Managing product inventory for your salon can get messy quickly. Especially if you do not have a system in place to properly track your inventory. Instead of spending hours on end in your stock room or counting products on the shelf, there are a few simple best practices you can adopt to make inventory management smooth and effortless.
Have a Digital Tracking System
Taking everything by hand on paper is a way of the past. With today’s modern technology, it is easier than ever to manage your inventory digitally. This is one of the easiest and best ways to avoid errors. Why? Digital systems can be automated to signal you or an employee when inventory is low or out of stock. This can help you stay ahead of your product purchasing for your salon so that you have a smooth and continuous flow of the products most loved by your customers. All numbers are accounted for in real time which can take the mess and headache out of inventory auditing.
A digital system can also help you keep track of product transactions and the ways in which products are being purchased. It is much easier to see a pattern in a product and how it is being purchased with a digital report from your salon software system rather than thumbing through pages of notes on a clipboard. This allows you to anticipate which products might draw people into your salon, which products might do well with some advertising or promotion to boost their sales, and which products you might want to consider phasing out. All of this can be helpful for you to manage your salon more efficiently and spend your money most wisely.
Only Order What You Need…And On a Budget
It can be a lot of fun to purchase products for your salon! Particularly when you have a little extra cash flow or the holidays are coming up. However, a best practice to keep your inventory clean, spoil-proof, and inexpensive is to only order what you need and stick to a budget. Knowing what you need and anticipating your sales comes down to data. Having the data to track back your customer’s purchasing behavior for products over the month and on a larger scale, the year, can be very helpful to keep your shelves stocked at the right amount for the right price. Investing too much money into your inventory when it is not needed or supported by data can backfire. Especially if products have a shorter shelf-life. Use your reporting system to analyze the history of purchases and proceed with your inventory purchasing based on that.
Don’t be Afraid of Multiple Purchase Points for Products
Some salons only allow for in-person purchases of products. Often, the reason for this is to keep a close eye on inventory numbers if the salon does not have a digital record or a clean and clear way to track inventory. This can cause your salon to leave a lot of money on the table. A report from Think with Google states that 59% of shoppers surveyed say that being able to shop on mobile is important when deciding whom to buy from. How does this shopping trend translate over to salons? If your salon is not online in some fashion, and not just on social media, but with an e-commerce function, you’re missing out on sales. Buying trends have shifted to embrace a digital experience that allows the user to do everything they need under one digital roof, like consumer content, book appointments, purchase products, and connect. An online storefront cannot only boost your bookings sales but it can also boost your product sales. Don’t miss out!
TanTrack tanning salon software is an all-in-one solution for tanning salons looking to better manage their inventory. The system offers over 300+ reports which makes collecting and analyzing inventory data a breeze. TanTrack also has several automated features so that you can stay on top of your inventory needs. Finally, TanTrack’s Client Portal is integrated with the system and acts like an e-commerce site for your salon. No need to have a separate website and purchasing system. TanTrack does it all.
To book your free demo and learn more about TanTrack’s inventory management features, contact us today!
