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Shortcut 2.0 — On-demand haircuts
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@ffumarola I’ve been waiting for someone to ask this, Frank! This could certainly be answered from both the consumer and barber side, but I’m of the opinion that the service side protocol has more bearing, so I’ll focus my response there.
This was a pretty major concern for us early on, so we sought the advice of other on-demand services dealing with similar questions around breakage. The most common responses were things like 1.) build specific language around the ramifications of client poaching into service providers’ ICAs, 2.) compensate well enough where barbers wouldn’t want to leave, 3.) have employees pose as customers to subject barbers to periodic ethics test. I’ve heard companies going as far as to threaten legal action against their work force for client poaching.
We included some of the basic guardrails, but our focus has always been more on making our barbers want to make the right decision vs. scaring them from making the wrong one. Of course, we offer our barbers more competitive rates than a traditional brick and mortar shop, but beyond that, we’ve put together an incentive laden plan, which encourages our barbers to grow their clientele on the platform and features a performance based sliding pay scale.
Ultimately, we’ve made it very difficult for our barbers to rationalize the decision to poach a client.
I got a "shortcut" the other day from a barber named Israel. Came to the office, set up his stuff and cleaned up well. Great cut, five stars
@ourielohayon Haircuts start at $65, Clipper Cuts (no scissors) start at $45, Beard trims are $15. If you're able to get a group together for a haircut, you can drop the cost to as low as $50 per person for a haircut, or $37.50 for a clipper cut. If you use code: PRODUCTHUNT you can save an additional $20 too.
@ourielohayon Agreed. I don't understand why the price of a haircut has risen so much in the past decade or two. It's not like the technology has advanced and some people like to get a haircut at least once a month. No clue how someone can justify $65/ month on a simple haircut.
@unseenvision @ourielohayon Hey guys, really appreciate the feedback. We recruit barbers and stylists who command that sort of premium at their day-to-day shops (past and present). Right now, the price point is set to balance the needs of consumers and barbers, but we're exploring options to help users save on services. Stay tuned for updates!
@irv3389 @unseenvision @ourielohayon How can you input the promo code once you've already signed up without one? $65 is a bit steep for a haircut, but at $45 I'd be willing to give it a try because of the convenience of it coming to you.
@mad102190 Great question, Matt. Once you're matched with a barber, there will be a confirmation screen with an option to input a promo code. We'll be streamlining the UX here with a dedicated promo code tab in an upcoming update.
What is the size of this market? Curious because I have never thought about it before.
@thomasmeagher Hey Tom -- Haircare is a $20B+ opportunity and growing. That includes services (~10%) and products (~90%).
I'm interested to see if this actually catches on. The on-demand economy has opened many opportunities but I wonder what services will thrive.
Unlike Uber, you would need a full-time barber.
Initial concerns for this app would be:
- Often people use the same barber/hairdresser
- Often they are planned further ahead than a day or a couple of days.
BUT in this update those things are actually addressed!
However, I'm not sure the market for on-demand haircuts is large enough to help this. It certainly is a market but:
- The room for quality control/rating here is a lot smaller than with an Uber. I wouldn't think twice about jumping into an Uber which was 4 stars, but I'd think twice about a barber with a lower than exceptional rating.
- It would be cool to have the barbers come to you (if you were that way inclined). My hairdresser has come to my house for as long as I can remember.... maybe Uber will try out haircuts too!
@bentossell Great points here. Your initial concerns (e.g. requesting the same barber and needing to plan ahead) were the two most commonly requested pieces of user feedback we received while working off of our MVP. We've made drastic improvements on both fronts, but still believe there's opportunity to more fully integrate barber requests / barber-specific queries into our UX. Also, your point on quality control/ratings is an important one. One bad haircut is all it may take for someone to never use Shortcut, which is why we've always placed such heavy importance on the service portion of the business. We've designed our hiring process to include a series of interviews, background checks, test haircuts, product and experience training. The barbers and stylists we have out on the grid are out there because we trust them to deliver an exceptional experience every time. Last point, we're already delivering house-calls, so let us know if your hairdresser can't make it sometime :-)
@irv3389 yeah I imagine that was common feedback so it's cool to see you implement it!
Yeah I'd be concerned that hair-dressers may not want to be on the app, should they have a bad review. Haircuts can be very personal where people judge them quite intensely.
@bentossell Thanks! It works on a couple levels, beyond heavily vetting our team of barbers/stylists to mitigate bad reviews, we also want people with innate confidence in their abilities as a barber or stylist (this tends to be the norm). On the flip side, we take our user feedback very seriously -- we want to know the specifics of the bad review. Was it a factor of quality, punctuality, cleanliness, etc. Some things we can work to remedy, others may suggest a certain barber/stylist isn't the right fit for Shortcut. We've been very fortunate that this hasn't come up yet.
Please come to DC. I've seen a few of these for the NYC area now, but the state of barbershops (and prices) in DC is maddening.
@cobionecanobi I see what you did there. We're doing everything possible to bring Shortcut to you, Cobi!
Will be interesting to see how this compares with @Sacca's investment into StyleSeat! Do people want barbers coming to their home, or the ClassPass/StyleSeat convenience model to ease the booking process?
@mrsharma @sacca We certainly think so, Nik. No question the existing booking process is flawed, but early user testing suggests that the hours of operation at a traditional brick and mortar shop pose major fundamental challenges for guys as well. There's no reason you should have to leave work early, show up late or sacrifice some of you weekend to get a high-quality haircut and we're on a mission to change that.
@irv3389 is there a discount code for the first haircut? Would love to try it in the coming weeks!
fintech spy