Shops

A shop sells goods over a counter to people who walk in. A customer picks what they want, the cashier scans or finds it on the till, takes the payment and hands over the receipt. Stock leaves the shelf with the sale, and deliveries from suppliers bring it back.

How Kila works for a shop

• The main screen is the till. Search or scan a product, tap Charge, take cash, M-Pesa, card or a bank transfer, then print or send the receipt.
• Your day revolves around the sale. Each one takes the goods off the stock at the branch, records the money with its VAT on the receipt, and belongs to the shift of the person who made it.
• Shops use Kila’s standard words: customer, product, sale, receipt, branch.

Kila treats these kinds of business as shops. Some come with extra rules because of the law:

• Hardware & building supplies
• Supermarket, minimart or grocery
• Electronics, mobile & appliances
• PharmacyPharmacy rules
• AgrovetFarm chemicals rules
• Fashion & boutique
• Wines & spiritsAlcohol rules
• Furniture & homeware
• Auto parts & tyres
• Cosmetics & beauty products
• Bookstore & stationery
• BakeryFood safety rules
• ButcheryFood safety rules, Weighed goods rules
• Fresh produceFood safety rules, Weighed goods rules
• Fuel stationFuel rules
• Online retailer
• General retail

Four kinds of shop have their own section, with the tasks only they do: Pharmacy, Butchery, Fuel station and Agrovet. Each set of extra rules has its guide: tap its name above.

A day in the shop

1. Open. Each cashier opens their shift on a till by counting the float in the drawer: Open a shift. Where the business counts the stock before the tills open, that comes first: Count the stock before the tills open.
2. Sell. Sales, returns, quotations and orders all start at the till: The till screen, Make a quotation, Take an order. Some need a manager: see Cashier.
3. Close. Each cashier counts the drawer and closes their shift: Close a shift. Kila compares the count with what it expects: How shifts and cash-ups work. The takings go to the bank or M-Pesa: Deposit cash.
4. Watch the day. The owner’s home page shows how today compares with the same day last week, which tills are open and what they have taken, and what waits for a decision. Sales › Trading day shows each branch’s day: Check the trading day.

Zoom

The home page’s cards

Kila arranges a shop owner’s home page with these cards. Each shows when its feature is on and your role may see it:

• Sales today against the same day last week
• Tills open and their takings
• Top sellers today
• Low or out of stock
• Gross margin and Margin watch
• Payments waiting for confirmation
• Approvals and reviews waiting
• Products without a KRA item code
• Licences, permits and returns due
• Services due and reminders

For wines and spirits shops

A wines and spirits shop also has Tots this week: sold, bottles opened and over-poured, for spirits sold by the tot from opened bottles.

Who does what

Role	What Kila says it is for
Owner	Full access to the business, including billing.
Branch manager	Runs one branch: tills, stock and staff.
Till supervisor	Runs the tills on the floor: reviews shifts and counts, approves discounts and voids within limits. No prices, settings or purchasing.
Cashier	Sells at the till and runs their own shift.
Merchandiser	Keeps products, prices and shelf labels up to date; suggests prices below the minimum margin. No money or tills.
Storekeeper	Receives, moves and counts stock.

A shop has Kila’s standard roles plus Till supervisor and Merchandiser. Some kinds of shop have their own: a pharmacy’s Pharmacist, Pharmaceutical technologist, Dispensing assistant and Claims clerk; a butchery’s Butcher; a fuel station’s Pump attendant, Forecourt supervisor and Station manager. The owner gives each person their roles under Users and roles. Every role: Your role.

Tasks for shops

Besides the till, a shop’s menu has these:

• Shelf labels (Products › Shelf labels): print labels for A price change, for chosen Products or for A category. Each price change waits there, marked labels not printed yet, until its labels are printed. The PDF prints at actual size.
• Till and returns rules (Administration › Till and returns rules, for the owner): the Returns policy Kila checks on every return, Rounding, where lines are rounded down to the shilling (or 5 or 10) with the cents coming off as a discount, and the Waste reasons for stock written off as waste.

For wines and spirits shops

Tots (Inventory › Tots) is where you sell a bottle by the tot. For each spirit sold that way it shows the price of a tot, what each tot costs you, what a bottle’s tots earn against what the bottle cost, and who last opened a bottle. Your tot size shows at the top (Our tot: 30 ml at Baraka Wines and Spirits), with Change next to it.

Set up a shop

Kila’s set-up list for a new shop, in order. Kila ticks each step off from what you record:

1. Business details and KRA PIN
2. First branch, opening hours and till
3. Products with prices and VAT
4. Opening stock
5. Suppliers
6. Reorder levels
7. Staff and roles
8. M-Pesa till or paybill
9. KRA eTIMS and item codes
10. Scanner, receipt printer and drawerNot for: Butchery and Fresh produce
11. Returns policy and till rules
12. First sale

For wines and spirits shops

Two more steps: Liquor licence: number, class, county, expiry and hours after the business details, and Tots: the bottles each tot is poured from. See Selling alcohol.

Tip

The owner finds the list under Administration › Setup until every step is done. Once it is, the item leaves the menu, and the page stays open to come back to.

Reports that matter here

All reports are under Money › Reports. For a shop, start with these:

Report	What Kila says it shows
Daily sales	Sales, refunds, VAT and margin for each day.
Sales by cashier	Transactions, sales, discounts and refunds per person.
Payment method summary	Cash, M-Pesa, card and credit received, and refunds paid out.
Low stock	Items at or below their reorder point, with a suggested order.
Cashier shift reconciliation	Every shift: expected cash, counted cash and the variance.

Common questions

Why does the till ask the cashier to check ID? The shop sells alcohol. Kila asks before any payment for a sale with alcohol: Selling alcohol.

Why can a cashier not give more than 5% off? That is the cashier’s limit. Above it they ask for approval, and someone with a higher limit approves it: Cashier.

Where do I see how today is going? On your home page: sales today against the same day last week, the tills open and their takings, and what waits for you.

Try it in the demo

These demo businesses run as shops, with made-up data. Each link fills in the person’s email: add the demo password the Kila team gave you.

• Baraka Wines and SpiritsLiquor storeSign in as Kamau Ndegwa (owner) (opens in a new tab)
• Mwangi HardwareHardware and electronicsSign in as James Mwangi (owner) (opens in a new tab)
• Tech Hub ElectronicsPhones and electronicsSign in as Brenda Achieng (owner) (opens in a new tab)
• Dawa Bora ChemistsPharmacy (chemist)Sign in as Dr. Wanjiku Mbugua (owner) (opens in a new tab)
• Soko Fresh Mini-MartSupermarket and mini-martSign in as Daniel Gitau (owner) (opens in a new tab)
• Nyama Bora ButcheryButcherySign in as John Kinyanjui (owner) (opens in a new tab)
• Mkulima AgrovetAgrovetSign in as Daniel Kipkemboi (owner) (opens in a new tab)
• Highway Petrol StationFuel stationSign in as Stephen Kyalo (owner) (opens in a new tab)