3 min read
Beauty salons or parlors are an important part of every woman’s life and majority of the women visit a beauty parlor at least once a month. The beauty parlor business has been in action for many years in Pakistan and we see them in every nook and corner of the country. You visit a society or town in Pakistan and you will find a beauty parlor there for sure.
But usually while choosing a parlor to visit, there is always a problem of that panicky thought-process that goes on before deciding where to go. Is your option really going to be worth your money and will the services it is providing live up to your expectations? Until now, there was no such platform where we could check reviews and listings of popular parlor options. A new Pakistani startup, ParlorBuzz, has come under the spotlight with its version of a solution to this challenge.
What ParlorBuzz is about?
The brainchild of three software engineering graduates of NUST, ParlorBuzz is web-based application that focuses on serving as a single platform where women (men too!) can find all information relevant to beauty salons in the country. In a nutshell, the platform will let users rate and review beauty salons of 7 major cities of Pakistan including Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad. All reviews and ratings would be unbiased and will not face any intervention from the salon owners.
When asked about the thought process that went on behind the scenes of ParlorBuzz, the founders point towards a missing platform where people could find information related to beauty salons and how people generally just made decisions about parlor visits based on word-of-mouth. According to the startup’s website, ParlorBuzz will help users “redefine their search for beauty”.
Services ParlorBuzz will offer
While the web-based app is functional at the moment, the mobile-based app will be developed over the next three months. The user-friendly service will in particular offer services for both customers and beauty salon owners. For users looking for a perfect parlor experiences, the service claims to offer the following features:
- Search for any particular salon based on a particular location all over Pakistan
- Rate and Review a parlor based on their personal experience
- View visual portfolios of salons along with their location, timing and contact details. (Services and pricing will be added soon according to the website.
For owners, the platform will provide an opportunity to feature their parlor, place their ad or modify their parlor’s portfolio to stand out. This will in turn help local make-up artists build their online presence.
Our take on ParlorBuzz
One thing we found missing was a way to book parlor services through the platform. If, somehow, the team manages to incorporate that on their website then it’s going to be really very helpful for everyone. Also, the booking option can become one of the steady revenue streams for their product as well.
While the startup has impressively managed to build its initial operations without the support of an accelerator or incubation program it aims to generate an ad-based income to expand operations. The startup plans on expanding operations to include extensive market details and will cover promotional deals, product marketing, and latest beauty trends to help users make more informed decisions. Just how successful it is in helping users revolutionize their search for reliable beauty salon options is something we’ll have to wait for and see. Nonetheless, this latest addition to Pakistan’s aspiring commercial ventures is definitely worth looking forward to!
