Billing for your beauty parlour and cosmetic shop in Uttar Pradesh
The threading, the facial, the bangles and the bindi, all on one bill.
From the mehendi chair to the bridal party's page
Three takings on Karwa Chauth evening match the drawer at night
The counter, the chair and what the helper takes on the side all bring money in on Karwa Chauth evening. Put every one on a bill, and at night the three add up in the day's sales. The cash in the drawer is checked against one total and not against three guesses.
The bangle set for the woman who cannot leave the house is packed from her order
In Karwa Chauth week many women cannot leave the house. Their order for a bangle set, with the size and colour, comes from your shop page to your phone as a list. You pack it in the afternoon lull, and the bill goes with the boy.
Karwa Chauth, read the day after
The daily report keeps every day. After Karwa Chauth, open that day and the days before it, and see how many bangle sets, bindi packs and mehendi sittings went. Before next year you stock to those numbers and plan how many helpers to call in.
Services, bangles and bindi: what a UP beauty counter asks of a phone
Bills on your phone
A mehendi sitting for one hand, a bangle set and a bindi pack on one bill, each at its own rate, made while the henna dries.
Offers for regular customers
An offer for the regular who comes every month for threading and a facial, so she does not go to the new parlour down the road.
Low stock warnings
A warning when the bangle size most hands need or a favourite bindi shade is down to its last packs before Karwa Chauth.
Daily reports
Mehendi sittings by the hand set against bangle sets by the set, day by day, in the days before Karwa Chauth.
Orders to suppliers
Your orders to the wholesaler for bangles, bindi and cosmetics, with the day each was sent.
Online orders
Bangle sets and bindi packs for Karwa Chauth ordered from your shop page by women who cannot leave the house that week.
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Where UP's customers work: factory lanes, mill towns and carpet looms
Women from every kind of family come to parlours and cosmetic shops. A few of the districts, and what they are known for:
- Lucknow is a hub for chikankari sarees, dupattas and kurtis, and its zari zardozi bridal wear is highly sought after.
- Ghaziabad is an important place for industry in Uttar Pradesh. In 2017-18 it had 1,987 registered industrial units employing 89,780 people.
- Moradabad is called Brass City, Peetal Nagri. It is famous for a huge export of brass handicrafts to North America and Europe.
- Sitapur is known for its traditional wool carpets, called dari, woven on traditional looms. It is the district's One District One Product.
Karwa Chauth evening, a bride's morning and a counter of bindi packs
Three people holding the money, and three bits of paper
Three people take the money on Karwa Chauth evening: you at the counter, your helper at the chair and the girl at the door. Each keeps a bit of paper and makes change from her own pocket. At night the three bits are added and the sum is short of the cash.
The bride's morning, with mehendi drawn hand by hand for her sisters
A bridal morning in a UP family is long mehendi: the bride's hands, then her sisters', one sitting for each pair of hands, drawn while the makeup and the hair wait their turn. The saree draping comes last, in a rush. Each sitting is priced by the hand, so the family asks how many hands were drawn.
Ittar poured from a large bottle into small ones, beside the bindi packs
A UP counter sells ittar in small bottles filled from a larger one, beside packs of bindi, hair clips and nail polish. The ittar goes out a little at a time, and nobody knows how much is left in the large bottle or how many small ones it filled. The bindi packs and the clips are the cheap part; the ittar is the part that is guessed.
What UP parlour and cosmetic shop owners ask about packages, bangles and regulars
A woman does not know her bangle size. Can the size she took last time be found?
Yes, if she has a page. Each set she bought is on it with its size in the set's name, so you read the size and hand her the same.
Mehendi is drawn by the sitting, not sold as a piece. Can I bill a sitting?
Yes. Make a mehendi sitting an item with its own rate, one for each hand or each design. A plain hand and a full bridal pattern are two items, so the bill names the one that was drawn.
Which shades of lipstick and nail polish sell the most in the wedding months?
Each shade is its own item, counted by the day. Open the wedding months in the report and see which shades went, then order those for the next season.
I sell ittar in small bottles and by weight. Can both be on a bill?
Yes. A small bottle and ittar sold by weight are separate items with their own rates. The bill adds both and each comes off its own stock.
Chowk's ittar shops and the Agra cosmetic trade
Lucknow's old-town Chowk has bustling ittar (perfume) shops. Ittar is sold there in small bottles and by weight, and a shop that bills both needs both on one slip.
Before Karwa Chauth 2021, Agra's cosmetic dealers association expected about Rs 10 crore of trade, up to 30 per cent more than the year before.