The UK's wellness industry is undergoing a rapid digital shift, with consumers now spending an estimated £15bn (US$19.6bn) a year booking personal services through SaaS platforms and apps. But new research from Global Payments reveals that the experience hinges on one moment above all others: the checkout. A clunky payment process is enough to send 71% of British consumers straight to the exit, making embedded, end-to-end financial ecosystems a non-negotiable for software providers competing in this space.
Younger Consumers Drive Platform Adoption
The surge in platform bookings is being led overwhelmingly by younger demographics. Gen Z and Millennials together account for half of all UK spend in this category, pouring around £7.5bn (US$9.8bn) annually into wellness and fitness applications.
This is fast becoming a permanent habit rather than a passing trend: more than half of Gen Z (55%) and half of Millennials (50%) say they are using booking platforms more than they did two years ago.
Fitness stands out as the clearest example of this behavioural shift, with 31% of UK adults surveyed now using platforms to book fitness services, ranging from individual classes to full gym memberships.
"We are living in the app economy and fitness is one of its biggest winners – from padel to pilates. This presents a huge opportunity for platforms, but only if they have the right technology in place. Crucially, this must include payments, which are often the make-or-break moment in a transaction."— Grant Evans, Head of Sales, Integrated and Platforms, Global Payments
Local Brands Empowered by Discovery Tools
Booking fitness services via SaaS applications is becoming habitual, with 60% of those polled saying they use this digital method regularly. This shift is also reshaping how people discover local services in the first place.
One in eight (13%) consumers surveyed use booking platforms specifically as a discovery tool to find and support independent businesses. For SMEs, listing on these digital marketplaces offers a vital pipeline to reach entirely new customer bases.
Capturing that demand, however, requires the right backend infrastructure: 36% of independent personal services businesses in the UK say their software needs a greater ability to better manage payments.
Consumers Demand Frictionless Checkouts
While booking platforms offer unparalleled convenience, the consumer experience ultimately succeeds or fails at the point of sale. For modern platforms, embedded payments are no longer a nice-to-have; they are the most basic requirement.
The survey data reveals a strict intolerance for friction at checkout: 71% of consumers say a poor payment process would cause them to abandon a booking altogether, 42% actively choose platforms based specifically on whether they offer simple, secure payments, and 84% expect a refund within 48 hours if a service is cancelled.
SaaS platforms that fail to deliver seamless checkouts and rapid refunds risk losing not just individual bookings, but the SMB clients who rely on those platforms to turn first-time users into repeat customers. As SaaS and fintech continue to converge, software providers must evolve beyond simple booking diaries into comprehensive financial ecosystems.