Billing for your toy shop in Madhya Pradesh
Each handmade piece with its own rate, and a bill the customer can keep.
A toy that costs five times more on a phone, and figures that no two alike
The same toy, shown at five times the price on a phone
The Chief Minister said in 2021 that some online companies sell Budhni toys at up to 5 times the price, and promised a network so local artisans do the work. A shop that sells such a toy at the counter has to say plainly what it costs. When the customer has seen another price on his own phone, a spoken rate and a rough slip do not settle it.
Handmade figures, and no two exactly alike
On the shelf there are puppets and animal figures that someone shaped and coloured by hand. One has a longer neck, another a brighter back, and the customer picks the one that spoke to him. Pricing the whole box at a single rate is unfair to the best pieces, and pricing each one from memory means the rate on the day is the rate you recall that morning.
Dandiya sticks in pairs before Navratri, and the small sizes that go first
Before Navratri the shop sells dandiya sticks, painted and sold in pairs, in a small size for the children and a longer one for grown-ups. In the last week every child in the lane wants a pair. The shop that did not count the sizes in September finds the small ones gone and the long ones standing, and a child who comes late goes home with a pair too long for her hands.
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Bhopal's zardozi and Bagh's block prints on the gift shelf
Toys sit on the same gift shelf as the other crafts of the state, and two districts are known for theirs.
- Zari Zardosi, embroidery made with lustrous metallic threads by generations of skilled artisans, is Bhopal's One District One Product.
- Bagh print, a hand block print in natural red and black colours made at Bagh village, is Dhar district's One District One Product.
Tools for a toy counter that buys from local makers
Bills on your phone
A bill made in seconds for a small toy, so ten children in ten minutes are ten bills and not ten guesses.
Orders to suppliers
Leather figurines, shaped and coloured by hand, are noted when they arrive from the maker, each with its own rate, so one animal is never entered as another.
Your own online shop
A page of the toys at the shop's own rates, so a customer who saw the same toy online at a higher price can compare.
Daily reports
The Diwali-week evenings, toy by toy, read the next morning to decide what to ask the maker for.
Low stock warnings
The warning that the favourite toy is nearly out, sent to your phone before the maker's family has left the village.
The honest bill, the handmade piece with its own line and the pocket-money evening
Sunday is the maker's day, and the week's lot is counted while the family is there
The family that makes the toys comes on Sunday, and Sunday is when the week's lot is counted. The toys they bring are noted with the day, and the shelf is put right before the family leaves. When they ask what you took last month, the toys on your shelf match what came.
The puppet with the red turban and the one with the blue are two items
Hand-made puppets of the same kind differ in colour and finish, and the customer chooses by colour. Put the better colours in as items of their own, each with its own rate, and the plain ones as one item sold by the piece. When the customer picks the red turban, that line is on the bill, and at closing you see which colours went and which are left.
The wooden top and the leather puppet, which sell in different weeks
A wooden top is spun by children in the school holidays, and a leather puppet is bought by a grown-up for a shelf or a gift. Keep the two kinds as items of their own, and read their weeks apart in the report. The order to the maker for each is then sent in the weeks that kind really sells.
What toy shop owners in Madhya Pradesh ask
A toy has a part missing from the box. Can I sell it as its own item at a lower rate?
Yes. Put it in as an item with a lower rate, so it does not come off the count of the whole toys.
The small dandiya pairs go first before Navratri, and the maker is not at my door that week. What do I do?
Keep the dandiya as pairs by size and read the small size's count each evening. When it is low, send the order to the maker that night, since the pairs for the last days must already be on their way.
A customer asks who made the puppet. Can the bill say?
Put the maker's family name in the item's name when you enter the piece. The bill carries it, and the customer takes home a line that says whose hands made it.
Indore's leather figures and Sehore's toys in the state's list
Indore artisans buy leather from local suppliers and shape and colour it by hand into animal figurines and miniature puppets, used as toys and decor. Each one is made by hand, so a shop gives each its own rate and its own place in the stock.
Toy products of Sehore district are in the state's One District One Product scheme, called Ek Zila Ek Utpad, the Chief Minister said at the 2021 Budhni Toy Festival. A shop that sells these toys keeps them as items of their own, apart from factory toys, so the count of each kind is clear.