A credit book for grocery and corner stores

How credit works in a corner store

Whether it is called a kirana, a sari-sari store, a tienda or a duka, the neighbourhood shop runs on trust. The same families come in every day for bread, milk, rice, oil, phone credit or a bar of soap. Each amount is small, but by the end of the month it adds up. Most customers pay when wages, a pension or a remittance arrives; some clear everything, others pay “a part for now”.

Then there are the errands: a child arrives with a note, “Mum says two loaves and sugar, put it on the book.” These are the entries that cause the most confusion, because the person buying is not the person paying.

What usually goes wrong

• Small amounts never written: one loaf missed during the evening rush becomes “I never took that much” at the end of the month.
• Whose account is it? Three people from the same house shop on credit and the notebook does not say who.
• Adding it all up: totalling pages of lines by hand takes time and invites mistakes.
• Asking feels awkward: telling a neighbour their tab has grown feels rude, so the debt keeps growing.

Setting up a grocery book in Baki Fast

1. Open the app. There is no account to create and no internet needed. You can also try it first in the browser: open the web app.
2. Add a customer for each household or regular. Type the phone number with the country code so WhatsApp messages go in one tap.
3. When a child comes, write credit on the family’s account and add a note such as “Sam took it”.
4. For several items use item lines: quantity × price, and the total is worked out for you.
5. When money comes in, write a payment. Cash payments also go into the cash book, so at closing you know what should be in the till.
6. If one account keeps climbing, set a credit limit for that customer; the app warns you before an entry takes them past it.

A payday reminder you can send

When payday is near, a short, friendly message is enough. Payment reminders put the balance into the message for you; you just press send. More wordings are in payment reminder message examples.

After each entry you can send the customer a short note: “Today 85 was added, total 640.” When a child does the shopping, the parents see what was bought straight away, and there is nothing to argue about at the end of the month.