booksalon

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

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

5000+

salons on the platform

+300%

YoY
growth

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

The platform handles payment processing and settlement, simplifying financial operations for salon owners.

Financial management

Built-in tools help track revenues, fees, and payouts so owners always know how their business is performing financially.

SMS and email notifications

Automated SMS and email reminders around the booking reduce no-shows and keep both customers and staff informed about upcoming visits.

Management

customers, employees, services, and booking

Internationalization

The platform is prepared to support broader product expansion.

Booking web widget

A customizable booking widget can be embedded on any website, turning salon pages into self-service reservation channels.

Complex admin report

Advanced reporting gives managers insight into performance in just a few clicks.

Point-of-sale system

A dedicated POS solution connects in-salon terminals with the booking system, unifying online and on-site payments.

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

Functionality allows salon owners and staff to easily view, schedule, modify, and track appointments.

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

impact

Before vs After

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.

From finnish prototype to european powerhouse