We are Ana and Luis, the founders of Glitzi (https://glitzi.com.mx/). We provide certified beauty and spa services, same day and delivered at home, in Latin America.
In Latam, lack of regulations and licencing means that people struggle to access quality beauty and wellness services. Beauty salons and spas also offer very poor working conditions to professionals, who live mostly off tips or low commissions. As a Latin woman I always thought this was normal, but when I lived abroad I realized that it has more to do with lack of licensing standards. Latin men and women spend significantly more on these types of services than any other region. We deserve better!
Our platform connects customers with vetted, trained independent beauty and spa professionals. We allocate each appointment to the best suited professional in our network according to availability, distance and skills. We also train our professionals based on standardized protocols that we have developed, so we are becoming the quality standard in the industry. Most startups in this space in Latam are SaaS solutions for salons or spas. We believe in empowering who really matters in this space: the customers and the professionals. And it's really both: happy professionals are as important as happy customers.
Some of our best customers are working mothers and business owners who have little time to take care of themselves or go to the spa or salon. 95% of our network of third-party professionals are women who can decide when and how many hours they work at Glitzi, therefore they can continue with their professional careers when they become mothers. Not only that, but they can earn a lot more (as much as 3x more) than in salons or spas.
Wow, this is a very real problem and I'm glad to see it addressed.
Every Friday my Abuela calls a stranger for manicure/pedicure they've known for years that she heard about from another friend, from another friend... Word of mouth, like most things in LatAm. They're not certified or anything, but they do a decent job.
I've always wondered about their background because they seem to hang out for too long at the house, and it sketches me out.
On my end, finding a good barber shop or beauty salon for my hair has always been a huge pain. The quality of cuts is extremely variable and online reviews are scarce, aside from maybe Facebook. There's no scarcity for cheap $10 cuts but the variability is incredible in quality. Some dude at the $10 barber shop could be a fantastic, trained stylist. But then next time you come in some other asshat ruins your hair.
Aka it's a bit of a crapshoot but it's all you know and what's accessible. I'm a broke college student and can't afford much more than that.
You're damn right that the beauty industry in LatAm is a bit of a wild west. I have a quick question: what are costs for customers like?
Hi Sergio! Exactly what you are describing is what we want to solve: we want you to be confident that you will get a standard quality service when you book with Glitzi. Now, we have learned that good professionals (trained and using good quality products) invest in their work & tools, therefore, they expect a higher pay than a cheap non-quality service (and that makes sense!). So our prices are not cheap but are not crazy expensive (also consider that these services are at-home, the professionals have to travel to your house). Our haircuts for men are $18 dollars. However, we think that as Glitzi grows (we have more bookings), we will be able to reduce prices as professionals will earn the same or more but will have more appointments per day.
Down here in Puerto Rico a mid-range haircut is minimum $20. A low-tier, make-do barber shop cut is easily got at $10. A higher end cut can go up to $40.
$18 sounds like a great price, especially for a vetted professional. Rooting for you folks, let me know when the Puerto Rico beta opens ;)
Congratulations on launch. We , Urbancompany.com, have launched similar services (and more services like plumbers, technicians as well) in India around 6 years back and few countries in Asia. Customer response has been really positive.
Ohhh Urbancompany.com we know about you guys! Great work! Is it true that your main services are beauty and wellness? I will love to talk to you to share notes.
Well except where thee clientes are, you also have to where the least competition is right? So another approach to look at this is the door dash way, where is the real big market without much competition!
In Latam, lack of regulations and licencing means that people struggle to access quality beauty and wellness services. Beauty salons and spas also offer very poor working conditions to professionals, who live mostly off tips or low commissions. As a Latin woman I always thought this was normal, but when I lived abroad I realized that it has more to do with lack of licensing standards. Latin men and women spend significantly more on these types of services than any other region. We deserve better!
Our platform connects customers with vetted, trained independent beauty and spa professionals. We allocate each appointment to the best suited professional in our network according to availability, distance and skills. We also train our professionals based on standardized protocols that we have developed, so we are becoming the quality standard in the industry. Most startups in this space in Latam are SaaS solutions for salons or spas. We believe in empowering who really matters in this space: the customers and the professionals. And it's really both: happy professionals are as important as happy customers.
Some of our best customers are working mothers and business owners who have little time to take care of themselves or go to the spa or salon. 95% of our network of third-party professionals are women who can decide when and how many hours they work at Glitzi, therefore they can continue with their professional careers when they become mothers. Not only that, but they can earn a lot more (as much as 3x more) than in salons or spas.
Comments, questions, and feedback are welcome!