How New Zealand's largest hair salon chain solved a wage crisis by building a 26-person team in Fiji

About VIVO Hair and Beauty

VIVO Hair and Beauty is New Zealand's largest chain of hair salons. Founded 14 years ago, the business has grown to 82 salons nationwide, employing 600 people across salon teams and the head office. At that scale, customer retention isn't just a service priority — it's a commercial engine. Getting lapsed clients back through the door is one of the most valuable activities the business can run.

The challenge

The trigger was blunt: wage inflation. Post-COVID New Zealand brought a confluence of pressures. Minimum wage increases, record-low unemployment, and a sharp reduction in immigration created a labour market where finding capable customer service staff was both difficult and expensive.

For VIVO's outbound call centre, the commercial model depends on two metrics: bookings per hour (the operational measure) and cost per booking (the commercial one). The cost per booking onshore had become unviable. Something had to change.

"The cost per booking was becoming unviable onshore, so we had no choice but to look offshore."

James Carlisle initially looked at the Philippines before Fiji emerged as the stronger fit. The deciding factor was cultural familiarity: a significant Fijian community already lives in New Zealand, including staff within VIVO's own salons. For VIVO's customers, speaking to a Fijian on the phone is entirely unremarkable.

The transition

VIVO launched in Fiji in June 2023 with a team of 7, scaling quickly to 26. The transition was treated seriously from the outset: the contact centre manager and second-in-command travelled to Fiji four times, spending two to three weeks on the ground each visit. The Fiji team was trained properly before being trusted with live client interactions.

"We value our clients and can't afford to risk losing them, so we invested heavily in sending resources to Fiji for training, to set the team up for success. Our staff loved it, and they were treated like royalty."

James is candid about the fact that early recruitment wasn't perfect. Building a high-performing team anywhere takes iteration. What VIVO now has is a core group of trusted, high-performing staff who have proven themselves over time.

What they outsource and how they're scaling it

Outbound calling was the starting point, chosen because it's well-defined, measurable, and fast to train. The Fiji team's primary function is re-engaging lapsed salon clients to book appointments, with performance tracked against the one booking per hour per FTE benchmark. That KPI is being met.

Inbound customer service requires more training and has remained onshore in New Zealand, but that's starting to shift. VIVO has begun cross-training Fijian team members to handle more complex inbound calls, with plans to expand that function to around 10 FTE in Fiji within six months.

Accounts payable is the newest addition, with a small team being recruited in Fiji to take on that function as well. The scope continues to broaden as confidence in the team grows.

What makes it work

Two locations in Fiji (Nadi and Suva) provide operational redundancy. IT infrastructure has been reliable, with no notable outages reported. The Fijian workforce has proven to be genuinely engaged: warm, team-oriented, and motivated to perform.

"Fijians are warm, genuine people who want their jobs and are keen to work as a team. It's really been a pleasure to work with them."

James's advice to other businesses considering the same path is direct: invest in training upfront, then stay involved. The offshore model doesn't run itself. Ongoing support, monitoring, and a genuine partnership mentality are what separate successful implementations from disappointing ones.