What portion of your salon or spa business is product sales? Your answer should be something like, "significant" or you are missing a lot.
Chances are you *are* focused on the retail side so let's not dwell on that. What's next is how to manage it.
You're reading this because you have an interest in spa and salon software and technology like TouchSuite Salon. Whichever salon or spa software system you're looking at, be sure it includes product management.
The right system should include everything from ordering to sales.
Here's sort of a shopping list for salon product management:
1. Barcode scanning. Be sure the system comes with a scanner and that it can read UPC Barcodes on products. Be sure the system can generate SKU numbers and corresponding barcodes; and they can be printed and applied.
2. Easy data entry. How about entering the various data, like brand, sizes, category, etc. only one time and being able to select them when you enter a new product instead of typing them over and over? How about product cloning? ... good for different sizes of the same product.
3. Low inventory alerts? Will your salon POS system let you know when you need to order?
4. Easy Purchase Orders. Your spa and salon software should be able to create and send POs to your vendors through email. Fax is so yesterday!
5. Salon Use. Manage both retail use and shop use for product that you consume in the shop, including who used it and notes.
6. Bulk Product Management. Do you buy by the case and want to break them down? How? What about by the gallon? No reason your salon software shouldn't handle that.
7. Salon Retail Sales. Scanning at checkout is a given. What about product with no barcode? If you don't want to print and apply labels, is there a good Product Search feature. How fast is it when you are busy?
8. Price Adjustments. How flexible is checkout price when you're slammed? You should be able to adjust pricing by:
- Promotion - trackable with reporting.
- Discount - on the spot.
- Override - for whatever reason just because (with manager approval).
9. Product Bundles. Can you bundle a shampoo and conditioner as its own product? Or any other combo.
10. Salon Sales Staff Credit. Can you give credit and commission to the staff member who sold each item, on a line by line basis?
11. Divvy Up the Sale. Can the products go to "house" vs. staff, e.g. in salon renter shops does the service of a renter go to their own merchant account, but products stay with house (if that's how you want it)?
12. Reports. Sales by Product by Staff. Profitability. Inventory. and more ... be sure the system you are looking has good reporting.
13. Time-Expiry Sale. You should be able to put a product on sale and the system should know when it ends.
Well, that's a lot to take in, and may be not all of it. The good news is, you can bookmark this post and refer to it if you need it.
Your salon software technology should work for you. Be sure what you invest in for your business, does more than what it should, but, does what it CAN! Now for the shameless plug ... check out TouchSuite Salon and compare.
All the best 'till next time.
Back to Blog
Friday, November 5, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Salon Software Power Backup, Data Backup, and Security
Hey there! Second post coming right up ...
A quickie about backups and security.
One of the worst, check that, THE worst, feeling I ever experienced relative to computers is when I had a crash and lost EXTREMELY valuable data and work.
When you are thinking about which salon software to use, be sure you add: power backup, data backup, and security to your list.
Power backup usually is as simple as a battery backup up (BBU), sometimes called an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). This is a like a power strip on steroids. Even if you piece your own salon management system together, be sure you have UPS. You can get one in the 425 VA range for about $40 to $50 these days at Office Depot, Staples, Best Buy, even Walmart. This is a must.
The time the system "stays up" during a power outage depends on the size of the battery. That 425 VA number is the indicator. 750 VA is better than 425 VA etc. With a light-duty computer you may hope for about 10 minutes of "up time" after the power goes out. This is a very variable number. You should count on finishing what you are doing and powering down safely.
Plug only the essentials into the battery side of the UPS, no sense in keeping anything but the screen and main unit on.
Note: do not plug printers into the battery side of the UPS as their power circuits don't play well with the battery circuits and can cause funny behavior of the system.
Maybe the most important value of the UPS for your salon system is the power conditioning, not necessarily the up time. A bad power glitch can ruin a system if it is just plugged directly into the power receptacle. The battery "filters" those bad glitches, potentially increasing the useful life of your salon system.
Next, be sure your systems includes data backup. For example, TouchSuite provides both a local (right in the unit) data backup drive, the ability to backup to an external drive, as well as an online data backup option. Be sure your system has at least one if not all three of these options. It only takes one time to have a crash and lose your critical data for you to never have it happen again. Hopefully it never happens!
Security is huge. No other way to say it. The liability you face for having credit card information taken is not trivial. Be sure, like TouchSuite, your salon system is PA-DSS validated. The Payment Application-Data Security Standard is the payment industry's standard for securely taking payments. PA-DSS is the only way to be sure your system is validated to comply, and, this is a critical component to PCI compliance as a merchant who accepts credit cards.
Be sure you do not retain credit card info, be sure your system is running with a Router/Firewall (e.g. Cisco/Linksys) in between the Internet and the system. The Firewall is security software that runs in the router. The normal setup is to have a modem (DSL or Cable) plugged into a router and your system plugged into the router;
line->modem->router->system.
This is pretty basic stuff these days and your Internet provider can usually help; e.g. a router can be as low as $29.
One of the advantages of considering TouchSuite is that your Touchsuite provides the UPS and the data backup included, along with the complete hardware and software salon system.
Anyway, until next time, keep 'em beautiful!
Return to Salon Software Blog.
A quickie about backups and security.
One of the worst, check that, THE worst, feeling I ever experienced relative to computers is when I had a crash and lost EXTREMELY valuable data and work.
When you are thinking about which salon software to use, be sure you add: power backup, data backup, and security to your list.
Power backup usually is as simple as a battery backup up (BBU), sometimes called an uninterruptable power supply (UPS). This is a like a power strip on steroids. Even if you piece your own salon management system together, be sure you have UPS. You can get one in the 425 VA range for about $40 to $50 these days at Office Depot, Staples, Best Buy, even Walmart. This is a must.
The time the system "stays up" during a power outage depends on the size of the battery. That 425 VA number is the indicator. 750 VA is better than 425 VA etc. With a light-duty computer you may hope for about 10 minutes of "up time" after the power goes out. This is a very variable number. You should count on finishing what you are doing and powering down safely.
Plug only the essentials into the battery side of the UPS, no sense in keeping anything but the screen and main unit on.
Note: do not plug printers into the battery side of the UPS as their power circuits don't play well with the battery circuits and can cause funny behavior of the system.
Maybe the most important value of the UPS for your salon system is the power conditioning, not necessarily the up time. A bad power glitch can ruin a system if it is just plugged directly into the power receptacle. The battery "filters" those bad glitches, potentially increasing the useful life of your salon system.
Next, be sure your systems includes data backup. For example, TouchSuite provides both a local (right in the unit) data backup drive, the ability to backup to an external drive, as well as an online data backup option. Be sure your system has at least one if not all three of these options. It only takes one time to have a crash and lose your critical data for you to never have it happen again. Hopefully it never happens!
Security is huge. No other way to say it. The liability you face for having credit card information taken is not trivial. Be sure, like TouchSuite, your salon system is PA-DSS validated. The Payment Application-Data Security Standard is the payment industry's standard for securely taking payments. PA-DSS is the only way to be sure your system is validated to comply, and, this is a critical component to PCI compliance as a merchant who accepts credit cards.
Be sure you do not retain credit card info, be sure your system is running with a Router/Firewall (e.g. Cisco/Linksys) in between the Internet and the system. The Firewall is security software that runs in the router. The normal setup is to have a modem (DSL or Cable) plugged into a router and your system plugged into the router;
line->modem->router->system.
This is pretty basic stuff these days and your Internet provider can usually help; e.g. a router can be as low as $29.
One of the advantages of considering TouchSuite is that your Touchsuite provides the UPS and the data backup included, along with the complete hardware and software salon system.
Anyway, until next time, keep 'em beautiful!
Return to Salon Software Blog.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
TouchSuite Salon Software, Introduction Post
A warm hello from this introduction post. You're managing a salon and you already know that technology's importance to your business in increasing virtually by the minute; and you would like to keep up.
We are very proud of the rapid success TouchSuite Salon Software continues to enjoy ... and 90% of bloggers have alterior motives, like self, or product, or cause promotion.
However, our intent with this blog is to provide knowledge and info that can help you understand and adopt new salon technology, salon software, and tactics to grow your business; knowledge and info that we have accumulated from our years of success and experience.
Let's face it, win-win is still the best outcome. We win by earning and keeping your respect as a good source for objective, helpful info, and more TouchSuite users, and you win by having a go-to source for help in understanding technology that can save you time, money, help you grow your business, and in fact, pay for itself. And, if you're a TouchSuite Salon user, you can get help you may not have found in our plethora of free help and support options.
While not necessarily the case (as we have found with some of our clients who are quite tech-savvy), you likely didn't go to engineering school on purpose! Your expertise is making people beautiful, and you're good at it or you wouldn't be running a salon. But, since you are running a salon, you find yourself faced with decisions to make about your business that, well, they didn't teach you in beauty school. Well, you can consider TouchSuite your technolgoy partner, and in fact, I encourage you to ask us questions, here, on our website, our support line, our on-line chat on every TouchSuite, etc.
So please let me fulfill my win-win promise for this post ...
When we began our development of TouchSuite, we met with you guys, a bunch of you guys, and asked a lot of questions and listened a lot. The number one thing that you told us is that the Book is the center of your universe. This seems a trivial "revelation", but, when it comes to a salon software system solution for your business, it's not as trivial as it seems.
All the technology niceties, for example web appointments, performance tracking, and client database, aside, the system you choose better do book-checkout-book-checkout-book-checkout fast and easy. You know, that is your day and the potential source for minute-by-minute headaches if not done right. Be sure to see how book-checkout works on any salon software you look at. It's sort of like if your car won't go, the rear seat entertainment system is moot. It is a car after all.
Do a comparison. If you can't book-checkout at least as fast as you can with your paper book, cash box, and credit card machine, then what's the point? You'll be surprised, as we were, how hard and slow many salon software products out there are WRT book-checkout. We call it runing at "salon speed".
Run through the practicality of book-check and make a check list. Can you quickly add a new client (to a stylist's client list) get their phone number, birthday, email (for marketing), book an appointment with processing time, nudge the time or price if need be, even book multiple services with different staff? If not, keep looking.
Can you quickly build a ticket, adjust pricing, change stylists, add products, take cash, credit cards, gift cards all in one transaction (like that never happens!)? Seriously, if you can't check off all these items, then what value does the technology bring?
How about how fast you can find the next client's appointment waiting at the desk to check out after this one, and get them checked out? Whichever salon software you consider, run it through these paces as a core MUST HAVE. This is functionality you should expect. After book-checkout, virtually the rest is gravy.
Please, if you are in the middle of a decision, make a list. Start with visualizing 15 minutes on a busy Saturday of book-checkout; make the list. Then think about your whole day and how does that go? What is important to you operationally that you would like a system to help you with? Make a list. Then think about your week; payouts, batching, rescheduling, etc. Make a list. Then think about your year and the accountant. How can your new salon software help you? Make a list.
Let that list guide you in your decision. That list will guide this blog, and in subsequent posts, I'll offer some more insight in how salon software and technology can and should check off the whole list.
Thanks for being here and see you soon.
Return to Salon Software Blog.
We are very proud of the rapid success TouchSuite Salon Software continues to enjoy ... and 90% of bloggers have alterior motives, like self, or product, or cause promotion.
However, our intent with this blog is to provide knowledge and info that can help you understand and adopt new salon technology, salon software, and tactics to grow your business; knowledge and info that we have accumulated from our years of success and experience.
Let's face it, win-win is still the best outcome. We win by earning and keeping your respect as a good source for objective, helpful info, and more TouchSuite users, and you win by having a go-to source for help in understanding technology that can save you time, money, help you grow your business, and in fact, pay for itself. And, if you're a TouchSuite Salon user, you can get help you may not have found in our plethora of free help and support options.
While not necessarily the case (as we have found with some of our clients who are quite tech-savvy), you likely didn't go to engineering school on purpose! Your expertise is making people beautiful, and you're good at it or you wouldn't be running a salon. But, since you are running a salon, you find yourself faced with decisions to make about your business that, well, they didn't teach you in beauty school. Well, you can consider TouchSuite your technolgoy partner, and in fact, I encourage you to ask us questions, here, on our website, our support line, our on-line chat on every TouchSuite, etc.
So please let me fulfill my win-win promise for this post ...
When we began our development of TouchSuite, we met with you guys, a bunch of you guys, and asked a lot of questions and listened a lot. The number one thing that you told us is that the Book is the center of your universe. This seems a trivial "revelation", but, when it comes to a salon software system solution for your business, it's not as trivial as it seems.
All the technology niceties, for example web appointments, performance tracking, and client database, aside, the system you choose better do book-checkout-book-checkout-book-checkout fast and easy. You know, that is your day and the potential source for minute-by-minute headaches if not done right. Be sure to see how book-checkout works on any salon software you look at. It's sort of like if your car won't go, the rear seat entertainment system is moot. It is a car after all.
Do a comparison. If you can't book-checkout at least as fast as you can with your paper book, cash box, and credit card machine, then what's the point? You'll be surprised, as we were, how hard and slow many salon software products out there are WRT book-checkout. We call it runing at "salon speed".
Run through the practicality of book-check and make a check list. Can you quickly add a new client (to a stylist's client list) get their phone number, birthday, email (for marketing), book an appointment with processing time, nudge the time or price if need be, even book multiple services with different staff? If not, keep looking.
Can you quickly build a ticket, adjust pricing, change stylists, add products, take cash, credit cards, gift cards all in one transaction (like that never happens!)? Seriously, if you can't check off all these items, then what value does the technology bring?
How about how fast you can find the next client's appointment waiting at the desk to check out after this one, and get them checked out? Whichever salon software you consider, run it through these paces as a core MUST HAVE. This is functionality you should expect. After book-checkout, virtually the rest is gravy.
Please, if you are in the middle of a decision, make a list. Start with visualizing 15 minutes on a busy Saturday of book-checkout; make the list. Then think about your whole day and how does that go? What is important to you operationally that you would like a system to help you with? Make a list. Then think about your week; payouts, batching, rescheduling, etc. Make a list. Then think about your year and the accountant. How can your new salon software help you? Make a list.
Let that list guide you in your decision. That list will guide this blog, and in subsequent posts, I'll offer some more insight in how salon software and technology can and should check off the whole list.
Thanks for being here and see you soon.
Return to Salon Software Blog.
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