Common API Use Cases

Reporting

Building your own reports is a heavy task but is possible. We offer building bespoke reports if you reach out to us on [email protected] we can work with you on this. But if you want to do it yourself it is possible by extracting the raw data for every sale processed through Phorest over a specific date range is possible. This will give you lots of information - from a staff member, client name, contact details, price per line item, discounts applied, and much more.

With the help of your developer, you can use this information to build custom reports to suit your own needs. See the CSV Export Job API.

Online Retail

If you want to sell your retail through your website using WooCommerce, Shopify, or similar, you can use 2 of our APIs to achieve this. The product API will allow you to check stock levels, pricing, and barcodes, while the purchase API will allow you to pass the sale for the item into Phorest. This will automatically reduce your stock levels in Phorest and allow those sales to be part of the standard Phorest reporting.
Note that Phorest does offer our own Online Store which can be used as an alternative to these platforms.

Note that for WooCommerce specifically, Mycelia can provide a pre-built connection to Phorest. This is an independent company with their own support team so all we provide in relation to using Mycelia is the API access needed to get started.

Bespoke Online Booking

Building out a bespoke booking flow can often be a very expensive and time-consuming development project. As an alternative, you can embed the Phorest book now button in your website instead of using the API if you prefer.

If you wish to build a custom online booking flow, use our Booking API and Client API. You could also use this to take your custom deposits and payments upfront. While a lot is achievable using this, there would be considerable time and effort required by your development team to achieve this.

See this for how to on building a custom online booking system - we document the recommend flow here

HowtobuildyourownCustomisedOnlineBooking-100417-1354.pdf

Online Vouchers & Gift Cards

Our Voucher API can be used to add a gift card to Phorest. Your developer would need to build the whole web experience of buying the gift card, handling the payment (for example, through Stripe), and emailing your client.

Another option is to use a standalone service to sell them online and then manually enter those gift card sales into Phorest so that the end-user can redeem them. This requires little or no development work on your side.

Note that gift cards can be sold online natively through Phorest, using our online booking system.

Call Centre/Smart Phone Systems

Call Centres can utilize our Client API to display which client is calling automatically and their service history/future appointments, allowing for a more personal experience for your clients.

Newsletter/Mailing List Subscriptions

If you would like clients to sign up for your newsletter or special offers on your site, the Client API will allow your developer to create a widget on your site and add the client to your Phorest client list. You can assign a client category in the client card creation/update to allow for easier future marketing campaigns.