All the cost is relevant.
Regardless the software you are choosing, you will have to buy scanner ,monitor, etc....
I have not seen any salon software so far that gives you the above for FREE.
I am using a year now the KaterNico Easy-Salon , i got it for less than £50 and i am more than happy.However as i said before whatever your system you will need and hardware especially if you want POS.(Scanners,Receipt Printer,Cash Draw and laptop or PC.

Cheers

I've trialled Platinum and its brilliant really happy with it. I do believe there is a difference with software as I've used Momento 6 and Salon genius and they are fab when you're the manager of 17 staff I only have 3 now so this one is perfect.

That is definitely a considerable expense, but it doesn't have to be thousands. We just got a new Fax/Scanner/Copier/Printer for $75 and it works amazingly. Awesome quality and the ink cartridges aren't super expensive. From my experience, a standard desktop PC is more than enough to handle salon operations, and if you know what you're looking for, a name brand model, including monitor, shouldn't be too expensive.

As for Salon Iris, it's a very powerful and lovely software; it does a LOT and can save you a lot of money in the way of outsourcing accountants and payroll and decluttering your life in general. I do, however, sometimes worry about all the information that could be lost in some freak accident or other, which is why I do prefer outsourcing and having paper backups of data, etc. I am NOT a fan of Salon Iris's support. They are timely, but it's expensive as hell after the initial two year warranty. AND they take an awful long time to help with issues that aren't already in their Help Menu.

Keep us posted with your software choices!

I'd find it highly unlikely that any company would give you a load of hardware "for free", especially in the current economic climate! Given that salon software is a fairly niche product, then it will be one most likely supported by relatively small businesses; for a small-ish business to provide free hardware as an incentive to buy a long-term subscription to their particular salon management software would be a significant risk, requiring a large initial capital outlay - the software company would only re-coup their money in the long term, perhaps after over 2 or 3 years or so - and then there would be the risk that the salon they had given the hardware to might go bust or default on their payments!

So whilst that business model might work for mobile phones (e.g. get a flashy new phone when you sign up to a mobile phone contract for 18 months), the market for mobile phones is huge, and the cost of the phone would be re-couped only a few months or so into the contract - and any defaults or missed payments should be manageable for a huge mobile phone company!

In the case of salon software, there's also likely to be a fairly large research & development cost in order to have created a viable product in the first place - plus ongoing payments to finance staff salaries - so this would then explain why a lot of salon software systems do sound expensive, particularly as they won't be getting anywhere near the same volume of sales as Microsoft etc...

I totally agree.
However the point I made is why we should pay ridicules prices for salon software. While there are packages out there do the same job at the fraction of the cost.
Take a look at www.easy-salon.com only £50 and does the job.
What more you want from salon software??????. Yes, if I wanted gadgets and gismos and software to make my coffee in the morning and give me a good massage before I start work, I may choose another.
I am talking for myself that I was one man band and now we are five of us and still going well with our software.
Maybe if I have 30 people working for me I may change software. But that means I can afford to do that.
When I first started I did not had the budget to buy anything and I didn’t want to lock a few thousands on salon software. Then my partner join and we research the option for booking software. We got trials, demos, you name it and eventually we got the above software.
Does the job brilliantly even now that we are 5 of us in two salons.
My question is, are you going to buy a FERRARI to go to work or a car that gives you safety comfort and does the job. At the end of the day, here is business and we trying to cut down the cost and be competitive without minimize the customer experience. I have nothing against the expensive systems and I do believe they do excellent job as well.
However I am strangling to get the mentality that only expensive software is good.

I will love to drive a FERRARI, is my dream , however a. I cannot afford b. You want a big wallet to run it. C. My mini cooper does the job
Cheers

Its a minefield out there
but thats where this site always comes in handy

....I had a quote a few months ago for over £500 +vat+supporting it etc..mega bucks..so Ive held back a bit, but after reading a few of these I may have to relook...at the end of the day the package has to do all the things you want it to do.....and maybe even more!

A useful thread for me

I'd be the last to agree that only expensive software is good actually - I'm a huge fan of free software in fact - I swear by Linux, JBoss, OpenOffice, FLAC, amongst others - all free and open source to boot.

I guess I meant that a fair tranche of salon software would likely be expensive - simply because of it being a fairly niche product most likely developed by small businesses that still need to turn a profit - but if there are people/companies out there that have managed to produce a quality product for a reasonable price, then serious kudos to them!

The latest salon software is online so it doesn't need to be installed on your hard drive. It is also very user friendly and the software is always kept up to date so you don't have to buy upgrades. It means you rent the software rather than paying thousands of pounds and it will always be the latest.

Hi Elise, i saw a few a PB North too but after trying a few I found Studio Tracker to be the most uder-friendly. I got a free trial off their website (type it into google) and they set it up on my computer. Plus they were a lot cheaper than the others I looked in to.
Good luck!x

I think it depends what you are looking for in software. I have looked at some that have been talked about on this link and what I can see is that they are a contact management system. When I bought my software from DWB Solutions, I was not only looking for appointment bookings, but also stock control, gift cards and staff rotas as well as the ability to do packages, with lots of marketing and business reports. The software I got does all this and more, yes I paid £1,600 but I don’t regret a penny!!!
Spa Management Software and Salon Software for Spa's, Day Spa's, Hotel Spa's Beauty Salon's and Clinics from DWB Solutions Ltd

I got mine from easy-salon.com , i paid only £49.99 , i also got a barcode scanner for £60 and £boy is gooooood .
I would never dream to pay £1600 for a software why??


Cheers
xxx

Hi guys,

This thread is v useful as I'm in the process of buying software... Most companies are quoting me in the thousands for a package - and after having looked at the easysalon website, they don't appear to do an awful lot more than the cheaper system.

Has anyone incorporated texting into the easysalon system? Has it worked out ok? Any horror stories with this package?? Is the financial reporting side of it up to scratch?

Cheers!

I am using easy-salon a year now and i am very happy.
The reminders (text messaging) is working fine.
If you are looking for financial reports , i wouldn't say that is the best .However for the price of £49 you don't expect that as well.
It does produce few reports for Services and product sales and they do the job.

I hope this helps

Cheers

pupy love