As the grooming landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace, the UAE is quickly establishing itself as a leading place to get premium-quality men’s grooming and styling services.
From luxury barber shops located within the DIFC in Dubai, to barbers near you in Abu Dhabi, tech-savvy people expect flat rate or live-to-what-you-have pricing for all services they receive; so seamless, tech-driven booking solutions have now become standard.
Today’s barber shop owners are looking for tools to help them; not only to manage and track performance, but also to increase their business’ revenue and meet or exceed their customers’ expectations. These are the best digital solutions for barbershops available to barber shops throughout the UAE in 2022.
Why Barbershop Scheduling Systems Are Important
Long lines and untimely service can be the result of using the traditional first-come, first-served system. Clients want convenience, reliability, and on-time service in industries where time equals money, such as the UAE.
Software for barbershops (Small and big ones too) can come in handy when it comes to enhancing customer experience.
Good tools to grow barbershop business will allow barbershops to provide:
- Less time waiting for clients to be served
- No accidental overbooking or client conflicts
- Improved use of Barbers’ time
- More of a professional service experience for clients
- Better ability to track customer’s preferences and history
Additionally, digital scheduling systems can assist barbershops in building repeat consumer business with reminders and loyalty programs.
Popular Choices for Barbershop Software: Top Picks
1. Salonist
Salonist acts as the core of the connected customer journey for UAE barbershops, as there is a high level of engagement with social media in the region, enabling users to quickly become paying customers.
- Omnichannel Booking: Client can now book directly through Instagram, Facebook and Google; allowing shops leveraging high-quality video content to capture all of their new customers from those platforms.
- AI Analytics: The platform will provide you with insight on peak times so you can adjust your staffing levels accordingly to accommodate the weekend rush common in some of the larger cities in the UAE.
- Localized Marketing: You can run campaigns that target your local market with automated holiday promotions that you can set up for Eid and National holidays.
2. Zenoti
Zenoti is the brand of choice by premium chains and luxury grooming lounges throughout the Emirates. Zenoti is a barbershop software designed for the enterprise class with the power of an enterprise-class solution combined with a level of automation.
- The Virtual Concierge: Zenoti has an intelligent virtual assistant that facilitates all customer inquiries and reservations through WhatsApp, the most popular mode of customer communication in the UAE, so that customers are never left without a response.
- Smart Wallet Integration: Zenoti facilitates digital payment and membership management and the ability to operate shops with a “membership model” in expensive residential neighbourhoods.
- Multi-Location Control: Zenoti offers a single platform from which owners can monitor performance in Dubai as well as Dubai Marina.
3. Fresha
Fresha has become very popular in the UAE as a consumer-facing platform. It works well for new salons, providing tools to grow barbershop business for expanding the customer base as quickly as possible. This is done without having to spend money on expensive software upfront.
- Marketplace Discovery: With Fresha, a salon can be seen by thousands of users looking for “where is the best fade haircut near me?” in real time. In addition, the systems allow salons to enforce their cancellation policy and to require deposits.
- No-Show Protection: This is critical for maintaining a profitable schedule in large metropolitan areas that have a lot of customer traffic.
- User-Friendly Interface: Fresha is easy to use and provides Barbers with an easy way to manage their schedules via their mobile devices.
4. Squire
Squire’s only platform created directly for the barber sector. Squire recognizes that barbershops do have different operations in comparison to beauty salons.
- Chair Management: This system automatically manages complicated booth/rental agreements and commission-based contracts making it highly desired by those who use independent contractors in their shop.
- Barber/Client Bonding: Clients will feel motivated to book with their particular barber using the Squire app, which helps develop the long-term client loyalty society demands in the UAE.
- Sleek Client App: Clients will receive a very premium experience from Squire via its mobile application, which also correlates with the customer’s high-end expectations that are prevalent within their area.
5. Mangomint
Mangomint has gained significant traction in the UAE tech salon scene due to its ultra fast interface and “invisible” workflow. It is ideal for shops that want a high end feel without the complexity of an enterprise barbershop software.
- Express Booking: This feature allows repeat clients to bypass the standard booking flow, making it perfect for busy professionals in Dubai Marina or Business Bay who want to book a cut in seconds.
- Integrated Communication: With the Connect add on, all calls, texts, and web chats are handled in one place, ensuring your front desk stays organized during the peak UAE evening rush.
- Booth Renter Support: For shops operating on a commission or rental basis, Mangomint simplifies payment routing directly to individual barbers.
Integrated POS and Appointment Booking Software
In the UAE, a number of today’s barbershops have adopted integrated point-of-sale systems (shows) that also allow them to schedule appointments. These barber shop POS allow you to book appointments, take payments, and maintain a record of all your customers from one interface.
The key benefits of using an Integrated system as a software for small barbershops:
- Unified Management of appointments and sales
- Very detailed reporting on the performance of your barbers and the demand for services
- Customer records (profiler) that include service history.
- Track inventory for grooming products.
Integrated systems facilitate better overall business decisions by the owners of Barbershops than would otherwise occur separately (point of sale vs appointment booking).
Picking the Proper Schedule Management Tool
Your selection of a scheduling system will greatly depend on your shop’s size, customer volume and available services.
Software for small barbershops use basic online booking solutions or utilizing WhatsApp for scheduling appointments. Multi-barber grooming lounges will typically need a complete management system that includes barber shop POS systems and robust reporting and analytics.
When assessing potential scheduling options, owners should consider the following:
- Staff and customer ease of use
- Mobile access
- Integration with existing payment processing systems
- Customer appointment reminder function
- Reporting and analytics capabilities.
The ideal scheduling tool will help streamline business operations; however selecting the wrong tool could only make operational processes more difficult.
