Salon inventory for Canadian salons, counted by the work you do
Most of what a salon spends on product never crosses the counter: it goes into the bowl, onto the wax roller and under the lamp. Slotora counts that as well as the retail shelf. Tell each service what it uses, finish the appointment, and the shelf goes down by itself, in the units you actually buy.
Try it for 14 daysWhy counting the back bar matters
A retail system knows how many bottles of conditioner you sold. It has no idea that Tuesday's three colour corrections took four tubes of toner, or that the wax pot went down faster in the run-up to summer. When an owner says she never knows what her stock costs her, that is the part she means.
If your distributor delivers once a week, running out of the developer you use most on a Wednesday is not a small inconvenience: it is several days of reshuffled appointments. The point of tracking the back bar is to see that Wednesday coming while there is still time to order.
What the stock list keeps track of
One list for everything on your shelves, whether you use it or sell it.
Measured, not guessed
Count in whole items, or in millilitres and grams. Say a tube holds 60 g and a root touch-up uses 30, and the shelf, the warning and the cost all follow that measure.
Taken off when the work is done
Stock comes off when you complete the visit, never when it is booked, so a cancellation or a no-show leaves your count exactly as it was.
A warning you will actually see
Set the level at which you want to know, per product. The warning sits on your dashboard, where you look every morning, rather than inside a menu you open once a month.
Counts that keep the difference
Count the shelf, type what is there, and the gap is saved as its own line. The history says what each movement was: used, delivered, wasted, sold or counted.
Retail on the same list
Products you sell sit beside the ones you work with, and recording a sale takes the item off with a reason in the history.
What a service really leaves you
Because the shelf knows what a job used, Slotora subtracts it from the price: the contribution of each service, and which one is worth the chair time.
Setting it up in an afternoon
You do not need to count every hair tie on day one. Start with what runs out.
01
Add the ten products you reorder most
Name, pack size and how many you have. The rest can wait until you meet them.
02
Tell each service what it uses
A full set uses one tray of lashes and a drop of glue; a gel manicure, a measured amount of base and top coat. Set it once per service.
03
Set your warning levels
Pick the point at which you would place an order, product by product, with your supplier's delivery time in mind.
04
Count once a month
Run the stocktake from your phone, standing at the shelf. Whatever the count says, the difference is recorded rather than quietly overwritten.
Batches, expiry dates and lot numbers
Products with a shelf life can be stocked as batches. Each one carries either the date printed on the pack or a period after opening — the little open-jar symbol that says twelve months — and Slotora works out the day it goes off and warns you before it does.
For treatments whose record names the product's lot — the aesthetic treatment sheet, the inks on a tattoo session, the glue on a lash map — there is a recall search. When a manufacturer recalls a lot, you type it in and see every client whose record names it, with the date of the visit and a way to reach her, and you can export the list for the manufacturer or your insurer. Only the owner, admins and managers can open it.
Once a product has enough history, Slotora can say roughly when it will run out and how many whole packs to order. With too little history it says nothing at all, rather than inventing a number you might spend money on.
Questions about inventory
Is inventory an extra charge in Canada?
No. Stock tracking is part of the Slotora subscription, with nothing to switch on and no add-on to buy.
Does a cancelled appointment use up product?
No. Product is taken off only when you mark the visit completed, so a cancellation, a reschedule or a no-show changes nothing on the shelf.
Can I do the stocktake on my phone?
Yes. The stock list and the stocktake are part of the Slotora app for iPhone and Android, so you can count standing at the shelf.
Can I see which clients had a recalled product?
Where the treatment record names the lot, yes: the recall search lists every client whose record names it, and the list can be exported. It is open to owners, admins and managers only.
Does it work for a team?
Yes. Stock belongs to the salon, so whoever completes the visit, the same shelf goes down and the same warning appears.
What it does not do
Stock in Slotora is a careful list, not a warehouse system.
- Retail sales record no payment
- Marking a bottle as sold takes it off the shelf, but it is not a till: retail takings are not part of the day-end close, and you take the money however you already do.
- No ordering from suppliers
- Slotora tells you what is low and suggests how much to order. Placing the order with your distributor is still yours to do.
- No barcode scanning
- Products are added and counted by name. A salon with hundreds of retail lines may find that slower than a scanner.
- Imperial sizes are entered as metric
- Packs are counted in items, millilitres or grams. A product labelled only in fluid ounces needs converting once, when you add it.
Know what is on the shelf before the client is in the chair
Add the products that run out first, tell your services what they use, and let finished appointments do the counting from then on.