Run a salon? Quick question.

How many of your clients have mentioned, in passing, that they'd love to buy a gift card for their sister, mum, friend, or colleague to come see you?

How many of them actually followed through?

If the gap between those two numbers is large, that's not your client base losing interest. That's a buying experience problem. They wanted to give a gift card to your salon. They couldn't figure out how. The moment passed.

Why salons suit gift cards

A few reasons your industry is particularly well-suited.

Your service is high-trust. Hair, lashes, brows, nails, skin: these are services people choose carefully and stick with. The recommendation rate is high, and the loyalty is high. That's the dynamic gift cards thrive on. Someone who loves their salon wants their friend to have the same experience.

The gift card price point matches a real service. A $80, $120 or $150 card lines up neatly with a cut and colour, a facial, or a brow lamination. It's not too much, not too little. The recipient gets a complete service, not a partial one.

What you might be missing without digital gift cards

If you only sell gift cards in-salon, perhaps as a paper voucher at reception, you're limited to gift sales from people who happen to walk in during opening hours.

Which means you miss anyone overseas wanting to send a gift to a friend or family member in your area. Anyone in a different city, state, or country. Anyone trying to organise a gift on a Sunday or after hours. Anyone who doesn't have time to come in just to buy a voucher. Anyone who wants to send the gift instantly.

That's a lot of gift card buyers you're invisible to.

How digital gift cards work, in salon terms

Someone in Brisbane wants to send their mum in Adelaide a gift card to her favourite hair salon. They open the Okuru app, search for the salon, send a gift card. Mum gets a notification, books in, comes to your salon, has her appointment, shows the card on her phone at the end, you redeem.

You didn't need a website. You didn't need a checkout. You didn't need to learn a new piece of software. You just took the appointment and ran the service like you always do.

Gift card breakage (the bit your accountant might mention)

Some gift cards don't get fully redeemed. Australian Treasury reporting and industry analysis have estimated average breakage at around 6 to 7 per cent of total gift card sales, though figures vary widely by sector and average transaction value.

In accounting terms, that unredeemed balance is treated as a liability until the likelihood of redemption is remote, at which point it can be recognised as revenue. The exact treatment depends on your business structure, so talk to your accountant before relying on it in your forecasts. But it's worth knowing it exists, because most salon owners don't.

What it costs

Okuru charges 7.5% per sale. No setup fee. No monthly fee. No POS integration cost.

How to start

If you run a hair salon, beauty salon, nail salon, brow bar, lash studio, or any service in the beauty industry, apply at okuru.app/for-businesses.

Businesses are typically live within 24 hours (once all necessary business information has been provided). The next time someone wants to send a gift card to your salon, they'll be able to. Right now, very possibly, they can't.