Business Plan for “APPoint” : Mobile booking application for the beauty and health industry in Azerbaijan

Abstract

Beauty and wellness are the energy behind most people nowadays. The activities that include beauty and wellness give people a chance to be confident about their bodies and health. Nowadays there is increased demand for beauty and wellness services such as beauty salons, barbershops, wellness and spa centers, and so on. There are plenty of such centers in Baku, Azerbaijan, and also plenty of people who use these services. However, the process of using these services has some complexities. Firstly, as a result of increased customer numbers, nowadays beauty and wellness centers work on an appointment basis. In other words, people need to make an appointment beforehand to be able to use services on time. Most people are suffering in making the appointment, so they call the beauty salon and wait on the ring for a response from the salon employee. Afterward, they negotiate about the available time slots which take time. Sometimes they even cannot find an available time slot. In such cases, customers could switch to another beauty salon to find the available time to use that service and look for a suitable time and place. This process is time-consuming for both the salon side and customer side. It is also not comfortable to talk to a salon for several minutes. Another option is writing to the salon's social media pages about the available time slots. This process lasts more than phone calls. Some beauty salons or spa/wellness centers respond to their message even after a week which in turn bothers customers. Additionally, there are some other issues other than taking appointments. One of them is waiting in the beauty salon for a service. In other words, even though customers already booked an exact hour to use the service, as a result of long queues in beauty salons they sometimes cannot start at the exact time, and services are provided with some delay.