The Ultimate Guide to Salon POS Systems

Salons are the type of business that succeed because they deliver the absolute best experience for their customers, from the moment they walk in the door to when they book their next appointment. This means it’s critical to take advantage of every opportunity to improve the customer experience, including providing a smooth, fast, and efficient checkout process with the best point-of-sale system for your salon.

The beauty and personal aesthetics market is highly competitive, and there are countless ways that a salon can make improvements to their operations in order to increase efficiency, reduce customer churn, and boost loyalty. For many businesses, it can be a challenge to prioritize these opportunities and identify the ones that hold the greatest potential for a positive impact and strong return-on-investment. However, there are some that stand apart from the rest with a clear and well-defined set of advantages and benefits. One such example is the POS system used in the salon to process transactions, schedule appointments, and perform other types of essential business tasks.

The point-of-sale system helps to keep the entire salon operation running smoothly and efficiently, so making sure that the system you choose for your salon will do the job, and do it well, requires careful consideration and evaluation. While there are many different aspects that must be weighed before committing to one particular POS solution over another, there are ways to simplify the evaluation process and make sure that you’re selecting the best point-of-sale system to meet the needs of your particular salon. Let’s take a moment to explore the most important elements that the best salon POS systems all have in common.

What Makes the Best Salon POS System?

First off, you’re going to want to take a step back and look at how your business will use and interact with your POS system, and determine the functions that you’ll need it to perform day in and day out. Interestingly, the features and functionality needed to make the best hair salon POS solution are essentially identical to those needed in a nail salon POS, tanning salon POS system, barber shop POS system, or other types of businesses that provide personal aesthetic services. These include the processing of transactions, of course, but also scheduling client appointments and staff, inventory control of retail products, accepting online sales and appointment bookings, and managing customer loyalty programs.

Features to Look for In Salon POS Software

Compatibility With All Types of Payment Methods

In recent years, the number of payment options that are available to consumers has grown significantly. It’s no longer just ‘cash or credit’. In fact, cash itself is increasingly becoming obsolete as more and more people are preferring to use cashless payment methods due to their increased convenience, security, and ease-of-use. These days, credit and debit cards are the most common payment methods, but they aren’t the only cashless options. Digital wallets, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay are gaining a great deal of popularity since they’re integrated so seamlessly into the smartphones we all carry in our purses and pockets.

What this means for a salon is that their POS system absolutely must be capable of processing a wider variety of payment methods than ever before. This is especially important as digital payment trends show no signs of slowing down any time soon. Quite the contrary, actually. It’s been estimated that we could be living in a virtually cashless world as soon as 2025, so upgrading to a more capable POS system today, such as the Clover Station Duo or the Clover Mini from MONEXgroup, will help keep your business prepared for the demands of the future.

Enhanced Flexibility & Convenience

In addition to being able to accept whatever payment method the customer would like to use, the best salon POS systems do this with greater levels of convenience and flexibility than what was possible with older, more rudimentary systems. For example, at the same time the client is checking out, the staff member helping them can quickly and easily arrange to book their next appointment right from the same interface. In addition, extra services or special requests can be added to the upcoming appointment details for the customer, boosting the average value of each visit and allowing the customers’ stylist or aesthetician to prepare more efficiently for their arrival, thereby improving the overall customer experience.

Another benefit to modern point-of-sale technology that has proven to enhance customer satisfaction and convenience is the ability to extend the reach of your POS with portable handheld payment terminals like the Clover Flex from MONEXgroup that can be carried directly to their stylists chair. Saving time and avoiding lineups definitely works to the benefit of customers, which they’ll undoubtedly appreciate. Plus, with the checkout process occurring directly at the stylists station, their entire salon experience will be as fresh as possible in their mind, further encouraging them to book their next appointment, add on products to take home, or request extra services during their upcoming visit. All of this works to deliver greater customer satisfaction and drive revenue up.

Ability to Perform Key Business Functions

Along with compatibility with multiple payment methods and greater flexibility, salons should look for a point-of-sale system that will allow users to perform more than just the most basic functions. Modern POS systems are able to replace multiple different types of business computers and standalone technologies thanks to a powerful combination of hardware and software capabilities. Just as they are able to combine transaction processing and calendar scheduling into a single unit, they are able to perform many other critical business functions, too.

Salon POS systems can perform all types of inventory control actions, such as monitoring stock levels, automatically placing replenishment orders, accessing detailed product information, and providing updates on incoming shipments. Business reporting and sales performance insights can also be made available through apps on the salon POS system. You’ll be able to see at a glance how the business is doing financially, look at productivity statistics, performance of marketing promotions, product sales volumes, and many other key metrics that can help salon owners and managers make strategic business decisions.

A powerful way to provide a better experience for customers and increase loyalty is to offer them access to a rewards program that incentivizes them to return more frequently and raise the average value of their purchases. Managing customer loyalty programs is simple with the right POS system, such as the Clover Station Duo, Clover Mini, or Clover Flex from MONEXgroup. Customer account details, purchase history, and current rewards status can all be accessed quickly right from the POS interface, and they can earn and redeem rewards points seamlessly at the time of checkout. It’s a proven way to increase customer lifetime value, and make their salon experience even more positive.

Comprehensive Security & Protection Against Fraud

Closing out this list of major POS features, but by no means the least important, is the robust security measures that are integrated in modern point-of-sale systems to combat transaction fraud and prevent data theft. Many older systems, particularly those that are incapable of processing chip-and-pin or tap-to-pay transactions, don’t have the same degree of encryption and protection that newer systems possess. Always look for a system that has top-tier security and a merchant services partner that will help you stay in compliance with the most current PCI regulations.

The most up-to-date systems use a combination of encryption and tokenization to ensure that each time a transaction is processed, a unique single-use packet of code is used to authorize and verify the purchase between the merchant and the customer’s financial institution. What this means is that even if a data thief was able to obtain this data, it would be completely useless to them to create any fraudulent transactions. The encrypted data token is only good one time, and is completely different each time a purchase is made. This is a large part of what helps make newer payment methods less susceptible to fraud and more secure for both businesses and consumers alike.

Equip Your Business with The Best Salon POS System from MONEXgroup

You want your business to succeed, surpassing all competitors in your market, and we want to help you do just that. With MONEXgroup, not only will you be able to choose from the most advanced point-of-sale systems available, but you’ll also receive best-in-class customer service and the most knowledgeable technical support. Our team of payment processing experts will help you select the perfect POS system for your salon, configure it for maximum business impact, and back you up with 24/7/365 support. Your business will be equipped with the right POS solution that will increase customer satisfaction, drive sales, and boost your bottom line.

Contact MONEXgroup today to get started!