Billing and udhaar for a shop where nobody waits.

01 · Counter

Billing at the speed customers actually arrive

A kirana counter does not get a quiet moment to type. Items come up by name as you type the first two or three letters, the quantity box takes 1.5 for a kilo and a half without complaint, and the customer is only chosen when the sale is going on credit. Regulars who always pay cash never slow the bill down.

• Type two letters, get the item
• Decimal quantities for loose weight
• Scan packaged goods with the camera
• Customer only when it goes on khata

02 · Udhaar

The khata, but it knows which bill was paid

A paper khata gives you a running total and nothing else, so when someone hands over two hundred rupees against four months of small purchases, the arithmetic is yours to do and yours to defend. Here the payment is applied to the bills it settles. The customer's page shows what each bill still owes, and a receipt prints for the money they just gave you.

• One payment across several old bills
• Every bill shows what is still open on it
• A date you expect each customer to pay by
• Printed or shared receipt for the payment

03 · Stock

Knowing what is finished before a customer tells you

Every sale takes the item down, stock you receive puts it back, and each product carries the level at which you want to be warned. The phone tells you what is low once a day rather than every time a packet sells, so the alert still means something after a week.

• Stock moves from the bill, with nothing to update
• A low-stock level per item
• One alert a day, not one per sale
• Purchases recorded against the supplier they came fromPro

04 · No internet

A basement shop bills like a main-road shop

Everything above runs from the phone itself. There is no spinner between the customer and their bill, and no difference in behaviour between a shop with four bars and a shop with none. Whatever was made offline goes up on its own the next time there is a signal.

• Bill, khata and stock all work with no signal
• Nothing to press to make it sync
• A bill sent twice is still one bill
• The owner sees it all on a computer afterwards

05 · End of day

One number, after the shutter comes down

At closing time the phone shows what the day actually did — how many bills, how much came in, and how much of it went on udhaar. It arrives after the hour you set as your closing time, and it stays quiet on a day the shop did not trade, because a summary that says zero teaches people to stop reading summaries.

• Bills, money collected, and udhaar given
• Arrives after your own closing hour
• Silent on a day with no sales
• The same figures on your computer