diversion information
Purchase your Graham Webb products from a trusted source - your hairdresser - who can provide you with a professional recommendation to ensure your satisfaction with our products is met, and will continue to recommend the best products for your hair type and ongoing styling needs.
Graham Webb remains committed to our salon-only policy of distribution because we have your best interests and beauty care needs in mind. As we are often asked about diversion practices and their affect on our industry, we'd like to take this opportunity to address some frequently asked questions:
What is diversion?
Graham Webb products are authorized for sale exclusively through licensed beauty salons and cosmetologists. When Graham Webb products are sold outside of these intended channels of distribution, diversion has occurred. In the case of a product recall, diversion makes it impossible to track the products in question through the chain of distribution or locate them in any way. This degrades the professionalism and credibility of Graham Webb products and negatively affects the salon industry as a whole, both ethically and financially.
How does diversion occur?
Diversion can occur through multiple sources, including manufacturers or distributors who "look the other way" by selling more than a salon legitimately needs or by selling to unauthorized persons. Diversion most often occurs through "collectors," who solicit salons to sell products to them in bulk. Products are then resold to mass diverters, such as Quality King, who in turn sell to unauthorized retail outlets that include drugstores or grocery stores.
How do collectors operate?
Collectors contact salons by telephone, mail or personal visits. They ask salons to order more products than they need and to resell those extra products to the collector. When the order arrives at the salon, the collector picks up the products and generally pays the salon a small percentage over cost. The products are then sold to mass diverters, such as Quality King, who in turn sell to unauthorized retail outlets.
Are products purchased through diversion channels less expensive than those purchased in authorized salons?
Just because the store calls itself a "discount" outlet doesn't necessarily mean the prices are lower than you would pay at your salon. Often, the so-called "discount store" offers diverted products at prices that are only a few cents lower; in most cases, the prices are actually higher than salon prices, even when the products have been damaged or mishandled.
Why does Graham Webb fight diversion practices?
We believe our quality products will produce optimum results only if they are prescribed by trained salon professionals who understand their clients' hair and beauty needs. We so firmly believe this that we guarantee you will be satisfied with Graham Webb products when you purchase them through professional salons.
Another important reason Graham Webb fights diversion practices is to ensure the quality of the Graham Webb products you are buying. When products are "diverted" and sold at unauthorized retail outlets, they may have been mishandled before reaching the store's shelves, or may be old, damaged, obsolete, contaminated or even counterfeit.
What action is Graham Webb taking to stop the diversion of its products?
Graham Webb has made a substantial commitment to stopping diversion practices of any kind. Here are some of our key efforts:
- We require all distributors and salons to sign contracts agreeing that our products will not be resold to diverters.
- We code our products so that we can track them back to the party responsible for the diversion, and we offer our state-of-the-art coding system to all industry manufacturers, free of charge.
- We regularly conduct investigations into diversion activities and pursue legal action to combat the diversion of its product lines.
- We conduct salon audits nationwide to determine if accounts purchasing questionable volumes of products are using or reselling them legitimately.
- We offer a toll free number and email address for reporting diversion instances, each of which are validated and pursued.
- We participate in the Beauty Industry Fund for Consumer Protection to combat diversion on an industry-wide level.
Any salon or distributor involved with the diversion of Graham Webb products is no longer able to purchase our products. To date, we have identified hundreds of accounts that subsequently have been prohibited from purchasing Graham Webb products in the future.
What is the Beauty Industry Fund for Consumer Protection?
In 2002, Graham Webb formed this consortium of individual manufacturers, distributors and salons in an effort to prevent the defacement of products where batch codes are altered or obliterated. Working with some of the country's leading legal counsel, the Beauty Industry Fund (BIF) created an industry-wide salon contract that would eliminate the need for multiple salon contracts. Once a salon signs this contract, all lines it purchases are automatically covered under the terms of the contract, which strictly forbids diversion practices.
The BIF is currently working to pass nationwide legislation prohibiting the defacement of product codes, and is investigating a target lawsuit that would set a legal precedent that would bar retailers from selling defaced merchandise.
To become involved with the BIF or learn more about their goals and related activities, contact them care of Deborah Lodge at (202) 457-6030.
What is Graham Webb's position on the sale of its products on the Internet?
Graham Webb's policies limit the sale of its products exclusively to the premises of licensed beauty salons. When signing a Graham Webb contract, the salon agrees not to sell Graham Webb products over the Internet. We believe a personal, in-salon consultation with a licensed cosmetologist is necessary to assure that the appropriate products are recommended for the client's hair and beauty needs, and that this key interaction cannot satisfactorily occur over the Internet. Furthermore, conducting sales over the Internet eliminates the personal interaction salons can have with clients that lead to add-on sales and services, which reduces their profits, and hurts the industry as a whole.
As a result of our aggressive enforcement of this policy, Graham Webb products have been removed from numerous websites selling professional salon products.
What can salons do to help Graham Webb stop diversion?
- If a collector contacts you, call Graham Webb's Diversion Control Department at 1-800-470-9909, or via email at Diversion@GrahamWebb.com to report it. Be sure to provide their name and telephone number.
- Ensure all salon employees are trained not to sell Graham Webb products to anyone in quantities exceeding that which would be needed for personal use.
- Support the retailing of professional products to your clients in your salon. If clients are buying from salons, there won't be a demand for professional products at retail stores. KEEP THE DOLLARS IN THE SALON!
By working together...salons, manufacturers and distributors, we can and will stop diversion!
