Forget about the days of calling to schedule appointments or reading endless reviews before purchasing a new product. Today, everything is at your fingertips, instantly, with a mobile device and these platforms.
SHOWROOM
SHOWROOM allows its users to share and demo favorite beauty products in a one-stop app, similar to Vine or YouTube, but with a modern makeover. Anyone can become a "Virtual Beauty Ambassador" and build their own "Showroom" to create and publish high-quality one-minute video product reviews or tutorials.
SHOWROOM connects content with commerce, pioneering the first mobile solution that enables beauty product lovers to watch unbiased videos and conveniently purchase products instantly.
"We discovered that shoppers love SHOWROOM's one minute, one product video format," explains SHOWROOM Founder and CEO, Michael Yuen. "YouTube videos tend to be too long, and Vine and Instagram videos are too short to be of much use. SHOWROOM videos get to the point without wasting shoppers' time. They're easy and fun to make, too."
According to Matthew VanLeeuwen, SHOWROOM Vice President and a Celebrity Makeup Artist whose clients have included Salma Hayek, Jennifer Lopez, Naomi Watts and Scarlett Johansson: "The SHOWROOM app will revolutionize how consumers buy beauty products because everyone benefits — SHOWROOM brand ambassadors, fellow professional makeup artists & industry stylists, brands and, most of all, shoppers."
SHOWROOM's long-term goal is to build the dominant mobile video shopping platform featuring all product categories, including fashion, home, baby products and electronics.
StyleSeat
The largest online and mobile marketplace for booking beauty and wellness services is used in 15,000 cities (over 75 percent of the U.S.) due to its ease and convenience. Members can book right from their desktop or phone, choosing from 290,000 professionals, ranging from hair stylists to personal trainers. With thousands of profiles, reviews and photos, clients can filter options by price, location, ratings, service and more. Once an appointment is selected, users receive automatic text or email confirmations and reminders. Payment information can be easily stored to make checkout a breeze. Professionals can also utilize StyleSeat to showcase their work and connect with new and existing clients.
LookBooker
LookBooker allows consumers to schedule hair, beauty and wellness appointments for women and men. Search by service or neighborhood, compare and instantly book an appointment 24 hours a day. Launched by two former McKinsey & Co. analysts, first in Singapore (it has the highest density of salons in the world) and recently in NYC, which has a market of 10,000 salons just in Manhattan. Their background and expertise in obtaining data from their large, vetted database includes these recent NYC stats:
Seventy-five percent of consumers have reported that they are happy to pay a price premium for "organic" or "natural" treatments, including skincare products used during facials and coloring products used during hair appointments (up five percent from five months ago).
On average, men book their next two haircuts in one sitting at once while booking on LookBooker (only one in four women do this).
One in five men are booking a men's manicure (sports manicure) with a haircut.
Be sure to follow T-Lounge on Twitter and visit our Facebook page.
