Billing for your supermarket and general store in Uttar Pradesh
Every counter, every aisle and every family's monthly list, in one place.
Shoppers of the factory lane, the mill town and the brass city
Families from every district do their monthly shopping at a general store. A few of them, and the work they are known for:
- Kanpur has a long saddlery trade from colonial times. Today it is the only independent centre making leather saddlery for global markets.
- Lucknow is a hub for chikankari sarees, dupattas and kurtis, and its zari zardozi bridal wear is highly sought after.
- Jaunpur's economy depends mainly on agriculture because it has no heavy industry. About 85 industrial units, such as a flour mill, run at Satahariya.
- Sitapur is known for its traditional wool carpets, called dari, woven on traditional looms. It is the district's One District One Product.
Salary-day queues at two counters and a shelf with hundreds of rates
Two counters, two pads and a night that does not agree
Two counters run side by side, and each cashier has his own pad and his own way of adding. At night the cash of the first counter does not match its pad, the second counter's does not match either, and the stock on the shelves agrees with neither. Nobody can say which counter's number is wrong, and the evening goes in finding out.
Hundreds of items and rates that move every week
A supermarket carries a great many items, each with its own rate, and the suppliers change many of them every week. A rate is changed on the shelf label but not at the counter, or the other way round, and a customer notices the difference at the counter. You then give the customer the lower rate, and the loss is your own.
The factory-lane family that splits its month's list between you and the big store
A family from the factory lanes buys part of its month's list at the big store in the city and the rest from you. You see half of the list and never know why the other half went elsewhere. What the family forgot or could not carry is what you sell, and the quick bill and the clear rate are what bring the whole list back.
Counters, aisles and the godown behind: what a UP supermarket asks of a phone
Bills on your phone
Two counters billing at once, each cashier on his own phone or screen, and both adding to the same day's total.
Godown stock
The stock of the back room and the godown, read beside the stock on the shelves, so a refill is known before the aisle is empty.
Offers for regular customers
An offer for the families who come in the first week of the month with their salary list, noted on their page, so the list is billed with the offer and the family does not split the month with the mall.
Staff shifts Coming soon
Planning which cashier stands at which counter and which packer works at the back is on its way. For now it stays on your own paper.
Daily reports
Each day's sales by counter and by item, so the first week of the month stands out from the rest.
Low stock warnings
A mark on atta and rice set high before pay day, for the factory-lane families with long lists, so cartons are carried out in time.
From the first of the month to the closing count of each counter
A new cashier takes over at lunch on the same list of rates
When a cashier goes for lunch and another takes his counter, the new one bills from the same list of rates, not from the old one's memory. The first bill after the change carries the same rate as the last bill before it.
The aisle refilled from the back room before it is empty
The shelf and the back room each have their own count. When the rice or the oil on the shelf is low, you see at once whether the back room has more, and the boy brings it out before the salary-day rush, not after a customer asks.
Each counter's closing count, on its own
Each counter is set up as its own counter under your account, so at night each closes against its own bills. In salary week one counter served the factory-lane families with their long lists and the other the quick buyers. If one counter's cash is short you know which, and the stock that went out of each is read from its own bills.
A mart that put its women entrepreneurs' goods in one place
What UP supermarket owners ask about counters, monthly lists and the back room
A customer gives up the queue and leaves a full basket by the door. What happens to the count?
No bill was made, so no stock came off the count. Put the goods back on the shelf, and the count and the shelf still agree.
Can the phone plan which cashier stands at which counter?
Not yet. Shift planning is on its way and does not work today, so keep the shift list on your own paper for now.
Which counter sold more in the salary week, the first or the second?
Each bill belongs to a counter, and the daily report is read by counter. Open the days of the salary week and compare the two.
Brass city and factory town: who shops at a general store
Moradabad is called Brass City, Peetal Nagri. It is famous for a huge export of brass handicrafts to North America and Europe.
Ghaziabad is an important place for industry in Uttar Pradesh. In 2017-18 it had 1,987 registered industrial units employing 89,780 people. Families that work in such lanes do their monthly shopping when the salary comes.