Challenge
The client, an upscale barbershop chain with locations across major metropolitan areas, struggled with brand differentiation in a competitive market. While they had basic booking capabilities through Booksy, they lacked the ability to showcase their premium brand identity and lifestyle content that resonated with their target demographic. Their existing system couldn't integrate their unique service packages with their booking flow, and they had no way to publish style trends or promotional content that would drive customer engagement. Additionally, they needed a mobile presence to capture on-the-go bookings and provide a seamless experience for their predominantly young, tech-savvy clientele.
Solution
To address these challenges, I created a comprehensive platform ecosystem that elevated their digital presence while streamlining operations:
- Developed a unified backend using Laravel 12 that served both the web platform and mobile app, ensuring consistent data and business logic across all client touchpoints while integrating seamlessly with the Booksy API for appointment management.
- Designed a responsive web experience with Vue.js featuring custom branding, interactive style galleries, and an intuitive booking flow that showcased the chain's premium services and stylist expertise.
- Created a feature-rich Flutter mobile application that maintained the brand's luxury aesthetic while offering additional features like push notifications for appointment reminders, a virtual queue system for walk-ins, and offline access to saved style inspirations.
- Implemented real-time synchronization between web, mobile, and Booksy using Laravel Reverb and Redis, ensuring that appointment availability, stylist schedules, and customer profiles remained consistent across all platforms.
- Built a comprehensive content management system that allowed the marketing team to publish lifestyle articles, trending styles, and promotional offers once and have them appear appropriately formatted across both web and mobile interfaces.
Results
- Achieved 10,000+ mobile app downloads within the first month of launch, with 68% of new bookings coming through the mobile platform, capturing a previously untapped segment of on-the-go customers.
- Increased premium service bookings by 42% by showcasing lifestyle content and trending styles directly within the booking flow, effectively upselling customers to higher-value services.
- Improved customer loyalty with a 37% increase in repeat bookings, attributed to the convenience of the mobile app and personalized style recommendations based on previous services.
- Reduced no-show rates to below 2% through the mobile app's push notification system, geographic reminders when customers were near a location, and easy rescheduling options.
- Generated 28% more social media followers through shareable style galleries and trend posts, creating a community around the brand and driving organic customer acquisition.
Technologies Used
Laravel 12, Vue.js 3, Flutter for cross-platform mobile development, Laravel Reverb for WebSockets, Redis for caching and real-time data, Booksy API integration, Firebase for push notifications, AWS S3 for media storage, and GraphQL for efficient mobile data fetching.