booksalon

From finnish prototype to european powerhouse

One of the most popular booking systems for beauty & well-being services in Finland.
below
10%
Bounce Rate
lower
10%
Cart Abandonment
+20%
AOV
A sophisticated system for booking beauty and wellness salons, physiotherapist offices, personal training venues, and similar vendors.
For business owners, the system allows the management of their salons as an organization, including staff & shift management, services management, product and sales management, accepting payments with a dedicated payment terminal, booking management, also via a widget embedded at their salon’s website with full customizable information for the customer.

But above all, booksalon serves thousands of customers to perform a complex service - smooth online reservation, starting from the payment, through automated SMS and e-mail reminders, the possibility to pay online and on-site via a credit card terminal, adding products to the basket, to ordering.
Project Duration
Since April 2018
- 5 years
Provided Services
Customer Product Development
Product Design
Business Advisory
Most popular booking systems for beauty & well-being services in Finland.
being used by
5000+
salons in Europe
All-in-one system for vendors
Provider of both booking and payment services.
#1 on App Store
The mobile app achieved the top ranking in the lifestyle category (during its first weekend post-launch).

Experience that converts

Beyond numbers, Vetsak saw something deeper – users staying longer, exploring more, and finishing configurations with excitement rather than hesitation.
5000
salons on the platform
+300%
Bounce Rate
below
0.5%
churn
rate

What challenges did the client face?

At the beginning

Taking over the existing prototype
Unifying a set of unfinished or partially finished chunks of the system built by different teams.
Making the app production-ready
All the way through, from the setup of code quality tools, through the deployment process, to monitoring.
Refactor data model
With proper access and validation support to be implemented from scratch.

Along the way

Becoming an industry pioneer
To stay ahead of the competition, it was crucial to expand the range of functionality with what salon owners demanded
Entering new markets
Finland has always been intended as a launch pad, not a target market, so the developed product had to be both technologically and business-ready for expansion.
Customer app release
Initially, booksalon was a vendor-only solution, which over time evolved into an all-in-one solution, offering the whole range of facilities to customers as well.

Expert Insight

"Our approach to the process is about using it as a tool for the client's goal, not as a goal itself. That's why, particularly on booksalon, we work in Kanban instead of holding firmly to, for example, Scrum. Thanks to recent changes made in the development process related to the transition of the product into the next phase of development, as well as a significant increase in the development team, we are able to quickly deliver value to customers, flexibly adapt to changing priorities and smoothly launch releases even a few times in one week."
Agnieszka Zacher
Product Owner & Customer Success Manager

Key functionalities delivered

Payment facilitation
Unifying a set of unfinished or partially finished chunks of the system built by different teams.
Financial management
All the way through, from the setup of code quality tools, through the deployment process, to monitoring.
SMS and email notifications
around the booking
Management
customers, employees, services, and booking
Internationalization
Unifying a set of unfinished or partially finished chunks of the system built by different teams.
Booking web widget
Unifying a set of unfinished or partially finished chunks of the system built by different teams.
Complex admin report
Unifying a set of unfinished or partially finished chunks of the system built by different teams.
Point-of-sale system
Unifying a set of unfinished or partially finished chunks of the system built by different teams.
Booking system for the end-users
  • widget embedded in the vendors' websites
  • dedicated customer portal suggesting salons nearby based on your localization
  • online payment system
Time management
through a calendar interface
or partially finished chunks of the system built by different teams.
feedback

The client’s opinion

“I had my doubts about outsourcing some key development areas outside our company; however, people at Vazco have proven my doubts wrong. The team at Vazco has shown real commitment and product ownership at such a level that it would be hard to build even internally, and is definitely a rare experience when outsourced. They are also really nice people and fun to work with.”
Jonne Castren
Founder & COO of booksalon
ROI Potential

When to consider

Before
Product requiring investment
Booking software only
Only desktop version available
Only a few beauty salons in Finland covered by the service
1 developer working on the prototype
After
Self-financing product
Both booking software and payment hardware
Both desktop and mobile versions available
9-member development team working hard on the sophisticated system
Several thousand well-being facilities across the entire Scandinavia (and beyond) covered by the service.

What’s next?

Our achievements at this point are far from what we are aiming for. We’ll do our best to make this product so good that it will be your first choice when booking services - no matter if it will be a massage in Helsinki or a haircut in London.
Business Expansion
Entering new markets and covering more salons across all over Europe.
Enhanced product development
In addition to the new client-oriented functionalities, Book Salon is expanding with a mobile application and new analytical dashboards for vendors.
Strengthening the cooperation
Mutual support and business understanding take cooperation to a whole new level.

Want your business to thrive like Book Salon?

Book a free consultation today