If you’re looking to put a face to the name, Vaniday could be your new salon and spa fix. We spoke to its founder to find out how online beauty is becoming more bespoke than ever
Bridging the gap between personalised salon services, professionals that fit the consumer’s particular requirements and more bespoke online booking experiences, Vaniday is the new one-stop-shop wellness and beauty treatment platform that provides a wealth of experts at our fingertips.
Created to connect consumers with their ideal expert whether they’re looking for the perfect manicure, pedicure, waxing appointment, hair salon and more, it takes the term tailor-made to the next level, giving the brand a distinctive USP in a competitive marketplace. We spoke to Vaniday Co-founder and Global Co-CEO Maxime Legardez for his thoughts on the future of online beauty , what’s still lacking and how easy it can in fact be to find a beauty treatment to suit your particular needs.
GTG: How in your opinion has the online beauty industry changed in terms of how people search for beauty treatments and services?
ML: The beauty and wellness industry has grown tremendously over the past few years. With it, the choice of salons, professionals and services has grown also and clients now have an overwhelming choice of places and offers to use. It is very time-consuming and difficult to find exactly what you are looking for without a place that actually gives an overview of all salons and services available.
The majority of salons still have to rely on word-of-mouth recommendations and customers walking by the salon by chance. With Vaniday we are creating a platform that allows for much more than just static searches, but actual uniquely adaptable tools to finding your ideal beauty and wellness service in your area. Now, people can compare, review and rate salons all in one place and salons can benefit from a huge online exposure and tool for presenting themselves to their customers.
GTG: How do you feel the online beauty industry is continuing to change and adapt to suit the online shopper's needs? There's been such an emergence of apps in recent years.
ML: Nowadays there is an app or a website for virtually every kind of product or service. People can use an app to buy a plane ticket, order a taxi, make reservations at a restaurant - it is all available online. People are extremely conscious of time and efficiency, so the emergence of apps has been an enormous advantage. The beauty segment however, is one of the key industries that has not yet fully transitioned from offline to online. Our goal with Vaniday is to make beauty and wellness services just as accessible as any other service or product that is out there. People should be able to find and book whatever service they are looking for, in a matter of only a few clicks - that is what we provide.
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GTG: How do you see the landscape of beauty, wellness and online developing further in the future?
ML: The future of beauty and wellness is in mobile. The penetration of that segment currently lies at 51%, meaning that half of the world’s population is already using smartphones as a tool for online purchases and the market will continue to grow rapidly. Therefore, this trend will increasingly also conquer beauty and wellness and make all services much more accessible to customers.
GTG: How does Vaniday differ to other booking platforms out there? Could you provide us with an overview as to how it works?
ML: Vaniday is not only about the actual booking process. Of course, that is an integral part of our business but we are focused on creating a great experience for both - customers and salons. For customers this means they are able to review each salon profile, look at pictures of their work, read detailed descriptions about them, take a look at customer reviews and ratings and really make an informed decision. Salons on the other hand have the opportunity to use their profiles to showcase themselves. We will also provide an increasing amount of tools for salons in order to interact with customers. Anything from individualised newsletters, special offers or any other special services so salons can directly interact with their customer base.
An overview of how Vaniday works: it’s super simple. Say you are looking to get a haircut. All you need to do is connect to our website or download the app and type the service you need, your area and available time. Vaniday will return a list of salons and professionals who match your search - complete with a description, pictures of their work and price list which you can book straight away from and pay for - at the click of a button! Easy as it sounds!
Additionally, you can filter your results by price, customer satisfaction or using special keywords (like “bob” or “pixie”) and choose whether you want to go to the salon or have the professional come to you (to your home, office or wherever you are).
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GTG: Is there anything that you think is still lacking in the industry with regards to their online beauty experiences? How can they be addressed in your opinion?
ML: As the market is becoming increasingly sophisticated and established, so are the businesses that offer these services. There is still enormous room for growth and developments in terms of services to be offered and optimization of the customer experience.
We use our clients’ feedback in order to learn about what we can do to become even better and more focused on their desires. We will put a strong emphasis on mobile so that the booking process becomes even more convenient and enjoyable for our customers. As we grow the portfolio of salons and professionals, we will also be able to provide more services in more areas and make sure that people all around the world can benefit from our platform.
Follow us @getthegloss , @VanidayUK and Ayesha @Ayesha_Muttu .