How to Set Up Bookable Services on BSMe2e: A Step-by-Step Guide | Guide | 43661

The surge in popularity of bookable services (also known as Personal services, Managed services, Custom services) can be attributed to several factors. This growth is driven by increased digital adoption, convenience, and the monetization potential for service providers. The flexibility offered by bookable products, coupled with their global reach, has made them a preferred choice for both consumers and businesses alike.

What are the Advantages of Bookable Services for Sellers?

The e-commerce landscape has demonstrably expanded beyond tangible products. For service-based businesses, the ability to offer professional services online unlocks a strategic advantage. Here’s how leveraging bookable services can propel your enterprise:

• Enhanced Operational Efficiency: Streamline appointment scheduling by eliminating the need for manual processes like phone calls and emails. A 24/7 online booking system empowers customers to self-schedule at their convenience, freeing your team to focus on core service delivery.
• Reduced Operational Costs: Eliminate the overhead associated with a physical storefront or dedicated scheduling personnel. E-commerce empowers you to manage your business virtually, reducing operational expenditures and enhancing overall cost-effectiveness.
• Optimized Resource Allocation: Bookable services provide real-time appointment visibility, enabling you to optimize your service delivery schedule. This fosters efficient resource allocation and minimizes potential scheduling conflicts, ensuring maximum productivity.
• Expanded Market Reach: Transcend geographical limitations and tap into a global customer base. E-commerce removes location barriers, allowing you to connect with a wider audience and exponentially increase your market reach.
• Increased Revenue Potential: E-commerce platforms facilitate the creation of book-now services and packages and the implementation of tiered pricing structures. This incentivizes customers to book more comprehensive services, boosting your revenue potential.

In essence, integrating bookable services into your e-commerce strategy fosters:

• Streamlined Operations: Automated scheduling minimizes administrative tasks.
• Reduced Costs: Virtual business management lowers overhead expenses.
• Optimized Resource Utilization: Real-time data facilitates efficient resource allocation.
• Global Market Access: The internet eliminates geographical limitations.
• Enhanced Revenue Generation: Strategic pricing structures maximize income.

By embracing bookable or custom services in the e-commerce domain, you empower your business to achieve operational excellence and unlock significant growth potential.

When to Sell Bookable Services?

The world of e-commerce isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Here are some prime situations where sellers should strongly consider implementing bookable services:

• Time-Based Services: If your service inherently involves dedicated time slots, such as consulting sessions, coaching classes, or fitness workshops, bookable services are a perfect fit. Customers can easily reserve their desired time, and you can manage your schedule efficiently.
• Resource-Constrained Operations: For businesses with limited resources, like solopreneurs or consultants with a specific bandwidth, bookable services streamline scheduling and prevent overbooking. This ensures you can deliver quality service while maintaining a manageable workload.
• Appointment-Driven Services: Industries like healthcare (doctor appointments, therapy sessions), beauty (haircuts, massages), or professional services (legal consultations, financial planning) heavily rely on appointments. Bookable services eliminate phone tag and wasted time, creating a smooth booking experience for both you and your customers.
• Services with Limited Availability: If your service has inherent limitations, such as access to specialized equipment or location-based experiences (guided tours, studio recordings), bookable services facilitate managing availability and preventing double bookings.
• Scalable Services: For services that can be delivered virtually or repeated (webinars, online courses, group coaching sessions), bookable services allow you to scale your offerings without geographical constraints. Customers can book from anywhere, and you can manage a larger client base efficiently.

Beyond these situations, consider bookable services if:

• You offer consultations or introductory sessions that require scheduling.
• You want to provide a variety of service packages with different durations.
• You want to automate appointment reminders and reduce no-shows.
• You seek to upsell additional services during the booking process.

By carefully evaluating your service offerings and business needs, you can determine if bookable services are the key to unlocking a more efficient, scalable, and profitable business model.

How to Set Up a Bookable Product on BSMe2e?

Here’s a simple breakdown of each stage:

1: Create a Bookable Product:

• Access the Dashboard: Log in to your BSMe2e dashboard.

• Start Adding a Product: Navigate to “eSeller-Products” and click on “Add New.” From the product type dropdown, choose “Bookable Product.”

• Add the Product name: In this example, it is virtual event tickets. 

2. Configure Booking Options

• Booking Duration: Set to “Fixed blocks of 1 Day(s).” This means the booking is valid for one day. This could be in weeks/hours/months as well. 
• Calendar Display Mode: Check “Calendar always visible.” This makes the calendar always visible for users to pick a date.
• Requires Confirmation?: Leave this unchecked if you want bookings to be automatically confirmed. Check it if you want to manually confirm each booking.
• Can be Cancelled?: Check this box if you want users to be able to cancel their booking.’

Step 3: Set the Availability 

Max Bookings Per Block

• What it means: This sets the maximum number of bookings allowed for each time block.
• Example Setup: Set to 1, meaning only one booking can be made per block (in this case, per day).

Minimum Block Bookable

• What it means: This is the minimum time in the future that a booking can be made.
• Example Setup: Set to 1 Month(s), meaning users cannot make a booking that starts less than one month from the current date.

Example

Today’s Date: August 1, 2024
Minimum Block Bookable: 1 Month

What It Means:

• Users can only make bookings for dates starting from September 1, 2024, and onwards.
• Any dates before September 1, 2024, are not available for booking.

Maximum Block Bookable

• What it means: This is the maximum time in the future that a booking can be made.
• Example Setup: Set to 3 Month(s), meaning bookings can be made up to three months in advance.

Example

Today’s Date: August 1, 2024
Maximum Block Bookable: 3 Months

What It Means:

• Users can make bookings for dates from August 1, 2024, up to November 1, 2024.
• Any dates after November 1, 2024, are not available for booking.

Require a Buffer Period of

• What it means: This sets a required number of days between bookings to ensure no overlap.  If a user books a virtual event ticket for August 1, 2024, another user cannot book the same event until August 3, 2024. This ensures there is a 1-day buffer period between bookings, helping you manage your schedule and avoid back-to-back events.
• Example Setup: Leave this blank or set a number if you need a gap between bookings. For example, if you want a 1-day gap between bookings, enter 1.

Adjacent Buffering?

• What it means: This option ensures there is no back-to-back booking. If a user books a virtual event ticket for August 1, 2024, the system will automatically block out August 2, 2024, to prevent another booking from being made on that day.
• Example Setup: Leave unchecked if you do not need adjacent buffering.

All Dates Are…

• What it means: Defines whether all dates are available for booking by default.
• Example Setup: Set to “available by default,” so users can book any date unless restricted by other rules. If you set “All Dates Are…” to “available by default,” users can see and book any date on the calendar. For instance, if today is August 1, 2024, users can book any date from today onwards unless there are specific rules set to block certain dates (like public holidays or maintenance days).

Check Rules Against…

• What it means: Specifies whether rules apply to all blocks being booked or just individual blocks.

Option 1: All Blocks Being Booked

This option checks every day in the booking period against the rules.

Example Scenario:

• Booking: A user wants to book a 3-day event from December 24 to December 26.
• Rule: No bookings on public holidays (e.g., December 25).

Outcome:

• The system checks December 24, 25, and 26.
• December 25 is a public holiday.
• Result: Booking is denied because one of the days is a public holiday.

Option 2: The Starting Block Only

This option checks only the start date of the booking against the rules.

Example Scenario:

• Booking: A user wants to book a 3-day event from December 24 to December 26.
• Rule: No bookings on public holidays (e.g., December 25).

Outcome:

• The system checks only December 24.
• December 24 is not a public holiday.
• Result: Booking is allowed because the start date is not a public holiday.

Summary

• All Blocks Being Booked: Denies booking if any day in the period is a public holiday.
• The Starting Block Only: Denies booking only if the start date is a public holiday.

In this example, we have set it to “All blocks being booked” to apply rules universally.

Restrict Selectable Days?

• What it means: Limits bookings to specific days of the week.
• Example Setup: Check the box if you want to restrict bookings to certain days. For example, if your event is only on weekends, check “Saturday” and “Sunday.”

First Block Starts At…

• What it means: Sets the start time for the first booking block.
• Example Setup: Set the time for when bookings can start, such as 09:00 AM.

Rules (We have not applied in this example)

• Type: Specifies the type of rule (e.g., Date range).
• Date Range: Sets the specific date range for the rule.
  • From: Start date (YYYY-MM-DD).
  • To: End date (YYYY-MM-DD).
• Bookable: Determines if the specified date range is bookable or not.
  • Example Setup: Set to “NO” if you want to make these dates unbookable.
• Priority: Defines the importance of this rule.
  • Example Setup: Lower numbers have higher priority. For example, setting to 10 means this rule can be overridden by a rule with a priority of 9.

Step 4: Adding Cost for Your Bookings 

In this example, our booking duration = 1 day (since we have taken the event booking duration as 1 day). 

Base cost: $50 

Block cost: $20 

Total Display Cost= $70

For more clarity, we will explain you with another example: 

• Base Cost is the flat fee charged for making a booking. For example, if you set the base cost to $50, every booking will have a starting fee of $50. So, if a user books a virtual event, they will be charged $50 as the base cost.
• Block Cost is the fee added for each block of time booked, such as each day. If you set the block cost to $20 per day, and a user books a 3-day event, the block cost will be $20 multiplied by 3, which equals $60.
• Display Cost is the total cost shown to users when they are booking. For instance, with a base cost of $50 and a block cost of $20 per day, if a user books a 3-day event, the display cost will be $50 (base cost) plus $60 (block cost for 3 days), totaling $110. This is the amount displayed to the user.

Step 5: Add Images 

Adding images to your product/services is crucial because it enhances understanding and ensures clarity about what you are offering. 

Once you have added the images, submit it for review.

This is how your product will look like to your customers.

Examples of Bookable Services:

• Hotel Rooms: Customers can book rooms for specific dates and durations.
• Rental Cars: Offer cars for rent by the day, week, or customized durations.
• Guided Tours: Allow tourists to book spots on guided city or nature tours.
• Spa Treatments: Enable booking for services like massages or facials.
• Coaching Classes: Students can reserve time slots for personal or group coaching sessions.
• Content Writing Services: Clients book time slots to discuss and plan content creation.

By following these steps, you can set up various types of bookable services tailored to your business needs. This method ensures a smooth booking experience for your customers.

Why Choose BSMe2e for Selling Bookable Services?

We at BSMe2e are revolutionizing the way sellers engage with online markets. Our virtual shopping mall is committed to catering to the diverse needs of sellers by offering a spectrum of online store options.

Why Choose BSMe2e?

• No Commission Hassle: Minimal rental fee for eStores with no commission on revenue generated from sales.
• Unique Store Identity: Each seller receives a unique store ID and URL, easily shareable across social channels.
• Easy Online Store Setup and Scaling: Simple setup process with a user-friendly interface and no coding skills required. Complete control through the Store Manager with store analytics, notifications, delivery control, and coupons.
• Versatility in Products and Services: Accommodates physical products, digital downloads, bundled items, and services, all manageable on a single platform.
• Advertise and Sell: Showcase your products and services while leveraging a modern advertising marketplace.
• Unlimited Earning Potential: Global Agentship Partner Programs for top-performing sellers, with opportunities to earn lucrative commissions and longer contracts.
• Done-For-You Packages: Complete setup and management of your online store, including SEO optimization, product setup, digital marketing, and more.
• Done-With-You Packages: Ongoing support for those who want to learn and gain experience, with professional assistance available.
• Low Risk Experimentation: Test business ideas through seller contests, validating product/service concepts and refining strategies.
• Promotional Support: Free promotion for selected seller stores and products, providing additional exposure to potential customers.
• Localized Shipping and Delivery: Leverage cost-effective shipping options, enhancing the customer shopping experience.
• Flexible Subscription Options: Start with a free basic plan and upgrade your membership as your business grows.
• Exclusive Benefits for VIP Sellers: Featured spaces for mega or VIP store owners, providing additional brand visibility.
• Comprehensive Support Packages: Affordable packages for store banners, logo designs, and more, making BSMe2e a cost-effective platform.
• User-Friendly Mobile eCommerce: Mobile-friendly platform with built-in SEO features and an end-to-end store manager for easy online presence.

Join BSMe2e Today to Sell Bookable Services!

BSMe2e is the ultimate selling platform for online sellers who want to grow their business and monetize their passion. We are more than just a platform; we are a virtual shopping mall that empowers you to achieve your dreams of selling bookable services. Join BSMe2e today and experience the difference.

Vendor Registration: Register here

Seller Manual Guide: Read the guide