Salon and spa software is the business software that books customers into a salon, spa, gym or studio, and runs each visit from the appointment to the bill. It handles appointments, classes, memberships, the billing counter, the stock of products and the staff's commissions. It is also called salon management software, or appointment booking software. One of the best-known companies in this field was founded in Hyderabad, and sells to salons and spas around the world.
This is the opposite of field service management. Field service software sends a worker to the customer. Salon and spa software books the customer in, and the service happens when the customer arrives.
Say a salon chain in Mumbai has 25 outlets. A customer books a haircut and a hair spa for Saturday at 5 pm, with a stylist she likes, through the chain's app. The software knows that a haircut takes 45 minutes and a hair spa 60 minutes, and that the stylist is free from 5 to 6:45 pm. It blocks that time on the stylist's calendar, and also blocks a washing station. The day before, it sends the customer a reminder on WhatsApp. If she cancels late, the slot is offered to someone on the waiting list.
On Saturday, the services cost ₹2,400, and she also buys a ₹900 bottle of shampoo. The billing screen adds GST and takes her UPI payment. This counter is a kind of point of sale (POS) software, built into the salon software. The software then reduces the salon's shampoo stock by one. It also records the stylist's commission, for example 10% of the ₹2,400 service, which is ₹240, to be added to her monthly pay.
After the visit, the software asks the customer for a review, often through online reputation management software. Later it sends her offers, such as a discount on her next visit, through marketing software. Many salons also sell prepaid packages, such as six hair spas for the price of five. The software tracks how many visits each customer has left.
Gyms and fitness studios use software of the same kind. Instead of one appointment with one stylist, they sell classes with a fixed number of places, and monthly memberships. Customers can also find these classes through a consumer app that lists many studios, a fitness class booking app. Larger fitness membership apps read their partner gyms' free slots from such software.