Random question... which booking software do *most* salons use?

[lilylaundry]

Hi all,

So pleased to find such an active group of salon professionals!

I wonder if you can impart some wisdom to me?? I am hoping to set up a website that will act as a marketing tool for salons to boost business at a very low cost. I would really appreciate any advice you could give me!

Firstly, I wondered how many salons do not use software back-end packages such as iSalon, SalonIris etc? Do the majority of salons invest in this sort of thing or are there a lot of salons using paper systems and/or outlook calendars?

I would also really appreciate some advice about what the most popular back-end system/software solution for salons? I am hoping to approach some software companies with a view to partnering with them and the salons who use their service. I have read lots of the threads about which system is the *best* but it would be great to know which are the most commonly used too.

Any help gratefully received!

Lx

 

[Marilyn Monroe]

Are you creating a salon system?

What is a back/end sytem? I'm up on computers and webs as much as then next average person but do not understand your terminology.

 

[lilylaundry]

Thanks so much for coming back to me! Sorry for the confusion in terminology!

I am building a website that will refer visitors to salons but I was hoping to approach some of the salon software companies wiith a view to partnering with them. Examples of the sort of companies I am thinking about are Beauty Salon Management Software - Salonium, Salon Software, Salon management software. and Salon Software, Salon management software..

Hope that clarifies it a little? Just wondering which is the most popular of this type of provider? Of if, indeed, lots of people just manage appointments with a book?

Thanks again for coming back and apologies for the confusion!

Lx

 

[lilylaundry]

Re above post - the links seem to have gone a bit different to how I was expecting them to, but they do link through to Salonium, SalonIris and iSalon.

Hope this helps! x

 

[Martin Duffy]

Personally I prefer good old paper and pencil for bookings!

 

[lilylaundry]

Thanks for coming back to me Martin,

Do you think this is fairly common in the industry? It's hard to get a real feel for how many people use appointment software as the marketing blurb for each company would have you believe that everyone uses their system!!

Thanks again!

Lx

 

[Marilyn Monroe]

I had salon iris in my salon, I refer it to pan and paper anyday ans it does all the cashing up for me all I have to do is make sure the till and the screen balance.
I know exactly what treatments I have sold, products I have sold and with a few clicks can see in graphs or numbers which is most popular, which therapist does the most and what clients are most loyal.

 

[Rose143]

Thanks so much for coming back to me! Sorry for the confusion in terminology!

I am building a website that will refer visitors to salons but I was hoping to approach some of the salon software companies wiith a view to partnering with them. Examples of the sort of companies I am thinking about are Beauty Salon Management Software - Salonium, Salon Software, Salon management software. and Salon Software, Salon management software..

Hope that clarifies it a little? Just wondering which is the most popular of this type of provider? Of if, indeed, lots of people just manage appointments with a book?

Thanks again for coming back and apologies for the confusion!

Lx

There is already a site that refers visitors to salons called "My local salon". But it only lists Salons that use Shortcuts ... which I do.

The UK Hairdresser, Beauty Salon, Nail Salon and Day Spa Directory at mylocalsalon

Hope this helps!

 

[lilylaundry]

Thanks so much guys!

Rose - really helpful, thanks so much. It's quite different to what I have in mind but I hadn't come across it and it's always helpful to know what other services are out there.

It says on Shortcuts' website that they are the leading salon and spa software provider - do lots of other SalonGeeks use this?? All help really gratefully received - as I'm sure a lot of you know, it's v scary starting up your own business!!

Thanks again everyone!

Lx

 

[Martin Duffy]

Thanks for coming back to me Martin,

Do you think this is fairly common in the industry? It's hard to get a real feel for how many people use appointment software as the marketing blurb for each company would have you believe that everyone uses their system!!

Thanks again!

Lx

I've worked in salons using both, but personally i always found pencil and diary quicker and easier and a lot more personal, I don't like being stuck behind a screen when talking to clients! My till does breakdowns of treatments and retail so I have no need to use a system for that. I suspect the larger the salon the more likely they are to use computers.

 

[Ruth Mills]

Sounds like an interesting project! There are already a lot of websites out there for promoting salons though (e.g. Beauty Finder - Beauty Salons, Therapists, Treatments, Training Courses, Beauty Suppliers & Wholesalers - UK & Ireland, Wahanda - Health, Beauty, Happiness - Wahanda, etc), and there's already a Scottish site that combines finding a salon with online booking, Hairdressers, Beauty Salons, Spa Treatments ... You name it, INAA.com has got it! - and I received an email via BeautyServe a couple of days ago about a new website Home - so it does seem to be a fairly congested market to get into, as you'll find there are a lot of established and up-and-coming websites out there already offering similar sorts of things - so you'll need to think very carefully about your business model and how you plan to turn a profit - especially with the initial investment of getting a website like that up and running in the first place.

As you'd be advertising via the web, you'd almost certainly want whoever you partner with to offer some sort of online booking solution too; you'd also need to ask yourself if you'd be limiting yourself to partner with only one salon software provider - e.g. if you partner with salon software company X, would you turn away a potential customer who already uses salon software company Y? And would your preferred salon software provider give you an interface into their system, or other means of directly referring people who find a salon via your website to their online booking system?

Am guessing you must have at least some knowledge of web development to be embarking on this sort of project then; you'll probably at least need knowledge of one of the common web development languages, e.g. Java, ASP/.NET, PHP, Ruby, etc, as well as database design, server maintenance/system admin etc; or if you are outsourcing the work, then you'd need to be very careful about how your requirements are defined. In my experience, web development projects pretty much always take longer than first anticipated. Good luck though

 

[Suzanne1118]

Ezee Software, I have worked with so many and these are the best in my opinion!

 

[123lgoldie]

INAA.COM isn't just Scottish anymore, they have moved all over the UK. I use them with my company and they are amazing and best return i've seen in ages, works better than me advertising which costs a small fortune!

 

[Ruth Mills]

I was having a think earlier when I was reading the post that "The Hat" made about Wahanda starting an online booking service, and it made me wonder... surely there are lots of salons out there already running various different brands of salon software, e.g. Phorest, Studio Tracker, Shortcuts, Platinum, etc... and lots of up and coming broker/aggregator/portal sites allowing people to book online at a range of different salons (e.g. INAA, and now Wahanda, etc) - so why doesn't someone come up with a common standard for linking online booking websites to back-end salon software sytems?

I guess for the majority of "standalone" salon software systems, where the database runs on a computer in the salon (as opposed to on a central server), this would require the salon's computer to be connected 24/7 to a broadband connection with a static IP address, so that the online booking website can connect to the salon's computer to query what appointments are available and make bookings, etc.

If a common standard were to be developed for integrating salon software systems in with booking websites such as INAA and Wahanda, it would probably make the most sense for this to use HTTPS (secure HTTP) and a suite of XML-based web services (e.g. using SOAP). Once defined, this common set of Web services could then be implemented by any salon software provider who wanted to provide a standard interface for websites such as INAA and Wahanda (or even the salon's own website) to connect to its software to make online bookings.

Each salon would then need to define a set of login credentials for each online booking portal website that they wanted to use (e.g. one username and password for Wahanda, another for INAA, etc) - which would be sent as part of each web service request over HTTPS. This authentication would be necessary to stop an unauthorised site from trying to connect and retrieve details of appointments or attempt to make bogus appointments. Likewise, the portal site (e.g. Wahanda) would need to know the IP address of the salon's broadband connection, so they would be able to send the web service request to the correct computer.

The set of web services required would probably be along the lines of at least:

(1) List appointments for a given date/time range.
(2) Book an appointment.
(3) Move an appointment/change details.
(4) Cancel an appointment.

Something like this does seem a sensible idea to me though, given the increasing popularity of websites like Wahanda and INAA for booking appointments, and the fact that many salons will have already made a significant investment in salon software that they will then ideally want to use to manage their bookings in conjunction with a portal website. And a common standard makes the most sense, as this would make it easier to ensure compatibility between as many web applications and salon software systems as possible.

 

[sharneshairroom]

Hi, I know nothing about booking and/or software... am slightly interested, but it would have to be foolproof. I just use trusty appointment book and pen I just about managed to put a website up lol!

 

[Millennium]

Some things you will want to make sure you look for in a salon booking software include:

• How long are Booking Intervals (minutes)
• Appointment Resource View
• Perpetual Standing Appointments
• Online Booking for clients
• Group Booking
• Automatic Cross Sell and Up Sell Notification options
• Missed opportunity tracking
• Multi-location Booking for franchises.
• Monitoring, snapshot of your appts. on one easy screen.

There are some other options you will want to look for, but these are some of the main ones.

Best of luck!

 

[salonbabe]

We use Platinum Software in our salon and we love it, have used it for years now and I picked it over all the others out there at the time for three main reasons

Really easy to use
Extremely good pricing
They are always very helpful and nothing is too much trouble

Anyone who has never used a computer system should really try it, it has so many advantages over the paper system, and will enhance any business big or small.

 

[PANTA1265]

Try easySalon at www.easy-salon.com

 

[SalonSwift]

Hi,

I'd be remiss to not mention our product, Salon Swift (Salon Swift - Software for the Hair, Beauty, Tanning and professional services industries). We have a solid market share in Australia and are moving into the UK and US markets at a good pace.

Hope that helps...

Rob

 

[Alex_Clarky]

I think to find out what EVERY salon uses will be seriously difficult!!! Thought about a poll? Try one on here!!! :biggrin:

ps. using Salon Advance - used to be on Salon Active