Recovering the beauty industry one click at a time

by Kim Mullahey · Published October 17, 2020 · Updated October 17, 2020

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LONG before the coronavirus pandemic, online beauty marketplace Beautystack was quietly making strides towards addressing the elephant in the room.

Sharmadean Reid (Image credit Sharmadean Reid)

One of the few industries that thrives on aesthetics was sadly lacking in front page software, and WAH nails founder Sharmadean Reid set out to remedy the available technically orientated software systems, the only kind of optics available.

“I started my business thinking, ‘Why does the software look like the stuff I used at school, like Microsoft 98?’”, said Beautystack and WAH nails founder Sharmadean Reid, who has been awarded an MBE for her innovative work. “All the existing salon software systems were not visually aesthetic but beauty is obviously a visual business.”

Beautystack grew out of long frustration with those techy software systems pervasive in the industry, and WAH nails pioneered the use of online imagery to grow a community and customer base. WAH used digital images instead of static portfolios and added actual customers in the process.

Image credit: Beautystack

The other thing Sharmadean Reid has done is to change perception about who beauty aestheticians are: instead of being people who couldn’t quite cut it in the academic and corporate world, she has taken steps to create a marketplace that is user-friendly for both professionals and consumers.

Serena Williams, Margot Robbie and Joria Smith are just some of the WAH brand’s clients and there are bestselling books and a highly successful product line sold in Boot’s.

“What I want to do is prioritise the professional and help these girls run their lives better and easier because if you look after them, they will look after the client,” said Sharmadean Reid. “At the moment I am building a beauty and wellness group booking feature for beauty pros so they have the ability to host any kind of ticketed event with tickets sold through my software company.”

The Beautystack platform isn’t just about helping young professionals gain more clients but providing the tools to manage their client lists as well.