Q: How does the product payment get recorded in the Phorest system?
It will be recorded as a sale in Phorest and appear in transactions. In Manager > Reports > Financial Tab, it will appear in the Products line under Sales. It does not get recorded in the EOD. The End of Day Report only relates to sales that happened within the salon.
Q: Does this add sales tax into the total?
Any online purchases will include a sales tax if applicable. It will record that sale in Phorest and any applicable taxes/VAT.
Q: Do the salon process the sale through the payment page ourselves or is the product sale automatically processed? Will the product numbers will be auto updated too?
Phorest will handle all payment processing for all online sales via Stripe and it will automatically appear in that clients product history. Yes, the product numbers will update automatically too.
Q: How do product levels work for online quantities?
Firstly, your stock numbers need to be up-to-date to use your Online store. Current stock numbers will appear in the Online Store. If you are running low or are sold-out of an online product, it will need to turn it off manually. Shortly, there will be adding a setting for each product which will allow a product to be sold when out of stock, if preferable. Otherwise the product will be hidden from clients when the stock number reaches zero.
Q: How do we charge for delivery costs?
The Delivery charges client pay per order are added into the Settings tab in Online Store. In time, we will be looking at adding further features like: Free shipping on orders over a certain amount (set by you) and a click and collect option for items to be picked-up in the salon.
Q: Are existing clients able to login first to bring up their details and will this be able to transfer to treat cards?
There is no client login for Online Store sales. However, for every order the client list is searched for a match with your client (using phone number and email address). If we find a match, the online order will be added to that clients product history and we add the purchase to their treat card points (if applicable).
Q: Is Paypal an option for payment?
No. Sorry, Paypal integration is not an option for the foreseeable future.
Q: When will the shopping cart feature be available?
Good news here! The shopping cart is ready. Allowing for clients to add up to 10 of any product and as many products as they wish.
Q: Will there be a ‘You may also like’ section to recommend additional products (or services) to our clients?
This is another great idea. Up-selling services and products will be added further down the line.
Q: Would it be possible to be able to run deals? EG Buy any shampoo, conditioner and get X product half price
This sounds really cool, but is not on our road map right now. Something we’d love to explore though!
Q: Could free gifts be automatically added as a special offer for a certain length or time or discounts / discount codes etc?
We don’t have any plans for this right now.
Q: Will there be a button in the branded app that will direct clients to our online store?
Yes there will. We will be making it as easy as possible for clients to buy products.
Q: Can some sort of opt-in to marketing be added to the details form, just in case new customers order online from our website?
Yes, good idea. We are adding this now.
Q: We have some brands that require us to only sell their products to our clients after they have had a consultation. Can I sell these brands?
For the moment, we would encourage salons and clinics not to promote these products. It's suggested only selling these products directly via a video-call or phone-call at the moment.
To learn more about selling products online to clients, enrol in our Sell Retail Online course in Phorest Academy - online, on-demand and on-the-go learning for busy salon professionals.