BE U SALONS - Beauty at Your Fingertips

By BWA Envoy
July 23, 2022
3 Minutes Read

Today beauty is no longer just in the eyes of the beholder. Outward appearances are equally significant. Unsurprisingly the beauty, cosmetics, and grooming sector are a massive billion-dollar industry in India estimated to grow three-fold by 2025. Unfortunately, a substantial part of it is unorganized. Larger chains can afford strongly backed brand visibility, but the standalone chains typically lack variety in service, technical expertise, isolated brand value, low marketing budget, limited access to premium brands, or are geography-bound. Enter GSPL. Delhi-based Gingerpan Swapcart Private Limited (GSPL), incorporated in July 2015 is a technology-based salon aggregator. The company has its application and web-based platform in the name of 'Be U Salons' (www.beusalons.com) and provides salon services and products to retail customers.

Vikas Johari, a University of Miami, The London School of Economics and Political Science, and the University of California alumnus; Jigyasa Gupta, IIT Roorkee alumnus, and Shailendra Kumar Nagvani are the founders of Be U Salons.

Vikas Johari is no stranger to the anchor investment game. Having led a media venture successfully for ten years, the seasoned entrepreneur decided to take a chance with the salon industry. Venturing into the salon space in 2012 with Monsoon Salon & Spa, he realized the inadequacies: some in terms of inefficiencies and some like opportunity costs, rentals, and promoter services. Therefore, he wanted to create a tech-enabled solution that could bridge the gap between the salon owners, customers, and employees. Be U Salons, his brainchild was a faraway dream until he joined hands with Jigyasa Gupta and Shailendra Nagvani.

The latter duo was working on a CRM ERP SAAS solution called Growbiz that allowed salon owners to manage every aspect of their business on the go. It was later acquired by Gingerpan Swapcart Pvt. Ltd. Finally in October 2016, Be U Salon was launched to help salons with standardization and automation and help them explore their underutilized capabilities to achieve better productivity and profitability. While for customers, the benefits range from easy online appointments, transaction history records, feedback, reviews and ratings, loyalty programs, no waiting time, and real-time services. For the salon: they escalate customer engagement, standardize services, automate operations using data analytics, and put in place a Standard Operating Procedure, helping reduce manpower attrition by training the staff and implementing a mandatory incentives program based on performance and skill improvement, leading to trained and motivated employees and an overall increment in revenue.