Background
Hairdressing Supplies have been a leading supplier in the professional haircare industry for nearly a decade. Originally starting as a B2B distributor for smaller wholesalers, the company has steadily expanded its reach. Today, the business operates across both B2B and B2C, serving a mix of salon professionals, wholesalers, and retail buyers.
The challenge
Hairdressing Supplies' previous B2B setup had reached a point where it was holding the business back from scaling. Delivering a seamless B2B experience remained a major challenge, and they trialled 12 different B2B apps before finding SparkLayer.
They were finding that many B2B platforms didn’t fully support advanced B2B requirements like custom pricing and tiered customer groups. Most options they tested out were clunky, prone to issues, or placed hard limits on customer groups and price lists, stalling their progress. The business needed to manage both retail customers and high-value wholesale buyers. Without a dedicated solution, separating these groups and applying a truly personalised pricing structure was near impossible - without extensive and time-consuming manual workarounds.
Their teams were spending time handling manual orders over the phone or via email, slowed down by their existing setup. At a commercial level, some platforms they had trialled forced compromises, such as rounding down product prices - directly impacting profit margins.
The solution
Hairdressing Supplies discovered SparkLayer organically through a Reddit forum and made the switch in early 2023. Within a month, SparkLayer eliminated nearly all the pain points from their previous setup.
Using Shopify’s tagging system and SparkLayer’s extensive API documentation, the change management process was simple and scalable. They are now able to host a dedicated B2B store that offers custom price lists, simplified tiered pricing, and clear segmentation between retail and wholesale customers, thanks to a registration page and private login stage.
The team have added Sales Agent functionality, meaning their reps can now create and manage large orders quickly on behalf of their buyers. This has not only streamlined ordering processes for more traditional customers, but also added a layer of personalisation to the buying experience. With no hard limits on customer groups or price lists, Hairdressing Supplies have been able to build over 20 custom groups, including price-match strategies against competitors.
The results
Within one month of implementation, SparkLayer resolved nearly all issues Hairdressing Supplies had faced with competing apps. Their wholesale clients gained a smoother, self-service buying journey with custom pricing, easy variant selection, and a streamlined checkout experience.
SparkLayer’s Sales Agent feature alone saved countless hours per week, removing the need for workarounds. Customers required little to no training during the transition, highlighting SparkLayer’s intuitive, B2C-style interface and functionality.
Access to advanced SparkLayer tools, like the Discount Engine 2.0 and Intelligent Cart, has given Hairdressing Supplies room to expand their B2B offering further - with no sign of slowing down in sight!
“It's a really good solution. We switched to SparkLayer and, within a month, all the issues pretty much went away. Compared to the other apps, it’s the simplest way of doing it - I really like the fact that SparkLayer lets Shopify handle things within the existing setup, too. We have a lot of customers who prefer to call in or they'll send an email with their order rather than putting it on the website, so the Sales Agents tool is very powerful.” ~ Kajo Ciesielski, Ecommerce Executive
Explore more
To learn more about Hair Dressing Supplies, their product range, and the story of their brand, visit their website.
To see how SparkLayer works with Shopify, you can explore via the links below: