Billing for your supermarket in Silvassa, Daman and Diu
The family's monthly basket, the back room behind the shop floor and the regular who gets a coupon, on one phone.
The printed monthly list at the counter, and a price that changed on the shelf but not at the counter
The list in another script that the cashier reads slowly
Families walk in with a list written at home. The workers came from different states, so the lists are in Hindi, Odia or Marathi, and the cashier reads some of them slowly, one word at a time. A line he cannot read is skipped or guessed, and the mistake is found at home, not at the shop.
The regular remembers last month's price, the visitor does not
A regular family remembers what a packet cost last month, and a weekend visitor does not. A rate that rose in between is explained to the one and not the other, and the shelf says one thing while the bill says another. By the time the manager walks the shelf, the price has been quoted twice.
New families arrive every month and nobody knows them
Workers come to Silvassa from other states, rent a flat and begin shopping at the nearest big shop. You do not know their names or their habits. A family that finds what it needs in the first month stays, and one that finds an empty shelf goes to the next supermarket. The shelves you fill for them in the first week are the ones that decide whether they stay.
A women's store whose goods and online orders sit in one list
From the guest house's tax bill to the new family's third basket
The guest house buys cartons, the family buys packets
A guest house near the beach buys cartons of water, biscuits and tea at the start of each beach season. The carton is an item of its own at its own rate, apart from the single packet, so the guest house's lot is billed by the carton and the packets on the shelf are not counted twice.
The new family's page after its first three baskets
A family from another state that has just rented a flat is a name you do not know. Open a page in its name at the first basket. By the third visit the page lists what the family buys, the dal and the oil it asks for, and the shelf for it is filled before the fourth, with the brand of oil it asked for the first time.
The family that moved to the flats in March is known by name in the fifth month
A family from another state moved to the flats near the factory in March and has come every month since. By the fifth visit the cashier knows the name on its page and says so. A discount set by you comes after that, only for the families that returned, so it reads as a thank-you and not as a sale.
Tools for a self-service shop that fills before the first of the month
Bills on your phone
A long basket billed as it is bagged and sent on WhatsApp, so the man on the night shift can check it against the list when his shift ends.
Godown stock
The afternoon tempo's cartons counted into the godown the hour they arrive, apart from the packets on the floor.
Offers for regular customers
A coupon for the guest houses that come back for their cartons at the start of each beach season.
Questions supermarkets in Silvassa, Daman and Diu ask
My shelf fills before the first of the month. Can I see what went first on the first day last time?
Yes. Open the sales of that first day and read how many of each item went out. The items at the top are the ones to fill before the next first.
The family's list is in Odia and the cashier reads it slowly. Can last month's bill be the guide?
Yes. The family's page keeps last month's bill line by line, so the cashier follows the same lines this month and checks the new list against them.
On the first Saturday a new cashier faces the longest basket. Can he bill it without knowing the rates?
Yes. He types the name of each item and the rate comes with it, and the bill adds itself. A long basket needs names, not rates in his head.
Families come with a long list in the first week and a short one in the third. How do I fill the shelf for both?
Open the sales of the first week and of the third week and read what sold in each. Fill the heavy goods before the first week and keep the small things for the third, so the long list finds what it wants and the short list does not leave the shelf bare.
How Silvassa grew from a small town to an industrial city
Silvassa had an estimated 1.48 lakh residents in 2019, and the city also sees a large influx of people who come for its industries and tourism. A supermarket here has two kinds of shoppers in the same aisle: the family that lives in the city, and the person who has just arrived.
Silvassa's population almost doubled between 2001 and 2011 as the city grew into a major industrial centre. A shop that grew up with the city knows its regular families by name, and a new one has to learn them. The families who came in that decade now shop in bigger baskets, and the shop's list of items and rates has to keep up with what they buy.