In today’s fast-paced world, people seek convenience and efficiency in every aspect of their lives, including beauty services. That’s why on-demand beauty service apps have become increasingly popular. These apps allow users to book appointments with beauty professionals for various services, from haircuts to makeup applications, all from the comfort of their homes.
But what does it take to develop an on-demand beauty service app, and how much does it cost? In this article, we’ll explore the essential features of a successful on-demand beauty service app and the factors contributing to the cost of developing such an app.
Whether you’re a beauty entrepreneur looking to launch your app or simply interested in learning more about this growing trend, read on to discover everything you need to know about on-demand beauty service app development costs and features.
What is an On-demand Beauty Services App?
An on-demand beauty services app is a mobile application that connects customers with beauty service providers in real-time. This app allows customers to easily book appointments for beauty services such as haircuts, manicures, pedicures, massages, and makeup applications.
From a business point of view, an on-demand beauty services app can be an excellent opportunity for entrepreneurs looking to tap into the rapidly growing beauty industry.
Here Are Some of The Benefits of Launching an On-Demand Beauty Services App:
- High Demand: The beauty industry is a multi-billion-dollar market constantly growing. With an on-demand beauty services app, you can tap into this demand and provide customers with a convenient and efficient way to access beauty services.
- Easy Scalability: On-demand beauty services apps are easy to scale because they can be used in multiple locations. As your business grows, you can expand your services to different cities or countries.
- Flexible Pricing: With an on-demand beauty services app, you can offer different pricing plans to your customers. For example, you can charge a higher fee for premium services or offer discounts for bulk bookings.
- Targeted Marketing: On-demand beauty services apps can be a great way to target specific demographics. By analyzing user data, you can create targeted marketing campaigns that appeal to your desired customer base.
- Increased Efficiency: On-demand beauty services apps can help streamline the booking and payment process, saving time and increasing efficiency. By automating these processes, you can focus on providing high-quality services and growing your business.
Overall, an on-demand beauty services app can be a lucrative business opportunity for entrepreneurs passionate about the beauty industry and looking for innovative ways to connect with customers.
Why Invest in Beauty Services Mobile App: Market Size and Stats
The global beauty industry is growing exponentially as beauty brands seek better alternatives. The global beauty industry is worth over $532 billion and is estimated to reach $716.6 billion by 2025. In a lifetime, an average woman spends over $225,000 on skincare alone.
Moving on, owing to increasing consumer demand for beauty services and the shift to the online platform, the life of beauty freelancers has become much more manageable. Last year, out of the 1.2 million professionals, including stylists, hairdressers, and cosmetologists in the US, approximately 70% started marketing themselves through mobile applications.
According to another report, the spa and beauty salon market in 2017 was valued at $128.59 billion. And this is anticipated to reach $190.81 billion in 2024.
Revenue of The Cosmetic/beauty Industry in The Us from 2002 to 2020
The global spas and beauty salon market size was valued at USD 139.1 billion in 2021 and is expected to increase to USD 181.44 billion by 2028, with a 4.50 percent CAGR.
The above statistics show the industry’s massive valuation and wide user base. This implies the adequate potential for plenty of beautiful on-demand service providers to coexist and succeed.
Understanding this gigantic potential, several investors have invested in popular beauty services. This is clear from GlamSquad, a New York-based startup’s whopping amount of funding raised.
How Beauty On-demand Mobile App Works?
Explore how a beauty on-demand mobile app works in technical and non-technical terms.
Non-Technical Working:
A beauty on-demand mobile app is a platform that connects users with beauty professionals for on-demand services. Here’s how it typically works:
- Download the App: Users download the beauty on-demand mobile app from the app store and create an account.
- Browse Services: Users can browse through a list of available beauty services professionals offer on the app. These services include makeup application, hair styling, and nail care.
- Book a Service: Once the user has selected a service, they can choose a beauty professional based on reviews and ratings. They can then book a service at a time and location that is convenient for them.
- Payment: The user pays for the service through the app and can leave a tip for the beauty professional.
- Enjoy the Service: The beauty professional arrives at the user’s chosen location and performs the service.
Technical Working:
The technical workings of a beauty on-demand mobile app are more complex. Here are some of the critical components and processes involved:
- User Interface: The user interface of the app is designed to be simple and intuitive, allowing users to browse services, book appointments, and pay for assistance with ease.
- Backend Database: The app relies on a backend database to store information about users, beauty professionals, services, appointments, and payments.
- Geolocation: The app uses geolocation technology to identify the user’s location and match them with nearby beauty professionals.
- Push Notifications: The app sends push notifications to users to confirm appointments, remind them of upcoming appointments, and provide updates on the status of their appointments.
- Payment Gateway Integration: The app integrates with a payment gateway to securely process payments for services and handle tips for beauty professionals.
- Review and Rating System: The app includes a review and rating system that allows users to rate and provide feedback on the quality of service they receive from beauty professionals.
Developing Apps for the Beauty Industry
Developing apps for the beauty industry can be a great way to enhance customer engagement and streamline business operations. These apps can offer features such as virtual try-on, appointment scheduling, product recommendations, loyalty programs, and online purchasing. Additionally, they can provide valuable data insights to improve marketing strategies and product offerings.
It’s essential to remember the target audience and the business’s specific needs when developing a beauty industry app. A well-designed app can increase brand awareness, customer loyalty, and overall revenue for the company.
The Different Services that Can Be Extended Within the Beauty Industry Include but Are Not Limited To:
- Virtual beauty consultations
- On-demand makeup and hair styling services
- Beauty subscription boxes
- Personalized skincare analysis and product recommendations
- Online beauty communities and forums
- Virtual makeup try-on tools
- Beauty tutorial and education platforms
- Social media beauty influencer collaborations
- Natural and organic beauty product marketplaces
- Beauty-focused augmented reality experiences
- Beauty loyalty programs and rewards systems
- Beauty event and workshop booking platforms
- Beauty product customization services
- Virtual reality beauty experiences.
Types of On-demand Beauty Service Apps
There Are Two Main Types of On-Demand Beauty Service Apps Based on Their Business Model:
1. Dedicated/Self-Owned Model:
In this model, a beauty service provider or company creates their own on-demand beauty service app to offer its services directly to the customers. They manage the entire process, from customer acquisition to service delivery.
2. Aggregator Beauty Service App:
In this model, an aggregator company creates an on-demand beauty service app that connects customers with a network of beauty service providers. The aggregator company acts as a middleman between the customers and the service providers, managing the platform and ensuring the services’ quality.
Based on The Type of Business Model, the Types of On-Demand Beauty Service Apps Can Be Further Classified as Follows:
1. Dedicated/Self-Owned Model:
- Brand-Owned Apps: These are on-demand beauty service apps created and managed by brands such as Sephora, MAC, and L’Oreal. These apps offer a range of beauty services, including makeup, hair styling, and skincare, and allow customers to book appointments directly with the brand’s beauty professionals.
- Freelance Professional Apps: These are on-demand beauty service apps that allow freelance beauty professionals to offer their services directly to customers. Examples of such apps include Priv and Glamsquad, where customers can book appointments with freelance beauty professionals who come to their homes or workplaces.
Aggregator Beauty Service App:
- Beauty Professional Booking Apps: These are on-demand beauty service apps that allow customers to book appointments with a network of beauty professionals, including hairstylists, makeup artists, and estheticians. Examples of such apps include StyleSeat and Vagaro.
- In-Salon Booking Apps: These are on-demand beauty service apps that allow customers to book appointments at partner salons and spas. Examples of such apps include Vaniday and Booksy.
Scaling Your Beauty On-demand Service App
To stand apart from the crowd, several businesses are extending beyond the primary offerings and experimenting with scaling their business in the following ways:
1. Adding New Categories
Adding new categories, such as Ayurveda, aquatic therapy, laser, nutrition consulting, etc., is a great way to scale your offerings.
2. Integrating The E-commerce Platform
Selling beauty and wellness products by adding an online store can help you achieve a competitive advantage.
3. Entering a New Geographical Market
To reach more customers, you can enter an entirely new geographical market.
4. Beginning with Subscription Boxes
Subscription boxes are great as they help users to stay true to their everyday beauty regime. You can start delivering a customized box of beauty products each month to your customers for a fixed monthly price.
5. Launching an Exclusive Offline Store
Once your brand has made a mark online, you can set up an offline store and earn from a franchise model.
6. Focus on Customer Acquisition
You must attract more customers to scale your beauty service app. Invest in marketing and advertising campaigns that target your ideal audience. Use social media platforms and other digital marketing channels to reach your target market.
7. Improve Your User Experience
Your beauty service app must offer a great user experience to attract and retain customers. Continuously improve the app’s functionality, user interface, and features to meet the changing needs of your customers.
8. Optimize Your Pricing Strategy
Your pricing strategy is critical in scaling your beauty service app. Conduct market research to determine your competitors’ charging and adjust your pricing accordingly.
9. Expand Your Service Offerings
Consider expanding your service offerings to attract more customers and retain existing ones. This could include offering new services or partnering with other beauty service providers to provide a broader range of services.
10. Hire More Professionals
As your beauty service app grows, you must hire more professionals to meet demand. Ensure you have a rigorous vetting process to hire the best professionals.
11. Leverage Technology
Use technology to streamline your operations and improve efficiency. Consider using automated scheduling tools, payment processing systems, and other technology solutions to improve the customer experience.
Monetization Opportunities by On-Demand Beauty Service App
1. Featured Listings
In this, the aggregator apps can feature a few beauty service providers in the top section of the app or advertise them separately to grab the user’s attention. In return for this featured listing, the app owner can charge a specific fee. Many service providers opt for featured listing as it helps to receive maximum sales.
2. Commission
The mobile app owner charges a specific amount of money from the salons and beauticians listed on the app. This commission is charged for every order placed through the app. This is a popular source of revenue for aggregator apps that allows the owners to generate a large sum of income.
3. eCommerce Enablement
The app owner can add an online beauty store to set up a parallel revenue stream. The app users can browse through the store and purchase beauty and wellness products directly from the app itself. This also helps to boost user engagement.
4. Ads Selling
The app owners can also earn money by adding PPC ads. These ads can be anything related to the beauty and wellness industry. And in return for these ads, the app owner can charge a pre-decided amount from the advertising businesses.
Top 6 Beauty Services Apps in The Market
1. Glamsquad
Glamsquad, a famous beauty app, offers on-demand nail and hair services. The app allows users to connect with licensed and vetted beauty pros who can offer services at their homes, office, or hotel.
2. StyleSeat
StyleSeat is a beauty booking app that allows users to search for and book appointments with local nail technicians and hair stylists.
3. Bridal Beauty Pro App
Bridal Beauty Pro is an on-demand beauty services app that connects users with licensed cosmetologists, estheticians, and other beauty professionals for in-home beauty services.
4. Vagaro
Vagaro, a beauty and well-being booking app, allows users to search for and book appointments with local professionals in beauty and wellness, such as hair stylists and nail technicians.
5. Glamazon
With Glamazon users, an on-demand beauty services app, you can search for appointments at nearby salons or book a stylist to come to you for hairdressing, makeup, massages, manicures, facials, nails, and tanning. Priv: A beauty and wellness app that delivers on-demand salon blowouts, haircuts, makeup, massages, mani-pedis, & fitness classes by top-rated professionals.
General Features in an On-Demand Beauty Service App
1. User Panel
- Social Signup/Login
- View various beauty services
- Browse and select stylists or beauty services
- Hire professional beautician
- Schedule an appointment at the salon
- Integrated payment system
- Rate and Review beauticians and other services
- View past bookings and future schedule
- View and choose subscription packages
- Live Chat with the stylist/beautician
2. Beauty Service Owner Panel
- Register via email id
- View user requests
- Catalog Management
- Manage services offered
- Schedule the stylist for users
- View ratings and reviews
- Accept/decline the user’s request
- Manage to price of services offered.
3. Individual Beauty Expert Panel
- Register via Social/email id
- View and confirm bookings
- Manage calendar and availability
- Accept/Reject/Re-schedule user request
- List services and prices
- Accept payments
- Manage catalog
4. Super Admin Panel
- Manage stylists/beauty salons/beauticians and end-users
- Manage CMS
- Report generation
- Manage payments
- Manage subscription packages
- App monetization
- Manage marketing channels
Advanced Features of an On-Demand Beauty Service App
1. Social Signup/ Login
With a social signup option, customers can quickly signup for your app using any of their social media accounts. A simple, fast, and eye-catching sign-up page is an important tool for earning customer loyalty.
2. Service Rating & Review
This significant feature enables users to check out the ratings and reviews of each service, salon, or product before booking it. This facilitates effective decision-making. Besides, the customers can also leave detailed comments or reviews about the service providers after availing of their services.
3. Push Notifications
Push notifications help to keep the app users informed and updated. For instance, the service providers can engage the users by sending them beauty tips, information on advanced products, festive discount offers, etc. On the other hand, service providers can also receive notifications about important tasks, such as payment confirmation, new users, booking confirmation, and more.
4. In-app Chat with Providers
In-app chats help the customers to get in touch with the beauticians, stylists, and makeup artists, through messaging from within the app itself. They can easily communicate and clarify their doubts or issues regarding the services.
5. In-app Call with Number Masking
The app users can also make free calls to the service providers for any further interaction. However, the calls are made from within the app with complete number masking. This means that the real phone numbers are not given out.
6. In-app Navigation
Beauty on-demand service apps are also integrated with a GPS location identifier. This feature enables users to track the location of their service agents in real-time. Besides, the tracking screen also records and displays the tentative arrival time of the personnel. This helps to maintain complete security.
7. PIP Mode Tracking
Picture in Picture mode is also a handy feature as the user can keep track of the beautician or stylist appointments in real time.
8. SMS Authentication
SMS authentication is a robust feature that reinforces the app’s security measures. An OTP number is sent to the customer’s registered email address or mobile number to avoid fraudulent practices. When the beauty professional reaches the customer’s given location or the customer reaches the beauty services, this OTP number needs to be shared to complete the services.
9. Upload Video Portfolio
Using this feature, stylists and makeup artists can upload live makeup or hairstyling videos done by them. Looking at these videos, the app users can comprehend the quality of services extended by the service provider and make the best choice.
10. Effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM plays a crucial role in managing customers. With an efficient CRM system, app owners can quickly resolve all customer queries and offer an improved experience.
11. Efficient Content Management System
The Content Management System helps manage all the content available on the app. For instance, service providers can easily update information about their salon, services, contact details, open hours, addresses, etc. Similarly, the admin can maintain a style blog, where he/she inputs content on the latest beauty trends, top-selling products, makeup hacks, etc.
12. Real-time Dashboard & Analytics
A good beauty service app is integrated with a sound analytics dashboard. Here, the admin can view detailed information on important business metrics, such as the number of users, user acquisition rate, e-store numbers, retention rate, etc. It is an essential feature as it helps the admin monitor the app’s performance.
13. Multiple Mobile Wallet Integration
By integrating multiple payment options into the app, you can enable the app users to make quick and hassle-free payments from their desired mode of payment. They can use various mobile wallets, such as Google Pay and Apple Pay, to book appointments and pay for the services.
14. Marketing & Promotion Tools
Marketing is the most important component of every business. A beauty service app integrates marketing tools, such as calls, emails, texts, coupons, etc., to send special offers to customers and persuade them to use the app.
Team Structure Required For Developing Beauty Service App
To build a high-performing, feature-rich app, you need to hire an experienced team. Ensure the team comprises professionals, including project managers, UI/UX designers, developers, testers, and QA analysts. A skilled team with knowledge of all the updated tools, technologies, and frameworks will only be able to offer you a unique solution that addresses the pain points of your customers.
Technology Required For Developing Beauty Service App
Choosing a robust tech stack is very important to build a fail-proof app. Such an app must adhere to all the quality standards and deliver optimized performance to stand tall amongst the competition. So, make sure to choose a mobile app development company that works with the following tools and frameworks:
- Payment gateway: Stripe
- Real-time app analytics: Hadoop. BigData, Spark, Apache, IBM, Cisco
- Data management: Datastax
- Push notifications: Apple push notifications, Firebase cloud messaging
- Database: MongoDB, Cassandra, HBase
- Cloud environment: Google and AWS
- In-app chat: QuickBlox Chat
- Voice, SMS, phone verification: Twilio, Nexmo, Sinch
Factors Affecting the Cost of On-Demand Beauty Service App Development
There is no easy answer to this. The exact cost of app development depends upon various factors, such as the type of features, back-end, app complexity level, UI/UX needs, third-party integrations, etc. All these factors determine the time to complete the development of the beauty service app.
Let Us Look at A Couple of Factors that Directly Impact the App Development Budget and Timeline.
1. Platform
Developing a native app for both platforms, i.e. Android and iOS, will increase time, effort, resources, and cost.
2. The Number of Screens
An app with a lot of functionalities and more screens will mean that the developers have to pitch in too much time in developing the app.
3. Design Complexity
If you want a unique design that can immediately grab user attention, you will need to pay a higher price.
4. Device Types
You must pay a higher price if you require the app to function seamlessly across all Android or iOS devices, such as mobile, tablet, desktop, etc.. Making the app adaptable to different resolutions and screen sizes requires much more effort.
5. Third-Party Integration
Third-party plugin integrations to enhance the app’s functionality will also increase its development cost.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Beauty Service App?
Certainly, Here’s a Breakdown of The Cost Estimation for Developing an On-Demand Beauty Service App:
1. Design: This stage involves creating the user interface, visual design, and app user experience. Costs can range from $5,000 to $15,000, depending on the complexity of the design.
2. Development: This stage involves coding and implementing the app’s features and functionality. Costs can range from $30,000 to $100,000, depending on the app’s complexity.
3. Testing: This stage involves testing the app for bugs, usability, and security. Costs can range from $5,000 to $15,000, depending on the scope of testing.
4. Deployment: This stage involves publishing the app on app stores and ensuring its compatibility with different devices and operating systems. Costs can range from $1,000 to $5,000.
Businesses can choose between an in-house team or outsourcing the development to third-party agencies when comparing development scenarios. In-house teams can be more costly in the long term because it involves hiring and managing a team. Outsourcing is more cost-effective as it allows businesses access to a team without incurring the overheads of having an in-house development team.
Outsourcing the beauty service development project can also save additional costs through offshore development, which can be less expensive than hiring local developers. However, before outsourcing the project, businesses should also consider the potential risks and challenges associated, such as communication barriers and cultural differences.
By considering these factors, businesses can better estimate the cost of developing an on-demand beauty service app and choose the development scenario of the project that best fits their budget and needs.
Wrapping Up
If you are an aspiring entrepreneur who wants to expand your brand outreach or create a steady stream of revenue, investing in an on-demand beauty services app is a great idea. The incredible app offers humongous comfort to users who no longer have to face the unavailability of their preferred time or ignorance of the better deals offered by beauty salons and spas.
So get in touch with a reputed mobile app development company and immediately get your hands on your own on-demand beauty services app.
Frequently Asked Questions on On-Demand Beauty Service App Development
The complete beauty service app development process takes approximately 8-10 weeks. Also, It may vary depending on the expertise of the app development company.
These apps are extremely vulnerable to security breaches and risks. It is crucial to ensure that your beauty services are protected. We ensure that only the most advanced technologies and tools are used to create secure apps.
On-demand beauty apps allow users to book professional services from the comfort of their homes or at their preferred locations. Based on reviews and portfolios, users can choose the type of service they wish to receive, select a time and location, and then select a licensed professional.
The app allows you to pay, and the beauty professionals will arrive at the time scheduled. After the service is completed, users can rate and review the beauty professional. On-demand beauty service apps provide a personalized and convenient way for users to receive professional beauty services.