bgX in Partnership with Uber Connects Salons to Consumers Using AWS
Beauty tech platform – bgX by blowout&go has launched a global partnership with Uber, starting with London, Paris and Dubai, connecting professional salons with their communities, while empowering them to deliver premium beauty services directly to customers on-demand. The convenience of having professional salon styling delivered directly to women in their home or workplace is aimed at changing the way salons engage with their urban consumers, many of whom already consume premium beauty services on the fly.
This marks the first time a business has fully integrated with Uber to bring reliable and safe transportation to connect businesses with their customers. AWS has also been critical in the development of bgX. The serverless Lambda functionality has offered near limitless scalability when combined with the DynamoDB and Kinesis.
bgX co-founders Ali Rafi and Paria Ghorashi built their tech platform on the back of years of work actually delivering home beauty services to women in their base of as blowout&go. bgX was born when the founders realized busy women don’t always have time to plan and book appointments in advance, even to their home. A truly on-demand service was needed, and there wasn’t anyone in the world doing it.
“Logistics and scalability were the main challenges. As customers, we have all become quite demanding and expectations are at an all-time high. We expect delivery of all kinds of high-quality services immediately and transparently via our mobile phones – whether it be food delivery, transport, or parcels – and beauty is no different,” said Paria Ghorashi. “The Uber platform has already brought step-change improvements in transport and food delivery services – we see hair and beauty services as the logical next step. Customers will be able to book a stylist for their home or office directly from their smartphone. The app will provide a convenient and fast service for busy people on the go.”
The customer app is available for iOS and Android smartphones. Each interface will enable customers to book a high quality blowdry and styling by a top stylist at a moment’s notice whether they are at home, at work or at a hotel. bgX only partners with premium salons for the service, to ensure a high threshold for competence, service quality and professionalism. Balmain Paris Hair Couture has already come on board as a strategic and educational partner with the service as well.
Thousands of premium salons are on board across London, Paris and Dubai. A further ten cities are planned across the USA and Europe in the next year. bgX Founder Ali Rafi added, “It is a win-win scenario for customers and salons. The consumer gets the convenience of a hair treatment on demand in the privacy of their own home, hotel or office. The salon will gain access to thousands of potential customers in their vicinity who may want to use their services, but may not have known about their offering. Connection happens at the click of a button. Importantly, salons will also have the ability to earn incremental revenue from customer acquisition activities, using under-utilized staff and capacity, and without increasing overheads or their cost base.”
Erik Diepering, Head of Uber for Business in Europe, said, “We’re thrilled to partner with bgX in bringing on-demand styling services to people’s homes at the push of a button. More than 65,000 companies are currently using Uber for Business, but this is the first time we’ve allowed a company to fully integrate with the Uber for Business platform.”
