BeautyBuddy is not the first online salon booking system I have tried but it is most efficient one so far and this is not to diss similar other platforms. BeautyBuddy went beyond what was expected of them when I made a hair color appointment at Basement Salon in Eastwood Mall last weekend.
I simply made a booking at www.beautybuddy.com.ph and I received an e-mail from them confirming my appointment for hair color at Basement Salon. After that, it was the salon who made reminders via e-mail and SMS.
On the day of my appointment, it was heavy traffic all over Metro Manila so I was very late for my appointment but thanks to Basememt Salon, they entertained my calls to explain why I was late and made adjustments to my booking.
When I got to Basement Salon, the hair color process went smoothly. I say this because I experienced some problems with another booking platform when I booked a haircut and hair color. When I got there, the salon had no idea that I had an appointment and there wasn’t even an entry in their logbook. The salon had to call someone who was on their day off and it turns out this person forgot to list down the appointment, and this made the whole thing stressful and slightly humiliating, not to mention the 20 minutes or so wasted trying to contact someone who knew about the booking.
Well, no such thing happened with BeautyBuddy. I had a relaxing time with senior stylist JR and his assistant Rain. I was so relaxed that I even fell asleep and this, to me, is the point of going to a salon.
BeautyBuddy is online booking and discovery platform that helps spas, salons, barbershops, and even clinics digitize their businesses. At www.beautybuddy.com.ph, you can browse through a menu of different styles, services, stylists, and salons and book them in one go. It aims to be an all-in-one portal that helps manage appointment bookings and store customer records. Through the personalized communication feature, BeautyBuddy’s partners can create customized booking reminders to be automatically sent to clients through SMS or e-mail.
BeautyBuddy also has a system that analyzes available data that can remind people when it’s time to go back for a hair appointment or something else.
BeautyBuddy also has a bookable lookbook, an online inspiration board where the platform aggregates its partners’ portfolios.
Customers can search for a celebrity look or a beauty trend and book a salon that offers their chosen style.
“This is our way of putting the spotlight on the salons and their stylists. We want our customers to be loyal to the salon for their craft and not just because of a voucher that is valid for one-time use. Plus, it allows them to upsell because multiple services are highlighted to get one look,” said chief executive Officer Victoria Riingen.
For businesses, there’s BuddyDash, the platform’s real-time dashboard which displays sales breakdown reports, client information, promotion performance, and all other data that can be useful for BeautyBuddy’s partners. “We understand that if businesses stick to pen and paper, at least 15 percent of profit is lost with workaround costs, 56 percent of revenue is lost from missed opportunities, and 100 percent of data is lost. BeautyBuddy is here not only to make their shift to digital seamless, but also to help them understand data about their business and clients in real time,” said BeautyBuddy chief operating officer Pia Trinidad.
Trinidad and Riingen have worked in tech companies, specifically Agoda and Spotify, respectively. They have also experienced firsthand the difficulty of syncing their schedules for self-care appointments and with BeautyBuddy, they have found a way to bridge the two things they are passionate about—beauty and tech.
Both of them lived in Singapore and they know how important digitalization is.
“The venture capital firms and tech executives—including Iterative VC and XA Network based in Singapore, Magic Fund in the US, along with tech executives from Google, Microsoft, Lazada and Paymongo—which have backed our start-up recognize the need for this platform. We are building a world-class platform,” said Riingen.
BeautyBuddy’s brand partners include David’s Salon, Basement Salon, Bench Skin Expert, Studio Fix by Alex Carbonell, I Do Nails, Chai Spa, Bloom Dermatology, Spray, and Nuyu Spa.
For more information and updates, follow BeautyBuddy on Facebook and @beautybuddycom on Instagram. For salons, nail spas, and other beauty-related businesses who are looking to expand their brand with BeautyBuddy, you get in touch with Victoria Riingen at victoria@beautybuddy.com.ph.