Time is money. It’s an old saying but still relevant for all businesses. Save as much time as you can, and you’ll end up with more money in your pocket. Vagaro’s Merchant Services—the tools that help you run, monitor and grow your business—enable you to do exactly this: bank more time and earn more money. For example, the 4 VMS features below enabled 4 different businesses to streamline and automate many time-consuming processes related to purchasing and payment, like collecting employee rent and replenishing your inventory. Let's dive into their experience.
Contactless Check Out, Be Rosy
It’s not that clients don’t like any sort of contact; they wouldn’t have booked a service with you if that was the case. But when it comes to how they like to pay for things, quick and contactless is the way to go1. With Vagaro’s payment processing enabled, you can accommodate all client payment preferences, from cash to credit/debit cards, and mobile payment apps—and this includes contactless payment.
Going contactless expands where and how you can do business, increases revenue, helps you deliver a better customer experience and improves daily efficiency by streamlining the checkout process. Contactless payment is potentially more secure than other kinds of transactions because many mobile payment systems use tokenization to start money transfers.
For all these reasons, contactless checkout is the preferred method of collecting payment at Be Rosy, a salon in Los Angeles that specializes in the use of organic and clean beauty products.
Customers feel like we're technologically advanced. That really makes our business stand out. -Catherine Baek Dambrosia, founder of Be Rosy
We’d go as far as to call contactless checkout a stand-out feature of Vagaro Merchant Services (the first on a lengthy list that includes selling products through your own Online Shop and setting up autopay for Memberships, which creates a recurring source of income).
Rent & Fees Collection, Liv Beauty Spa
Renting booths to hair stylists is incredibly common in salons, though employing a mix of full-time and part-time independent stylists can make it difficult for owners to keep track of who pays what, and when. But charging and collecting booth rent & fees doesn't have to be such a major pain (point). Enter: Vagaro’s Automatic Rent & Fees feature, which enables you to charge booth renters, schedule recurring payments, generate your renter’s agreement and even deduct commission from rent.
That last benefit was cause of cheer among the owners and employees of Liv Beauty Spa, in Livermore, California.
There’s no need to write checks anymore, because it can all be automatically deducted from rent. -Chante Peregrino, co-owner of Liv Beauty Spa
We detect a bit of catharsis in Peregrino’s voice, and for good reason. By going paperless, she no longer must track down employees for checks (or IOUs, or other esoteric forms of payment). That’s great for her mental health, and even better for the environment.
Inventory Management, A-Side Jujitsu & Fitness
Most business owners probably view inventory management as a necessary evil at best, and a soul-crushing time suck at worst. Still, if you plan to sell items through an online store, or use myriad products for your services, then keeping track of your inventory becomes an essential part of doing business. Vagaro’s automated inventory management tools streamline and simplify this dreaded process, making handwritten records and spreadsheets obsolete with such capabilities as:
- Real-time inventory tracking
- Reports that identify spending patterns & predicts surges in demand
- Multi-device inventory access, anytime, anywhere
- Multi-location management power
- Reports that prevent product shortages & excess stock
- Point-of-sale accessibility
- Integrated barcode scanning capability
These tools have helped Arman and Janice Gopez, co-owners of A-Side Jujitsu & Fitness in North Hollywood, California, escape the chokehold inventory management. A-Side sells jujitsu gis, branded t shirts and sweaters, bags and a range of other equipment. Vagaro helps them order efficiently, check in shipments, log products, and understand their inventory cost/profit margins. These are all central to running an efficient and profitable business.
We put our life savings into our business, and we needed a system that was effective and affordable to us. -Janice Gopez, A-Side Jujitsu & Fitness
Now, head instructor, Armin, can turn his focus to the mat, while general manager, Janice, can think more about selling memberships than about A-Side's inventory. That’s a superior position for any business owner to be in.
Vagaro Pay Later, Sister B’s Boutique Salon
Some of us may be old enough to remember a certain stout, bowler-clad cartoon character who would “gladly pay us Tuesday for a hamburger today.” If we’re thinking bigger than burgers, like your most expensive services, products or bundles, for example, then giving clients the choice to “buy-now and pay-later” becomes a highly effective way to generate more bookings & retail sales without putting the squeeze on their wallets. This is exactly what Vagaro Pay Later enables your businesses to do.
In fact, Vagaro Pay Later gives clients at Sister B’s Boutique Salon, in Lakewood, Colorado the financial flexibility to afford the salon’s pricier services by splitting the cost into four interest-free installments. The VPL Split-Pay option adds yet another layer of convenience for buyers by letting them split their payment between their credit card and Vagaro Pay Later.
Our clients just absolutely love it. -Brian Humphrey, co-owner of Sister B’s Boutique Salon
The Buy Now, Pay Later model’s Popularity isn’t limited to salons, either. In 2022, BNPL payments grew at a rate of 66.5% across the board in the U.S. alone2.
Enabling electronic payment processing through Vagaro Merchant Services unlocked new levels of flexibility, scalability, and growth potential for the businesses mentioned above, and can do the same for yours, no matter what industry you’re in. Of course, optimizing your finances while enabling seamless (client-friendly) payment and efficient inventory management is only the beginning of what VMS can do for your business. For Vagaro users who haven’t taken advantage of VMS, elevate your business by signing up for your Merchant Services account today. For those new to Vagaro, sign up for your 30-day FREE trial and experience how our all-in-one management software can adapt to all your daily business needs.
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