I get my haircut every 2 weeks and I don't think I'd ever use this. It seems like they are trying to fix something that isn't broken. Most people have stylists that they go to often already.
I guess for the niche uber rich market, this might be worth it, but other than that, I don't see it being adopted by the masses. If I was a famous person or a CEO of a large company and was literally too busy to go to a barber shop or too cool to do so perhaps? I can't imagine this being anywhere near the same price as actually going to a barber?
I think if they focused on connecting the average customer with barbers at shops in their areas, that could definitely provide some larger scale value. The in home service could be a potential VIP service? ie. UberX vs UberVIP.
Another thought, you could rally a large number of users in an office, and then the barber could come cut a bunch of people's hair in one trip. (Similar to bringing in an office masseuse)
@GeoffreyWeg I worked at a company that offered "in home beauty services" like haircuts and makeup (along with many other services).
This is a very niche market and we found that most people would rather go to the salon/barber.
Getting a haircut in your office is a very awkward thing (imagine if you saw your co-worker getting his/her hair cut while you were working).
There is also "barber taxi" concept. While you move/travel, barber cut your hair. There was also "make up" extension.
This kind of models have a frequency problems. People tend to forget the applicaton in a while. My comment is for a niche mobile on demand services.
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@GeoffreyWeg I love in home barbers but also like having a regular barber that knows my style, can retrace his last cut, etc. So personally, the convenience of "barber on demand" may be trumped by reluctance to use a new person every time.
I feel like the economics needed to make this work would demand a much higher price (than my local barber) than I would be willing to pay.
A mens haircut takes anywhere from 20-30 minutes. I would think that travel to/from client plus logistics (parking and/or public trans) adds on another 45 minutes on average.
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Interesting concept. From a user perspective, I'd like the option to browse through barbers in my area and be able to see their ratings and portfolio for me to buy into this.
Good points, everyone.
@ozguralaz Haircut in a taxi sounds dangerous! :) Re. frequency- well, people will definitely need several haircuts a year (perhaps a dozen). So if you acquire customers and they're happy with the service, they'll potentially use it again. There's also cool marketing techniques to drive engagement such as subscriptions, etc.
@jmj Interesting. It's probably a tough market to size, but I agree that it seems niche. Everyone gets haircuts though, so the main challenge here is probably changing consumer behavior so that people get their haircuts in homes rather than at a barbershop or salon. There's at least some advantages to the model (e.g. convenience). And getting a haircut at home, not the office, is probably the more common use case.
@zschwarz Great point. This is where I think branding/reputation becomes important. I'll personally trust any barber in a barbershop if the shop has a good brand/reputation.
@MikePreuss Perhaps. Although barbershops generally retain a very large percentage of a haircut's price. So if Barber takes a smaller cut, there's more money on the table for the barbers. But I agree that getting skilled labor, like barbers, to travel around to homes/offices is one of the main challenges here.
@elegantunivers9 Great feature!
@AndyTheGiant At a minimum, barbers should be licensed and should have several years of experience. Then, it would be good to see barbers that have trained within prominent shops and schools; have experience with classic barber techniques; etc.
@AshleyLaurel Agree!
Finally, I'll admit that this was a little experiment that I ran today to gauge interest. Really appreciate all of your feedback/interest.
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