Inventory Mistakes Nail Artists Make and How to Avoid Them

When you’re a nail salon owner, you need to handle every aspect of running a business, including inventory management. You also need to know how to train your staff to help you with it.

As you may know, always having every necessary product in stock is more than important. But sometimes, you might buy more than you need because you don’t want to run out of things. 

How do you avoid this while keeping your shelves fully stocked?

In this article, we’ll go over ways to understand your inventory needs, the best ways to maximize storage, and ideas to minimize waste.

Understanding Inventory Management

At its core, inventory management is about knowing what to order, store, and use to meet client demands without waste. This can be tricky for nail salons since many products have a limited shelf life. Plus, nail salons also need a wide range of items for different client needs. 

Poor stock management leads to cash flow issues, overstocking or understocking, and customer dissatisfaction. That’s why you need to know about product shelf life, keep up with industry trends, and order in a way that helps your business.

Let’s go into more detail.

4 Nail Salon Inventory Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Here are a few mistakes to avoid:

1. Not making an inventory assessment 

One of the nail salon inventory mistakes some owners make is getting too excited and buying all kinds of products without first analyzing whether they actually need them. 

Managing your salon’s inventory well means cutting down on waste. Tossing expired products isn’t just bad for your budget; it also harms the environment. 

To avoid this, set up a system to regularly check your inventory, especially the expiration dates. Do monthly audits to find expired or slow-moving items, and adjust your restocking plans accordingly. 

Keep in mind that customer preferences change, seasonal demand shifts, and you need to know which products are in demand. The better your supplies match client needs, the less waste you’ll have.

You can gather information on customer demand and stylist preferences through client forms or social media interactions. 

Better yet, analyze your sales data to identify popular products and services. Recognizing these patterns will help you adjust your inventory accordingly, ensuring that you stock the right products in the right quantities.

This seems like a lot of manual work. But if you use the right app, you can simplify your work a lot.

Goldie offers real-time inventory management for beauty professionals, eliminating the hassle of manual stock management. This user-friendly app lets you manage and sell unlimited products, upload images, set prices, add descriptions, and track stock levels from one place. 

Plus, with automated inventory alerts, you stay ahead of reorders and never run out of popular products. Goldie also provides detailed reports, showing revenue from product sales and identifying top-performing items, helping you make data-driven decisions and optimize your stock.

💡Even with a good system, some products might expire before you can use or sell them. When that happens, dispose of them properly to reduce environmental damage. Many manufacturers have return procedures for expired products, so check with them before throwing anything away.

2. Not being able to anticipate trends

Nail trends influence customer requests and your services. This means your inventory is directly linked to these.

A common mistake for new nail salon owners is assuming every month will be the same. They end up either not stocking enough or skipping trending products altogether. On the flip side, overstocking on products just because they’re all over social media can hurt their budget.

The best course of action here is to try to analyze the trends (in your salon and on social media) and stock up accordingly.

It’s probably more difficult in the first year of your business activity, but you can still stock up according to how many bookings you usually have during a month and maybe buy some extra products during busy months.

By observing increased bookings for specific nail designs or colors, you can anticipate and adjust inventory based on seasonal changes. For example, in November and December, when clients want their nails to look great for the holidays, you can predict higher demand for certain products. Or, hydrating products and cuticle oils often see increased demand during colder seasons. 

Understanding seasonal patterns helps you prepare for busier months and keep optimal stock levels.

3. Not collaborating with the right vendors

Working with the wrong vendors can really mess things up for nail salon artists. You might face delays and run out of supplies, which can disrupt your services and annoy your clients. 

Low-quality products from unreliable vendors can harm your salon’s reputation. Inconsistent pricing makes it hard to manage costs, and not having access to the latest products can leave you behind competitors. 

Without good vendor relationships, you miss out on support like training and marketing help. Plus, if a vendor has financial issues or doesn’t follow industry rules, it could lead to sudden supply problems or even legal trouble for your salon.

That’s why you need to find the right vendor and build a long-term partnership.

Only in this way you can offer the products and services your clients love while keeping your salon running smoothly. Strong vendor ties can lead to better prices, exclusive products, and early access to new items. 

4. Not having efficient storage solutions

If your salon supplies aren’t organized, it can create a lot of issues. Nail artists may waste time searching for products, leading to delays and frustrated clients. It can also cause mistakes, like using the wrong product or running out of essentials during a busy day. 

Disorganization can lead to overstocking or understocking, which results in waste or missed sales opportunities. Without a clear system, products might expire or get damaged, which means money down the drain. 

In the long run, a lack of organization can lower the overall efficiency of the salon, affect the client experience, and hurt the business.

Efficient storage solutions make a big difference in keeping your nail salon organized. Once you’ve figured out your inventory needs and a way to manage them efficiently, focus on arranging and storing supplies in a smart way. 

Place the most popular and frequently used items at eye level so nail artists can grab them easily and spot when refills are needed. For example, nail files, buffers, and disinfectants are items that need replacing often, so keep them in a spot that’s easy to reach.

Using shelving, bins, and labels helps the process. Organizing products by how often they’re used lets nail artists spend more time with clients and less time hunting for supplies. 

Labeling shelves and drawers clearly can help reduce mistakes and make it easier for the staff to remember where things go. 

You can even use diagram stickers inside shelves or drawers for quick reference. A first-in, first-out system also ensures older products get used first, which reduces waste and keeps products fresh.

Conclusion

Managing inventory in a nail salon can be tricky, but avoiding common mistakes makes a huge difference. 

If you know your inventory needs, you can prevent overbuying and understocking, which keeps your cash flow healthy and your customers happy. 

Check your inventory on a regular basis, understand product trends, build strong vendor relationships, and organize your supplies efficiently to keep things running smoothly.