Book salon launches in uk
Book Salon, a payment and booking service provider specialising in hair, beauty, and wellness companies, is launching operations in the UK. The Finnish start-up provides entrepreneurs with a full suite of modern tools to run a successful business. Book Salon offers payment terminals and a payment processing service, in addition to its website builder, online booking systems, and cash and accounting reports.
With the support of international investors, Book Salon is expanding its operations in Europe. Having successfully launched in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway this May, Book Salon is ready to launch in the British market. Book Salon already has a number of clients in the UK, and it sees potential for rapid growth, as a 2020 study showed that 75% of British salons did not use any digital booking systems, resulting in an estimated industry loss of over £1.2 billion from missed appointments alone.
Harri Myllylä, CEO of Book Salon says: “We are excited about expanding our services to the UK. There are more than 300,000 hair and beauty professionals in the UK, and a majority of them are still working by phone and on paper. This means thousands of British businesses are losing time and money by not using any digital tools to improve their workflow and decrease workload.”
Not having digital tools means a loss in income, potential difficulties in splitting income correctly between salon workers, and more time spent in the office rather than with clients. For example, estimates from 2020 show British hairdressers may face losses of over £81 million yearly because their cashless payment systems fail to accommodate and encourage tipping.
In addition, Book Salon has data from over 1,000 salons showing that 52% of appointment bookings happen between 5pm and 9am. Businesses not using online booking or booking apps are therefore likely to lose potentially tens of thousands of pounds a year from unbooked appointments.
“The British hair and beauty industry was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic, according to the NHBF, but it is recovering fast. Many salons now have great potential for growth, but they spend time on repetitive admin tasks that lead to loss of time and income. We want to help salons grow from one-person shows to multi-person teams and new locations,” continues Harri.
Book Salon’s CMO, Seppo Noso, says: “Our business model is based on helping our customer salons to grow their businesses. Our team being a blend of former beauty salon professionals and successful entrepreneurs, allows us to do just that.”
