Easily integrate retail sales into your services business model
Your clients’ buying experience
Your team’s selling experience
Creating a seamless experience between both can improve client retention and incentivize your team to earn more.
As you tackle the client experience, some customers feel a connection to a business if they receive a personalized experience. In return, they’re more likely to become strong advocates. With Square Appointments you can keep notes on client preferences, favorite items, color treatments, birthdays, and more to ensure that each session is tailored to them. Just a 5% increase in client retention increases a business’ profit by more than 25%. You’ve already built up mutually beneficial trust with current clients who have returned, so they’ll likely be the first to show up when you offer new self-care products. Those returning clients will spend more with your business over time, thanks to this earned loyalty.
With those returning clients comes a stronger level of trust with your stylists. Once that trust is built, stylists have an opportunity to recommend products for home that could maintain and upkeep their services between appointments. With Square you can easily create and manage items straight from your web Dashboard — you can bulk import items or add them individually to your item library.
Adding this retail option can also incentivize stylists to earn commission from those sales. With Square Appointments, you’re able to track your employee’s commissions and automatically import those earnings to Square Payroll. You can set commissions for each staff member within your Dashboard.
Commissions can be set up differently for each staff member, depending on what suits your business and your team best. You can define them based on goals, tenure, role, etc. Set up team commissions in the Square Dashboard. In your Square account, head to the Team section and select Commissions. Here you’ll be able to set commissions based on services provided, products sold, or both. You’ll want to choose which commission structure you’ll use for your business: tiered or flat rate. Remember, you can edit rates at any time and set the date that you’d like them to go into effect.
Once you choose, you’ll determine your settings for that structure. For example, in a tiered commissions structure, you’ll need to define the tier cadence and the date on which you will start to report. Next, you’ll set your sales ranges for each tier that a team member can meet. If any deductions apply, such as taxes or processing fees, select those and click Continue. Square will then prompt you to set the commission rate or percentage for each employee in your system. You’ll be able to customize rates by specific team members or copy the same rates to all of your staff. Lastly, you’ll set the effective date and click Save.
If you need to change any particular team member’s rates, you can go into their profile within the Team dropdown in Square Appointments to edit individually. When team members start earning commissions, you’ll be able to see the breakdown of these commissions within Square Reports under Team Sales. This report will break down commissions earned by team and employee. You’ll even be able to see the details of how each employee’s commission was calculated.
Once you have commissions on items and service sales set up, you can motivate your staff to sell however seems fit, whether commissions are the primary compensation structure or a way to motivate your teams to sell more. Square Appointments beauty businesses who have commissions set up earn three times more on services than on retail items sold. When you bring in retail products to your appointment-based business, or any time you add new products to your offering, it’s essential to educate and train your staff about the products. To upsell or cross-sell products successfully, your staff should be knowledgeable about the benefits of each product and how they can serve the client better. If you sell exclusive products at your salon or spa, it’s worth highlighting that exclusivity to boost the brand, to sell more items, and to enable your team to earn more.
When your products are flying off the shelves and your staff is beating all their sales goals, don’t forget to monitor your inventory and stock levels and to replenish as needed. With a Square Appointments account, business owners have access to basic inventory management, which allows them to track item counts with every sale. Set stock alerts when items are running low so your team doesn’t oversell products.
If you find that your business needs more robust inventory tracking features, check out Square for Retail, which makes it easy to track, to order, and to receive your retail inventory so you always have the right items in stock. With the Square for Retail paid subscription, you’ll gain access to advanced inventory reports, to smart stock forecasts, and to multilocation stock management if you need to transfer stock across locations in real time. The inventory sell-through report, for instance, provides you with a daily snapshot of all of the information you need to manage your inventory effectively, making purchasing decisions, price adjustments, and identifying any dead stock quickly and easily.
Tracking these specific products makes it easier to sell online, too. Clients can buy a refill of their favorite products even if they can’t make it to the salon. With simple tools and workflows, you’ll know exactly which stock will run out based on how fast you’re selling items and which products are your best sellers.
Beauty businesses that sell items and services online and in-person see 43% higher annual sales than beauty businesses that only sell in-person, according to Square Appointments data.
