How to start computer billing in a kirana shop, step by step

Before you begin: what you need

If you are still choosing a printer, read 58mm vs 80mm thermal printers first.

• A Windows 10 or 11 PC or laptop at the counter.
• A receipt printer, ideally a thermal printer. Billing works without one, but customers expect a slip.
• Optional: a USB barcode scanner, and a cash drawer if you use one.
• Your product list with selling prices, and ideally purchase prices and GST rates.
• An hour of quiet time, outside peak hours.

Step 1: Make your product list

Open a spreadsheet and list each product with its name, selling price, purchase price, GST percentage and current stock. Do not aim for perfection. Start with the fifty to two hundred items you sell every week. Items you sell rarely can be added the first time someone buys them.

If your supplier gives you a price list, copy from it. Keep names short and consistent, for example "Sunflower oil 1 L" rather than three different spellings, because the cashier will search by name.

Step 2: Install the software and set up the shop

Install the billing app, register your shop (you need the internet for this once), and enter the shop name, address, GST number if you have one, and the header and footer for the receipt. In RathTech Billing POS you can then import the product spreadsheet in one step rather than typing items one by one. See the download page for requirements.

Step 3: Connect the printer and test

Install the printer driver in Windows and print a Windows test page. Then select the printer in the billing app and print a practice bill. Turn the printer off and complete another bill to confirm the sale is still saved, then reprint it when the printer is back. Details are in receipt printing.

Step 4: Add regular credit customers

If you give udhaar, add each regular customer with a full name and phone number, and enter what they currently owe from your notebook as their opening balance if the software supports it, or note it separately. From now on, record credit sales through the bill. Read how to track udhaar customers.

Step 5: Run parallel for two or three days

1. Keep writing your usual bill book, and also enter each sale in the software.
2. At closing, compare the day's total in both. Fix any price, GST or stock mistakes in the product list.
3. Let family members or staff try the counter, so the first real rush is not their first try.
4. When the totals match for two days, stop the paper bills.

Step 6: Protect the shop's data

Your records are now on your PC, so protect them. Take a backup at the end of each day or turn on automatic backup, and keep a copy off the PC. Give staff their own PIN and the right role so only the owner can cancel bills or delete records. See offline billing for how local data and backups work.

Common mistakes in the first week

• Leaving GST percentage blank on products and fixing it bill by bill.
• Not setting a minimum stock level, so low-stock alerts never appear.
• Skipping the backup until something goes wrong.
• Changing too much at once. Get billing right first; add credit, labels and reports after.

After the first week

Look at the dashboard each evening: today's sales, low-stock items and the last transactions. Once billing is routine, add barcodes for packaged goods to speed up the counter, which is covered in barcode billing. The free 14-day trial gives you every feature while you settle in; see pricing.