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Do the weekly salon stock take from photos of the colour bar and cupboards

who Fergal Doyle, founder of Fergal Doyle Hair (two salons in Bristol, UK), in Professional Beauty

The problem

Counting stock across his two salons took two staff members about two hours each time, and the job used to sit with him.

What happened

"What used to take two staff members two hours, now takes a couple of seconds on a Tuesday morning," he told Professional Beauty, and the stock take is off his hands. Self-reported; the article gives no figures on accuracy or ordering.

Quoted in the source: Fergal Doyle, founder, Fergal Doyle Hair. Source: Professional Beauty: How to use AI to grow your salon or beauty business (Ellen Cummings) (2026-10-09) · Added 2026-10-18.

How to set it up yourself

1. What Fergal Doyle Hair does: on a set morning each week, a team member photographs the colour bar and the open stock cupboards, uploads the photos to an AI tool and asks it to do the stock take. The tool isn't named, so the steps below are a DIY version with ChatGPT.
2. Make the stock list once in a spreadsheet: every product you count (brand, line or shade, size), where it lives and the minimum you want on hand. Keep labels facing out and shelves in the same order every week so they can be read in a photo.
3. In ChatGPT, select New project in the sidebar, name it "Stock take", upload the stock list and paste the prompt below under ••• > Project settings. On count day, photograph each shelf and cupboard in good light, attach the photos with the + button in the message box and send.
4. Before ordering, have the same person hand-count anything the AI lists as unclear or hidden and spot-check three lines it marks low. Save each week's table so you can compare usage week to week; the order itself stays a person's call.

Copy-paste prompt

These are this week's photos of {SALON NAME}'s colour bar and stock cupboards, and our stock list with minimum levels is attached. Count every product you can clearly see, by brand, line or shade and size. Return a table: product, location, count, minimum level, number to reorder. Then list separately anything you can't read or count with confidence (hidden behind other stock, label not visible) so we count it by hand. Never guess a count.

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