Fresha is making a bigger push into North America as competition heats up in the rapidly digitizing beauty and wellness sector.

The AI-powered booking and business management platform has appointed Scott O’Brien as General Manager for North America, signaling a more aggressive regional expansion strategy aimed at capturing a larger share of the U.S. and Canadian self-care economy. The move comes as the company already supports more than 30,000 beauty and wellness businesses across the region.

The leadership hire is part of a broader effort to scale operations, expand marketplace growth, and strengthen Fresha’s presence in what remains one of the most competitive—and fragmented—software markets for salons, spas, and wellness providers.

A Strategic Push Into North America

O’Brien’s appointment marks the start of a significant operational expansion for Fresha. According to the company, it plans to triple the size of its regional team, with hiring concentrated in major markets including New York, Vancouver, Florida, and California.

The investment goes beyond staffing. Fresha says it is increasing brand visibility and strengthening its presence at industry events while continuing to evolve its product to better serve local businesses.

“We’re going all in on North America,” O’Brien said. “As we expand across the U.S., our marketplace expands with us, driving more customers to discover and book with our partners every day.”

That marketplace component is central to Fresha’s pitch. Unlike traditional booking software that functions purely as an operational tool, the platform also acts as a discovery engine that connects consumers with local beauty and wellness providers.

A Unified Platform for SMBs and Enterprise Salons

Fresha’s platform combines several capabilities typically handled by separate systems, including:

• Appointment booking and scheduling

• Integrated payments

• Customer relationship management

• Loyalty programs

• Marketing automation

• Marketplace-based client acquisition

The company positions this “all-in-one” model as a solution to a common challenge among small and mid-sized beauty businesses—running multiple disconnected tools just to manage daily operations.

For many salon owners, that fragmented stack often includes separate scheduling systems, payment processors, and marketing tools.

Emelia Fiore, owner of Simply Fresh Aesthetics, says switching to Fresha simplified her business operations while also helping attract new clients.

“Before Fresha, we were stitching together three different tools just to run our day-to-day,” Fiore said. “Now everything lives in one place, and we’re seeing clients we never would have found on our own through the marketplace.”

Leadership Experience From Commerce Tech

O’Brien brings more than 15 years of experience across payments, point-of-sale technology, and high-growth SaaS environments.

Before joining Fresha, he worked at Lightspeed Commerce, where he helped expand commerce ecosystems across both the Asia-Pacific region and North America.

His appointment is designed to align Fresha’s North American strategy with the company’s broader global infrastructure while providing dedicated regional leadership in one of its fastest-growing markets.

Riding the Self-Care Economy Boom

The expansion comes amid strong growth in the global beauty and wellness market, often referred to as the “self-care economy.”

Consumers are increasingly prioritizing personal care services—from skincare and aesthetic treatments to wellness experiences—creating new opportunities for platforms that streamline bookings and customer management.

Fresha says its marketplace and payment ecosystem currently connects more than 140,000 partner businesses worldwide, operating across six continents. Tens of millions of appointments are processed through the platform each month.

The company’s reach spans markets ranging from the United Kingdom and New Zealand to Japan, the Gulf region, and South Africa.

Enterprise Adoption Is Growing

While Fresha initially gained traction among independent professionals and small salons, the platform is increasingly attracting multi-location and enterprise operators.

Franchise networks, salon groups, and large beauty brands are adopting the platform to centralize scheduling, payments, reporting, and customer acquisition across multiple locations.

Founder and CEO William Zeqiri says North America represents one of the company’s most important growth opportunities as larger operators seek scalable software infrastructure.

“As the market evolves, larger multi-location and enterprise self-care businesses are looking for software that can scale with them,” Zeqiri said.

He added that Fresha’s unified architecture—built as an all-in-one platform from the start—makes it easier for businesses to manage operations across multiple locations and markets.

A Fragmented Market Still Up for Grabs

Despite the region’s size and spending power, the North American beauty software ecosystem remains highly fragmented.

Many salons still rely on combinations of standalone booking tools, separate payment processors, and third-party marketing platforms. That fragmentation creates inefficiencies for businesses while limiting their ability to attract new customers online.

Fresha’s strategy is to consolidate those functions into a single platform while adding a marketplace layer that drives new client discovery.

As consumer discovery increasingly merges with real-time booking and digital transactions, platforms that combine operational software with customer acquisition tools may gain a competitive edge.

The Next Phase of Growth

With O’Brien leading the charge, Fresha is entering what it calls a new phase of “executive-led acceleration” in North America.

The company’s bet is that the future of beauty and wellness software lies in unified ecosystems—platforms that manage operations, payments, marketing, and customer discovery in one place.

If that model resonates with salons and wellness providers, North America could become one of the most important growth engines for Fresha’s global platform.

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