Salon online bookings value grows by more than 50% in 2013

The value of salon online bookings grew by 53.4% in 2013, according to research from Shortcuts Software. For the period from January to December 2013, the total annual value of bookings made was over £9 million with more than 250,000 individual bookings made over the year. Further to this, Shortcuts broke down the statistics to reveal that the total number of bookings made outside of business hours was 105,215 - just under half. The top performing Shortcuts client in the UK received 4,184 bookings through the software over the year - an average of 11 per day. In 2012 the total annual value of bookings was £5,902,974, meaning that 2013 saw a massive 53.4% uplift and revealing just how much online booking as a service has grown in popularity over the last 12 months. Tom Bentley-Taylor, CEO of Shortcuts UK & Ireland commented:

“The popularity of online booking is increasing rapidly. We have seen over 53% growth in bookings in 2013, with the demand accelerating throughout the year. This is not slowing down as more and more consumers are searching online and looking for convenient ways of booking services at any time of the day or night. In addition, missed calls are averaging 20% - 35% across the industry and 68% of clients are not calling back, so having an additional avenue for booking is a crucial tool for any salon business. "Such growth shows that the industry is embracing a tool that is all but expected now by clients. Those salons that aren’t using online booking are in real danger of missing out on new clients, or worse, existing clients moving to those salons that offer the convenience & flexibility of 24/7 online booking. “The top-performing salon in the list is doing extremely well but they aren't a large chain - they are a single site who strongly promote the online booking service to their clients. They use their website, social media, on-hold phone message, window stickers and, crucially, the stylists talk about it. They are not alone in doing extremely well, the top 50 salons on the list each generated an average of £71,500 in 2013.”