Hair salons aren’t your typical retail businesses. For one thing, salon customers tend to develop personal, long-term relationships with their hairstylists. In addition, efficient scheduling is the key to keeping salon customers happy and employees productive. On top of all this, a salon’s inventory has to keep pace with ever-changing customer preferences.
A hair salon point of sale system has to smoothly blend customer relationship management, appointment scheduling, and inventory management in a single, easy-to-use interface that’s flexible, accessible, and up-to-date. A cloud-based POS system for hair salons checks all these boxes while also being affordable, easy to implement, and able to grow along with the business.
Here’s a look at the hair salon POS features that help businesses build long-lasting relationships with customers, allow employees to focus on meeting the needs of their clients, and make a salon’s business processes as efficient as possible.
Customers Respond Positively to a Well-Run Hair Salon
The right decor goes a long way in putting hair salon customers at ease. However, even the fanciest accouterments can’t hide a poorly run operation. Salon customers pay close attention to how well the business operates, and they will shy away from a salon that is disorganized or that stresses out staff members.
Perhaps the most important aspect of a hair salon point of sale system is its ability to automate mundane tasks, which allows stylists and managers to give customers their full attention. This means:
- Everything in one place. The POS system should make it simple to match stylists’ preferred work hours and days while automatically accounting for periods of peak and slow customer demand. The system’s permissions allow employees to access their schedules and other required functions while not compromising any business data. Employee hours can be matched with sales reports, and automated timesheets simplify the processing of payroll and tax forms.
- Easy scheduling. It should be just as simple for clients to use the POS system to self-schedule appointments based on the times their favorite stylists are available. The salon’s appointment scheduling can be boosted by adding brief biographies of stylists that highlight their strengths and experience.
- Exceptional customer service. Clients appreciate being made to feel special. The hair salon’s POS system should be able to track client preferences and maintain a history of their past visits. The customer profiles can include the times and days of the week they prefer, their favorite stylists, favorite cuts and colors, and the products they’ve purchased in the past. It’s a simple step to create loyalty programs based on this data to offer personalized discounts and promotions.
- Inventory tracking. The POS system’s inventory management features should accommodate the products the salon sells to customers as well as those that its stylists prefer to use in their work. The systems can be set to issue alerts when product numbers reach a certain level and even to place reorders automatically. The POS system can also generate barcodes and print labels to speed up checkouts. It can also create pricing rules that automate discounting of slow-moving inventory items.
- Data analytics. The system’s ability to generate reports based on sales and other data helps ensure that business decisions are based on reliable, complete, and up-to-date information. A POS system’s sales reports can indicate the profitability of specific services and products, times of highest and lowest sales volumes, and which employees are generating the most revenue.
A POS System Helps Salons Keep Pace with Changing Conditions
Any business plan has to consider how the organization will adapt to changing market and economic conditions. A hair salon point of sale system has to facilitate quick shifts in strategy and operations. However, it is equally important for a hair salon to stay true to the foundation and goals of its business plan.
- Infuse your brand in everything you do, from the salon’s name and logo to promoting its reputation and the skill sets of your stylists. The atmosphere you worked to develop, whether cutting-edge techno or family style, can be replicated in the POS system’s custom screens for sites, apps, and customer-facing kiosks.
- Take advantage of the insight the POS system’s data offers about your salon’s customers. By tracking customer preferences and purchase histories, a salon is better able to anticipate trends and adjust inventory as necessary.
- Use the POS system’s appointment-scheduling features to simplify the process of booking appointments online or via the salon’s custom application. It can be daunting for clients to navigate online appointment calendars to find convenient times with their preferred stylists.
- Position the POS system as the nexus for all of the salon’s business processes, including employee management, payroll and accounting, customer loyalty programs, and business planning.
How a POS System Addresses Common Hair Salon Pain Points
A recent survey of salon owners and employees identified the greatest challenges the businesses face. The problems cited most often were attracting and retaining customers, responding to price competition, managing appointments, and handling marketing, advertising, and social media. A hair salon POS system should be ready to tackle all of these challenges by automating as many processes as possible.
The information about your customers that the POS system collects forms the basis for marketing and promotion efforts to retain existing customers while attracting new ones. By taking advantage of online appointment scheduling, salons give customers more control over the process and the flexibility to schedule appointments at their convenience. Increase revenue by offering discounts, promotions, and personalized special offers based on sales reports and your customer database. Create a unified look and feel to promote your brand on the salon’s site, social media accounts, and custom mobile app.
Hair salons have to use every tool at their disposal to keep their business thriving and growing today and into the future. A salon’s POS system can be the key to achieving the efficiency, flexibility, and quality service that will keep customers coming back for more.
When you partner with talech for your hair salon point of sale needs, we devote our time to identifying your business challenges and applying innovative POS solutions that levels the playing field. Reach out to us today to sign up for a demo and to learn more about how talech can be your valued POS partner.
