Vaniday relaunches as one-stop beauty, wellness platform with marketplace

VANIDAY is back in business in Singapore, this time as an all-in-one platform featuring a new online marketplace of beauty and wellness products, a new digital magazine as well as an improved loyalty programme, on top of enhanced booking and payment services.

Besides the fresh direction, a new management team including chief executive officer (CEO) Ruth Teo has also come on board.

Originally an app just for consumers to book beauty appointments and services, the company had exited Singapore late last year after gradually shuttering its operations worldwide.

Vaniday on Thursday announced its official relaunch along with a new website and app, which will be available for download early this month.

The app and website will continue to let users discover and book beauty deals and services.

Vaniday said its enhanced booking platform now enables merchants to receive orders through automated WhatsApp notifications, where they can connect, confirm and reschedule appointments with customers. There is also artificial intelligence (AI) to suggest similar salons to users in the event their favourite salons are experiencing limited capacity to serve them.

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Meanwhile, the online marketplace, named VaniMall, will allow users to buy and sell a curated selection of items including cult Korean beauty products, local beauty brands, health supplements, vitamins and superfoods.

The other new feature is VaniZine, a digital beauty and lifestyle publication for the beauty community to share the latest tips and trends with each other. The magazine will offer in-depth reviews of beauty products and services, profile features of beauty entrepreneurs, and curated content targeted for the male audience.

As for the loyalty programme, the revamped version gives merchants the flexibility to set their own cashback amounts, and more avenues for customers to earn cashback and redeem rewards. Previously, the amount of cashback earned from each transaction was fixed.

Since its soft launch this February, Vaniday has onboarded 10 per cent more merchants on its platform, reaching a total of 1,000 merchants. It plans to triple this number within the next 12 months.

The merchant pool has also been expanded to gyms, chiropractic services and acupuncture therapy. Existing merchant types included hairdressing, nails, aesthetics, hair removal, makeup, eye, dental, massage, spa and yoga.

CEO Ms Teo said she sees "huge potential" in amplifying the company's original focus to also comprise other areas such as food and beverage - including healthier meals - and health offerings.

"This is the start of a new chapter for Vaniday," she added.

Commenting on Singapore's Covid-19 "circuit breaker" which began in early April, Ms Teo noted that Vaniday's merchants, just like other small and medium-sized businesses, have taken a hit to their bottom lines as they shut down or restricted their services.

The company thus launched customisable digital gift cards on its platform to tide its merchants over the pandemic. Merchants can set these cards to their preferred values, and customers can purchase them as gifts for others or use them at a later date.

For its next steps, Vaniday hopes to roll out a beauty subscription model where users pay a monthly fee to access beauty, wellness and fitness services.