Vaniday has created an online marketplace that connects beauty and wellness professionals with their clients. Co-founded by CEO Maxime Legardez and e-commerce ‘start-up builder’ Rocket Internet, Vaniday has grown with pace since it went live in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 29th 2015.
The innovative online start-up originated from a simple observation: unlike the food or transportation industry, where every service could be easily booked online, beauty and wellness salons had either no or limited online presence. The solution seemed obvious: to create an online platform enabling consumers to book beauty and wellness treatments easily on the internet – anytime, anywhere.
Consequently in July 2015, the company raised €15 million of investment from Rocket Internet and other investors and has since substantially increased its salons inventory and its international presence. It is also continually improving the experience for customers and partner salons.
Today the company is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, and has over 100 employees in six countries around the world. Its achievements after one year rank Vaniday among the most promising start-ups of the beauty and wellness market with:
-> An average monthly growth of 30/40%
-> A presence in 4 continents
-> Operating in Brazil (Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), Italy (Milan and Turin), Russia (Moscow), UAE (Dubai), Australia (Sydney and Melbourne) and Singapore.
-> A constantly expanding number of high-quality salons listed on the platform alongside photos, descriptions and consumer reviews
-> A diverse catalogue of services including: haircuts, skin care, nail care, makeup, waxing, massages, wellness treatments, sun tanning, tattoo or yoga classes.
-> A user-friendly booking platform available in each market on desktop as well as on mobile (Android and iOS) including a geo-localization tool.
A KEY PLAYER IN THE INDUSTRY, BRINGING A FULLY CONNECTED BEAUTY & WELLNESS MARKET TO FRUITION
After 12 months, the results show that Vaniday has made a winning bet seizing this market opportunity.
On the professionals’ side:
-> More than 9,000 salons have joined the platform
-> Professionals have seen their businesses growing by up to 30%
On the consumers’ side:
-> 50% of the bookings are made out of opening hours
-> 40% of customers return to the platform for their next booking and this figure is continuously growing
-> 115,000 app downloads overall (IOS: 64,000 and Android: 51,000)
“The beauty and wellness industry will represent more than 400 billion euros by 2018 and yet it is one of the few markets that is not completely connected. We enable customers to book and discover beauty and wellness treatments directly from our salons in just a few clicks while also allowing salons to present their work and be in direct contact with customers. Our aim for the forthcoming year is to continue improving and developing our platform to offer a unique and always renewed experience for our partner salons and their customers” explains Maxime Legardez, co-founder and CEO of Vaniday.
“It’s been nearly a year since I began with Vaniday in Dubai. We started with just 4 people and 4 laptops and many long nights. We had one objective – to revolutionize the beauty industry. It gives me a great sense of pride to see how far we’ve come in such a short period of time. With more than 700 proud partners in the UAE and thousands worldwide across 4 continents, I’m humbled by our early success. I’m looking forward to a future when Vaniday is the only thing people think of when booking a beauty appointment,” says Nitin Reen, CEO Middle East & Co-Founder Vaniday.
As a result of its activity, Vaniday is significantly improving the business of its partner salons through structuring communication within the beauty and wellness industry and pushing the market towards a fully connected business model.
To facilitate and accelerate this switch, Vaniday is now taking its interactive platform a step further with the launch of
My.Vaniday This free software connects and streamlines the booking process between consumers and salons as well as equipping them with a complete set of tools for managing their businesses, including staffing, promotions, calendar scheduling and invoicing. The salon simply logs in and creates a profile. Then, they can commence planning and managing customer’s appointments online.
With hundreds of salons using this tool already, as well as a growing number of professionals willing to use it, both the salons and consumers´ experience are enhanced as never before.
In parallel to this free software, Vaniday will soon be launching a referral program and a loyalty program to reward its growing user base.
“It’s truly amazing the progress Vaniday made globally in just one short year. I look forward to toasting even more of these achievements in the months and years to come,” says Ruksher Malik, Pastels Salon.
FROM AN ONLINE BOOKING PLATFORM TO A BEAUTY DESTINATION
Vaniday´s vision of the business evolves alongside the market and consumers´expectations.
Therefore, in the coming months, Vaniday´s business model will not only be about creating a space to connect consumers and beauty or wellness professionals, but also to inspire them.
Vaniday is now moving from being purely a booking platform, towards becoming a real beauty destination.
By bringing the latest beauty and wellness trends to consumers, Vaniday will help them find the latest beauty news or tips and also connect them to salons offering these specific treatments. We aim to be a rich content provider able to inspire consumers and offer them the possibility to adopt the latest beauty trends in one simple click.