Salons and spas often make a good share of revenue from retail: shampoo, skincare, tools, gift sets. Clients increasingly expect to reorder their favorite product online at 10pm. Shopify is the obvious store. Keeping it in step with Booker, where your stock and client history live, is the part that takes work.
This guide covers what a Booker–Shopify sync includes, how to prepare Booker and Shopify, and how to sell gift certificates online.
What syncs between Booker and Shopify
| Data | Direction | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Products, prices, inventory | Booker → Shopify | Retail you set up in Booker appears in Shopify with the same price and stock |
| Orders | Shopify → Booker | Online orders are recorded in Booker under the client’s profile |
| Inventory deductions | Shopify → Booker | Stock goes down in Booker when something sells online |
| Clients | Booker ↔ Shopify | Clients are matched by email; new online buyers are added to Booker |
| Gift certificates | Shopify → Booker | A gift card bought online becomes a Booker gift certificate |
Booker stays in charge. Your team keeps receiving stock and setting prices there, and the online store follows.
Prepare Booker
- Add SKUs to your retail products. Products are matched by SKU. Anything without one won’t pair reliably with Shopify.
- Add a custom payment method called “Shopify”. In Booker, a cash-equivalent custom payment method named “Shopify” lets online sales show separately in your reports, so they don’t look like card or cash takings at the desk.
- Connect with a dedicated staff login. Create a separate admin user in Booker just for the integration, with a password that doesn’t expire. That way a staff member leaving or changing their password won’t break your store sync.
- Choose where product photos and descriptions live. Keep them in Booker, or write richer pages in Shopify. Pick one so the systems don’t overwrite each other.
Prepare Shopify
- Match SKUs on existing products. If you already sell on Shopify, make each product’s SKU match Booker before connecting. Otherwise you’ll get duplicates.
- Check your tax settings. Shopify calculates tax at checkout, so match it to how you charge tax in the salon.
- Link the store from Booker. Add a link to your Shopify store from your Booker online booking page, so clients booking an appointment can also shop.
Connect and go live in Pandaflow
You connect your accounts and say what you want. There are no workflows to set up.
- Start free and create your Pandaflow account.
- Connect Booker using the dedicated staff login you created.
- Connect Shopify and approve access.
- Describe what you want. For example: “Keep my Booker retail products, prices and stock in sync with Shopify. Record online orders in Booker under the client, and turn Shopify gift card purchases into Booker gift certificates.”
- Test before announcing. Check a few products for price and stock, then place one real order. Confirm it appears on the client’s profile in Booker with the “Shopify” payment method, and that stock went down.
Selling Booker gift certificates on Shopify
Gift cards bring cash in upfront and send new clients through your door, especially around holidays. Many salons want to sell them online but redeem them in Booker.
Here’s how it works with Pandaflow:
- You list a gift card product in Shopify, in whatever amounts you offer.
- When a client buys one, Pandaflow creates a matching gift certificate in Booker.
- The recipient redeems it at the front desk or online, like any other Booker gift certificate.
One Shopify setting matters: turn off automatic fulfillment for gift card orders, so Shopify doesn’t send its own gift card that your front desk can’t redeem. Then the Booker certificate is the one that counts.
Using client data for marketing
Once clients are synced, Shopify’s marketing tools can use your Booker data:
- Member pricing: tag Booker members in Shopify and give them an automatic discount.
- After-visit offers: send a small online-store voucher to clients after a service, inviting them back to buy the products their stylist used.
- VIP segments: tag top clients for early access to new lines or gift sets.
Only email clients who have opted in to marketing. Pandaflow carries the marketing opt-in from Booker so your lists respect it.
Example: a day spa with a skincare line
This is an illustrative setup, not a customer story.
A two-room day spa sells its own skincare line and does most retail around the holidays.
- They add SKUs to 25 products in Booker and keep photos and descriptions in Shopify.
- A “Shopify” payment method keeps online sales separate in Booker’s reports.
- In November they add $50, $100 and $150 gift cards to Shopify. Each sale creates a Booker gift certificate, and gift card buyers who aren’t clients yet are added to Booker.
- In January they email clients who received gift certificates but haven’t booked, reminding them to use them.
What can go wrong
The sync stops after a staff change. Usually the connection used someone’s personal login. Use a dedicated integration login, as above.
Duplicate products. SKUs don’t match. Fix the SKU on one side and the next sync pairs them.
Online sales look like cash or card in reports. The “Shopify” payment method is missing. Add it in Booker so online revenue is reported on its own.
Two gift cards for one purchase. Shopify fulfilled its own gift card as well as the Booker certificate. Turn off automatic fulfillment for gift card products.