Interview with Alex Tomchenko, CEO & Founder at Beauty Booking App: Glambook

Glambook is a digital platform for beauty industry professionals and their clients. We were founded in 2020 with the goal to offer clients a seamless booking experience for a variety of beauty services, including makeup, hair, nails, tattoo, massage, aesthetics, grooming and eyelash/eyebrow treatments.

The app conveniently features client reviews, ratings, pictures of professionals’ work and price range for services, which is usually lower compared to salon prices. In addition to offering a booking tool for clients, the platform is designed to support beauty industry professionals.

As part of the subscription package, Glambook helps independent professionals attract new clients through micro-marketing efforts and manage their workflow through the built-in CRM system.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
While Glambook launched in 2020, our story goes back to 2008 when I founded a digital agency and my wife Nastya launched a career in makeup artistry. We’ve been growing and developing our skills for over 12 years, becoming experts in our respective fields.

I’ve always been supportive of my wife’s journey as a beauty professional and through that I got an insider’s look into the challenges that the beauty service community was going through – finding clients, managing schedules and promoting their business.

The idea to create Glambook was born out of my passion for all things digital and marketing, and a deep understanding of the needs of beauty industry professionals, which was a perfect blend of our expertise.
 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
The pandemic brought challenges to many industries and the professional beauty service space has been disproportionately affected by the loss of jobs and closures of businesses around the world. Since beauty services require high-touch personal contact, most of the salons had to put a pause on their operations and appointments had to be cancelled until it was safe to resume again.

Of course, those circumstances meant loss of income for beauty professionals, stalling their career growth, but at the same time it gave them an opportunity to pivot and consider starting on a new path of becoming independent professionals. At Glambook, it’s always been our goal to support independent beauty professionals in their entrepreneurial journey and we provide them tools to kick start and grow their business. During the pandemic, we’ve seen a very positive response from the beauty community – new registrations, feedback and time they spend on the Glambook app is a true testament that we’re on the right path and that professionals find value in working with us.
 

What can we hope to see from Glambook in the future?

 
For the past few years, many industries have been shifting to digital with new ways of consuming content, products and services. Beauty industry is not an exception. While the role of technology continues to grow, I believe that the beauty service industry is all about building and nurturing long-lasting human connections. When there is a solid bond and a strong level of trust between a client and a professional, more often than not the client will follow their favorite beauty provider to another salon or location.

In my opinion, beauty salons – the way we know them today – will evolve into platforms for performing beauty services. We’re living in a customer-centric society and clients should always have a choice on where to get their services – at home, at the provider’s location, at a beauty co-working space or at the salon.

At Glambook, we are on a mission to support this customer-centric model as it’s convenient and provides flexibility for all parties. We’re always looking for new innovative approaches to modernize the beauty industry and, who knows, maybe we will be able to create these platforms across Europe as part of our infrastructure and as another way to support independent beauty professionals in the future.