising my prices." A barber in the Tokyo metropolitan area suggested that the ordinances appeared to be "undue pressure exerted by the governments at the behest of business operators." But it has not all been one-way traffic. The Chiba prefectural government decided not to enact an ordinance after determining there was no difference in sanitary controls between cut-price barbers and regular barbers by checking the sterilization of scissors and combs. Seven other prefectures, including Iwate and Osaka, also have decided against such ordinances.

[Number11]

"...after gathering public opinions and confirming that most residents support the proposal."

Yeah, riiiight. The shachos of the local full-service chains would never stoop so low as to offer the politicians campaign contributions to introduce ordinances like this. Cough.

[IkemenTommy]

I don't have much use for a Bar Ber except to get my eyebrows shaved.

However, a wise old Mexican barber in the States and long-time illegal alien once explained to me the price of a hair cut was the best way to judge the true cost of living in any country. As young man he had traveled the world as a seaman and learned to barber aboard ship. He quite astutely found that all cost of living indexes were skewed in strange ways EXCEPT the price of a haircut. The fact the standard Tokyo haircut of 2,000-2,800 yen has dropped to 1,000 yen at "QB Net" is a true indication of how f-ed Japan has become...deflation, I love it!

I am going to disagree with your assessment there, Taro. You can get a men's haircut in Japan in a wide range anywhere from 1000 yen (QB) to 50,000+ range in the upper end in the Omotesando/Aoyama area. Is a 1000 yen hair cut the true indicator of low standard of living? I doubt it.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Yomiuri: Cut-price barbershops in local govts' crosshairs

Linking stray hair and influenza? Of all the crocks of shit I've ever heard, this has got to be the biggest. That's a bigger stretch than linking 9-11 and Saddam Hussein.

[Catoneinutica]

I am going to disagree with your assessment there, Taro. You can get a men's haircut in Japan in a wide range anywhere from 1000 yen (QB) to 50,000+ range in the upper end in the Omotesando/Aoyama area. Is a 1000 yen hair cut the true indicator of low standard of living? I doubt it.

"Standard of living" is a pretty elusive concept, but as an indicator of deflation, the proliferation of 1000-yen haircut joints is as dead-on as the proliferation of 100-yen shops, IMO. Ten years ago, the old farts running the full-service-including-straight-razor-shave joints were invariably charging around 4000 yen. Now it seems to be 2000-3000 yen. You had to seek out the quasi-creepy cheap-o places, and even then it was still about 1500 yen for a no-frills cut. Now the cheap-o places have breached the 1000-yen barrier, making QB comparatively expensive. There's some chain whose name eludes me where they charge 1500 yen]per year[/I].