Preparing your booking page for a new outlet opening

Opening a new outlet is one of the most exciting moments for a Singapore service business, and one of the busiest. Contractors, suppliers, hiring and mall approvals all compete for attention. The booking page is easy to leave until the last week. Yet a new outlet's first month depends heavily on bookings made before it opens, so the booking side deserves its own short plan.

Six weeks out: decide how clients will choose the outlet

Clients need to know which outlet they are booking. Decide early whether each outlet has its own booking page or whether clients pick a location as part of one booking flow. Separate pages are simpler to explain on signage and social posts for each outlet. One flow suits brands whose clients move between outlets. Whatever you choose, keep outlet names consistent everywhere: the mall name and level a client would search for, not an internal code.

Four weeks out: hours and team

Set the new outlet's opening hours, including any soft-opening hours that differ from the long-term pattern. Mall outlets often follow the mall's hours; shophouse outlets have more freedom. Then set up a calendar for each person who will work there, with their working days and hours.

If some stylists or therapists will split their week between outlets, make sure their working days at each location do not overlap. A person who appears bookable in two places at once will be double-booked within the first week.

Three weeks out: services

A new outlet rarely offers the full menu on day one. Perhaps the colour bar is not ready, or one treatment room is still being fitted. List only the services the outlet can actually deliver in its first weeks and link them to the people trained to perform them. Add the rest as they come online. A shorter, reliable menu at opening is better than a full one with apologies.

Two weeks out: open bookings for opening week

Open the booking page to clients before the doors open, so the first days have appointments in them. Set the booking horizon to reach the opening date and a few weeks beyond. If the opening date might slip, close the first few days and open them once the date is certain, rather than having to move confirmed clients.

• Book your own team in as test clients and make sure the times and services look right.
• Close the first morning for a final walkthrough if you want one.
• Allow longer buffer time in the first week while the team learns the new space.

Tell the clients you already have

Your existing clients are the most likely first visitors, especially those who live or work near the new location. Send an email to clients who have ticked to receive updates from you, with the address, opening date and a direct link to book the new outlet. Clients who have not opted in to marketing emails should not receive it, however good the news.

Front-desk staff at your current outlet can mention the opening to regulars too, and offer to book them in on the spot from the dashboard.

Opening week: watch and adjust

In the first days, look at the calendar every morning. Are some services far more popular than expected? Is one stylist booked solid while another is empty? Adjust services and hours quickly; early clients will forgive a short menu but not a booking that cannot be honoured.

After the first month

Once the outlet settles, bring its buffer time and booking horizon in line with your other outlets, add the services held back at opening, and look at which hours actually fill. A new location often has a different rhythm from your first one. A mall outlet may be busiest at weekends, a CBD outlet at lunchtime. Set the hours to match what you see rather than what you expected.

Give the new outlet's team time to learn the dashboard

New staff at a new outlet are learning a space, a team and a system all at once. Before opening, walk each person through the few things they will do every day: reading the day's appointments, adding a booking for a client on the phone, and moving an appointment when a client asks. Ten minutes each in the week before opening saves many small mistakes in the first busy days, and gives the outlet manager confidence that the calendar will be looked after.