Billing for your organic store in Silvassa, Daman and Diu
Loose goods by the gram, the supplier behind each lot, and the gift bag a visitor takes home.
From the soft jaggery to the supplier's name on the order
Jaggery that has started to soften goes first, at its own rate
In the damp weeks the jaggery near the sea air softens first. Set a lower rate for the soft blocks and bill them as their own item, and the firm blocks keep their price. A customer who asks why the jaggery is cheaper this week is told that it is the soft stock, and the soft blocks do not sit until they spoil.
The next order starts from the last one
Millets, honey and cold-pressed oil all come to you from suppliers far away. Each order goes from your phone, with the supplier's name on it, so the next order is made from the last one and not from what you remember. The oil you asked for last month is the first page you open when the shelf runs low.
A bag to carry home when nothing is certified
A weekend visitor wants something local to carry back, packed nicely, in ten minutes. Where nothing on the shelf is certified, name the bag for what it is and where it came from, and set its rate once. The bill takes seconds, the visitor pays by QR code and walks to the bus with the bag.
Tools for a small store that sells natural goods loose and packed
Orders to suppliers
The order for the millet and the order for the jaggery go to different suppliers, each noted when it arrives.
Low stock warnings
A warning that ragi flour and honey are nearly gone, before a weekend of visitors empties the shelf.
Bills on your phone
Loose goods by the gram and packed goods by the piece, one bill, ready before the visitor's bus.
The customer who asks where the millet came from, and the visitor who wants a gift bag
Is it really organic, and where did it come from?
A family from the flats near Silvassa picks up a bag of millet and asks you who grew it. You buy from suppliers outside the territory, from more than one, and the answer is in your memory and a few phone calls. When you cannot answer in a minute the customer puts the bag back. The honest answer is a supplier's name and a date, and you do not always have either.
Loose goods that do not like the sea air
Jaggery softens, flour and poha take in damp, and spices lose their smell, especially in the weeks when it rains. You sell by the 100 gram and by the kilo, and the shelf looks full while the fast lines run out. A small store does not know what is slow until it is spoilt.
The visitor who wants something to take home
On a weekend a visitor from another town walks in and asks for something local to carry back: jaggery, a flour, a jar of honey. He wants it packed nicely and he wants to be on the road in ten minutes. You have the goods, and the bus does not wait for a shopkeeper who is still counting.
Stall bills and online stock kept in one place, as a Daman store could
Questions organic stores in Silvassa, Daman and Diu ask
Flour and poha take in the damp and spices lose their smell. Which loose line has not moved since the last damp week?
Each loose good has its own count, so a line whose count has not fallen since the last damp week shows plainly on the stock list. Those are the lines to move first, before the sea air spoils them.
A customer asks whether the millet was grown here. What can I show?
Put the supplier's place in the item's name, taken from the order you sent. If the millet came from outside the territory, the name says so, and the customer reads the answer on the bill.
Which millet sells in the weeks the rain keeps the visitors away? Can I read the lean weeks?
Yes. The daily report keeps every day. Open the wet weeks and see which flours and millets sold to the families who live here, and order those first.
A visitor asks whether the ragi flour is fresh. What can I show?
Open the order you sent to the supplier. It carries the supplier's name and the day the flour arrived, and you show it on the phone. In the damp weeks flour takes in the sea air, so the day on the order tells the visitor how long the sack has stood on your shelf.
How much of the territory's farm land is certified, and what the administration plans
Under the Natural Farming Certification System, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu has 1 registered farmer, 0 hectares and 0 certificates issued. For an organic store this means local certified produce is very rare, so most of the stock has to come from suppliers elsewhere.
A 2019 presentation by the Dadra and Nagar Haveli administration to NITI Aayog said its agriculture department would use extension and publicity to teach farmers to adopt organic farming only. Organic food is not a stranger in the administration's own plans, so a store here is not asking customers to learn a new word.