Sold online, already sold in clinic
You sell professional skincare: serums, SPFs, cleansers recommended after treatments. Clients buy in clinic after a facial, and others order from your online shop. Stock sits on the reception shelves and in a back room.
A client orders a serum online. You go to pack it, and the last one went across the counter that afternoon. You email an apology and a refund. Meanwhile, your clinic software says you have four of an SPF that has been out of stock for a week. Stock counts are done by eye on a quiet Sunday, and neither system is ever right.
Why two systems cannot agree
Your clinic software and your online shop each keep their own stock count, and nothing tells one what the other has sold.
- Clinic sales deducted in the clinic system only.
- Online orders deducted in the shop only.
- Deliveries entered in one place, or neither.
- Testers, samples and product used in treatments taken off the shelf without being recorded.
- Popular products sold out before anyone reorders.
The cost of mismatched stock
| Problem | Effect |
|---|---|
| Overselling online | Refunds, apologies and customers who do not order again |
| Phantom stock in clinic | Recommending products you cannot sell |
| Late reordering | Best sellers out of stock for weeks |
| Sunday stock counts | Owner time spent counting bottles |
| No sales picture | No idea which products sell in clinic versus online |
Retail is often a clinic's steadiest margin. It deserves better than a stock count done by eye.
The oversold order hurts more than it looks. An online customer who gets a refund email instead of their serum often does not come back, and some of them were clinic clients topping up between treatments. Disappointing them online can cost you a treatment booking too.
One stock record for clinic and shop
- A single stock record for each retail product, with the clinic software and the online shop both reading from it.
- Sales in either place deduct stock from that record straight away through each system's API, so the other side updates too.
- Deliveries logged once, by scanning barcodes, and added to the record.
- Testers, samples and treatment use recorded with a quick scan, so the shelf count matches the system.
- Low-stock alerts per product, set by you, with reorder suggestions based on recent sales across both channels.
- Reporting by product and channel: what sells in clinic after treatments, and what sells online.
Some skincare brands restrict online sale of professional lines. What you can sell online is for you to check with each brand; the system can keep restricted products clinic-only.
After it is connected
Online customers can only buy what is actually on the shelf. Your clinic software shows the true count. Best sellers get reordered before they run out, and the Sunday count becomes a quick spot check rather than a full audit.
You can also see which products clients buy after which treatments, which helps practitioners recommend with confidence.
Stock tied up in slow sellers becomes visible too. A shelf of a product nobody has bought in months is easy to spot on a report, so you can run it down or stop ordering it before it goes out of date.
Does your reception see this?
- You sell skincare both in clinic and online.
- You have oversold online because stock went in clinic.
- Your clinic system's stock count is rarely right.
- Best sellers run out before anyone notices.
- You count retail stock by hand regularly.