“The global beauty industry is now worth EUR 340 billion and is estimated to reach EUR 414 billion by 2018 (Research and Markets, 2014). Although, it is one of the largest and most profitable industries in the world, the beauty & wellness sector is one of the few industries that has not yet fully transition from offline to online. It is so simple nowadays to book a plane ticket, order a table at your favorite restaurant or book a car service to your door online. We wanted to make beauty & wellness just as available to customers as these services, so we made it our mission to revolutionize the way people find and book services in this sector.” Said Nitin Reen, CEO Middle East & Co-Founder Vaniday in an interview.
Here’s the complete Q&A
Tell us a bit about Vaniday?
The cornerstone of the Vaniday philosophy is that looking and feeling your best should be accessible to every person, at any given moment, wherever they are in the world.
We want the online booking process of beauty & wellness treatments to be as convenient as it is to order a taxi, book a hotel or reserve a table at your favorite restaurant. With Vaniday, customers are able to discover new services and professionals, book appointments and get inspired. Salons can showcase their work, connect with new and existing clients, and grow their business.
From the customer’s perspective, it’s extremely simple. Visit our website or download the app, and then you can either scroll through the numerous categories of services we offer on our platform or type in what you are looking for. Vaniday will return a list of outlets that match your search – complete with images as well as the professionals’ work and price list. Once you have chosen your desired service, you can book it straight away and opt to pay for it instantly or when you visit the salon or spa. This can all be done either at the click of a button or the tap of an app.
Vaniday is backed by Rocket Internet, the company behind Middle Eastern success stories Namshi and EasyTaxi, and it has brought its beauty, wellness and digital expertise to launch Vaniday. Vaniday is becoming the world’s go-to beauty destination and we are now active in 7 markets on 3 continents.
Where did the concept for Vaniday originate?
The global beauty industry is now worth EUR 340 billion and is estimated to reach EUR 414 billion by 2018 (Research and Markets, 2014).
Although, it is one of the largest and most profitable industries in the world, the beauty & wellness sector is one of the few industries that has not yet fully transition from offline to online. It is so simple nowadays to book a plane ticket, order a table at your favorite restaurant or book a car service to your door online. We wanted to make beauty & wellness just as available to customers as these services, so we made it our mission to revolutionize the way people find and book services in this sector.
We believe finding a new beauty or wellness professional is a personal matter that deserves more individualized search tools than a generic 0-10 rating approach so we saw a clear need to optimize the finding and booking process of all sorts of services related to beauty & wellness.
We identified a gap in the market – there was a demand from customers to find an easy way discover new beauty and wellness services, and from busy salon owners to make their businesses more accessible and profitable by using a digital platform. Thus, Vaniday was born.
What makes Vaniday unique as a service?
First of all, we have an unprecedented number of high-end, well-established outlets on the site, who offer exclusive offers to our users.
We are also available online via the website, as well as both an android and an iphone app.
Our customer service team are highly-trained and ensure that booking and payment for services is both easy and convenient for salons and clients alike. Our customer service agents take care of the headache of booking your beauty appointments and finding the right time to go – we do all the work for you so you can book an appointment in just a few clicks. Convenience, online payment and enhanced customer service make Vaniday the go-to place to book beauty appointments. Finally, unlike salons and spas which have strict opening hours, Vaniday is available 24/7, 365 days of the year.
Who is Vaniday’s target audience?
Anyone with a busy lifestyle who loves indulging in hair, beauty and spa treatments. More than a third of our users are males and most of our users are professionals who want to be able to book salon and spa visits quickly and conveniently, without worrying about where to go or what appointment is available. Vaniday removes all the stress from booking an appointment -all the user has to do is use our site, turn up at their chosen outlet and enjoy their selected treatment.
Why did you decide to launch Vaniday in the UAE?
Given the hectic lifestyle in the UAE, we felt that many people needed a service that could save them time when they wanted to book a salon or spa visit. After all, there are sites to book hotel stays and restaurant visits, so why not have one for beauty services! The Middle East in general and the UAE specifically, is one of the fastest growing beauty market in the world. This, along with the fact that the UAE has one of the highest smartphone penetrations in the world and a growing propensity to transact online, made the foray into the UAE market a very simple one.
How can businesses/PR companies get involved with Vaniday?
There are many ways in external agencies can get involved. As a young but rapidly expanding company, we are open to fresh ideas and progressive thinking and we are always on the lookout for exciting collaborations! All they need to go in get in touch.
For any salon or spa that would like to be listed on Vaniday, its management can get in touch and we can negotiate how they can become salon partners. We can be reached at partnerships@vaniday.ae
Did you face any challenges in establishing the website in the UAE?
The main challenge at the beginning was hiring a great team. Especially when starting from scratch, it is of highest priority to make good hiring decisions; not only to acquire the skills needed to build a certain company but also hire fitting personalities that will work well together. The global network is very beneficial here as it gives access to a great talent pool. Our goal was to be lean which demanded the highest standards of efficiency. We were quite lucky in finding amazing talent. Everyone in our team is a rockstar in his/her focus area. The intangible that we wanted to achieve was to bring people in who are truly passionate about our company and we have strived to cultivate an environment where people feel that this is their company and they take pride in all of its achievements. We were fortunate to achieve this objective and today, everybody in our team lives and loves Vaniday.
What does the future hold for Vaniday?
We are currently experiencing a very rapid growth. We have been active for less than a year and are already in numerous countries, all around the globe. We are constantly working on expanding our existing as well as new markets. In regards to the Middle East, this trend also holds true. This is a region whose market behaviour is very conducive to our business model and we are planning to capitalize on this to the benefit of our current and potential customers.