Billing for your mobile and electronics shop in Karnataka
Handsets, covers, cables and repairs on one phone, and the bill ready when the customer comes back.
Why a Karnataka mobile and electronics shop sells by the season and by the doubt
A phone sold in the rains, a question in the summer
A phone is sold in the rains and the question comes in the summer, three months later. In those months the shop has sold many phones of the same make, and hers is one among them. She remembers the month and nothing else, and a second customer waits behind her. She is not asking for much; she is asking what she bought. A guess at the date can make a wrong answer on a repair that is under warranty.
Fans in the hot weeks, geysers before the cold ones
An electronics shop sells by the season. Fans and coolers go in the hot weeks, geysers and heaters in the cold. The shop that bought a lot of fans after the summer has them on the shelf till next year, and the shop that ran out of geysers in the first cold week has lost the sale to a competitor. The owner remembers last year in a general way, and not in numbers.
"Is this one original?" asked at every charger
Customers ask whether the charger, the earphones or the battery is original, because cheap copies are everywhere. The honest answer is on the supplier's carton, and the carton is in the godown. A shop that cannot say where a piece came from loses the sale or sells it with a doubt, and the doubt comes back when the piece fails after a month.
Customers across Karnataka's districts, from the farm to the foundry
A mobile shop sells to whoever has a salary or a crop to spend, and the district tells you who that is.
- Ballari holds 25% of India's iron ore reserves, JSW's Vijayanagar steel works is at Toranagallu, and 75% of workers depend on farming.
- Belagavi has 24 sugar factories and 200 foundries producing over 70,000 tons of automotive and industrial castings, and the people who work in them buy phones as they buy anything else, on pay day.
- Tumakuru district has 9 APMC market yards, at Tumakuru, Tiptur, Gubbi, Sira, Huliyar, Pavagada, Madhugiri, Kunigal and Turuvekere, which bring traders and farm families into town.
- Kalaburagi is famous for toor dal (pigeon pea), and the district also has large limestone deposits.
The bill found again, the fan before its season and the month's real earner
The charger's supplier written into its name when the carton is opened
When a carton of chargers or earphones is opened, add the pieces as items with the supplier's name in the item name. The bill that goes to the customer's phone then carries that name and the date. When she asks whether the piece is original, you answer from what the bill says about where it came from, not from a guess.
The fans left after summer, counted before the next one
When the hot weeks end, the fans still on the shelf are a number. Keep fans as items with their counts and read that number before you order. The order for the next summer is written from what was left, so you do not carry last summer's fans into the next one.
The repairs that come back, and the weeks the technician's bench is full
Add a repair as its own item and bill each visit under the customer's name. The month's report shows how many repair visits the bench had and in which weeks it was busiest, so you see that the technician's week is full before you promise a Friday. A repair that returns under warranty shows as a second visit under the same name.
Tools for a counter of handsets, covers and cables
Daily reports
Handsets, repairs and accessories, each with its own total for the week, so the bench and the glass case can be compared.
Offers for regular customers
A discount on a cover and screen glass for the customer whose phone is on the repair bench, given on the day she collects it, so a repair customer comes back for the cover.
Godown stock
What is in the godown when the fans and coolers are put away in the cold weeks, and what came in before the season.
Questions Karnataka mobile and electronics shop owners ask
The new model has come and I hold the old one. What happens to the old model's covers?
The old model's covers are named after it and have their own count. When the old phone is gone, the covers left are the ones to sell down and not order again.
The supplier asks which carton the failed charger came from and how many are left. What do I tell him?
Read the carton's date from the item's name, and the count left on the hook. Tell the supplier the carton and the number, and check those pieces before another customer buys one, so the rest of the carton does not wait for a second complaint.
A customer wants a geyser in the first cold week and I have sold the last one. What do I tell him?
Open the geyser's count. It shows nought, so you say so at once and promise nothing. Put the geyser on your next order and note it when it arrives, so the next customer is told yes.
A raid on SP Road and the Chickpet merchants
In February 2022 Bengaluru's Central Crime Branch raided an SP Road wholesale dealer accused of selling fake products of five well-known phone brands. A shop that sells genuine stock and keeps a bill for every sale has something to show a customer who doubts what she has bought.
Bengaluru's Chickpet market is a hub for several trades, including electrical appliances, and has its own Electrical Merchants' association. Shopkeepers in the same line of work know each other there, and a shop in a smaller town often buys its stock through someone it can name.