It's seven in the morning and the first contractor is already at the counter. They want cement, a few lengths of pipe, a kilo of nails from an open box and a handful of hinges, all on their account, to be settled "end of month like always". Behind them a farmer needs ten kilos of fertiliser from a bag you opened yesterday, plus a vaccine for their chickens.
None of that is unusual. It's just very hard to keep straight in a notebook.
The short answer: hardware stores, building material suppliers and agrovets all sell the same stock in different units, to customers who often pay later. The POS you choose has to sell by piece, metre, kilo, bag or carton from one stock record, keep accounts for contractors and farmers with limits and balances, and track every yard, store room and branch separately. EliteTeQ does this from USD 499 per year, keeps selling offline and sends statements to customers on WhatsApp.
The real problem: one product, many units
Most shops sell a thing at a price. You don't.
You buy nails by the carton and sell them by the kilo. You buy wire by the roll and sell it by the metre. An agrovet buys feed in 50 kg bags and sells some whole and some loose. Every time a bag is opened or a carton is broken, a notebook loses track, and by month-end nobody can say what's really in the store.
In EliteTeQ you set the units each item sells in, each with its own price, all drawing from one stock record. Open a carton for piece sales, or a bag for loose kilos, and the stock converts on its own. The count stays right however the customer buys.
Hardware stores: a huge range of small parts
A hardware shop's headache is variety. Screws, fittings, hinges, bulbs, tools, paint. Fast item search and barcode scanning find the right part in seconds with its price and how many you have, so the cashier isn't walking the aisles to check.
When a supplier puts prices up, you record the purchase at the new cost and update selling prices for a whole category in one place. It's live on every till the same day, and every change is logged, so nobody is charging last month's price on the second counter.
For bigger jobs, you can build a quote with live prices and stock, share it on WhatsApp and turn it into an order or invoice in one step when the customer agrees. See the [hardware stores page](/industries/hardware-stores/) for the full picture.
Building material suppliers: bulky stock and builders on credit
Cement by the bag, steel by the length, roofing sheets by the piece, sand or ballast by the tonne. Each unit has its own price and they all come off the same stock record.
Most of your money sits with contractors. Each one gets an account with a credit limit, a running balance and due dates, and you can send their statement on WhatsApp straight from the account. When a builder says "I never got that", a delivery note recorded against the order shows what was loaded and when, which settles most arguments quickly.
The yard and each branch are tracked separately, with every transfer between them on record. More on the [building materials page](/industries/building-materials/).
Agrovets: expiry dates and the planting season
An agrovet is part hardware shop, part pharmacy. Vet medicines, vaccines and seed carry batch numbers and expiry dates, so each delivery is recorded with both. Items close to expiry are flagged, and the oldest batch sells first. Anything that does expire is written off with a reason, so you can see what it's costing you.
Fertiliser and feed sell by the bag or by the kilo from one stock, and broken bags convert automatically, with low-stock alerts on both.
Many farmers pay after harvest. Each farmer or co-operative gets an account with a limit, and you can send balances on WhatsApp so nothing is forgotten or disputed. Before the season starts, last season's sales show what sold, when and where, so you order the right seed and fertiliser before the rush instead of in the middle of it. The [agrovets page](/industries/agrovets/) has the details.
What all three have in common
| Notebook or basic till | EliteTeQ | |
|---|---|---|
| Mixed units | Converted in someone's head | Piece, metre, kilo, bag or carton from one record |
| Opened bags and cartons | The balance drifts | Converts on its own |
| Credit customers | A book of IOUs | Accounts with limits, balances and due dates |
| Statements | Phoned or forgotten | Sent on WhatsApp |
| Supplier price rises | Old prices on some tills | Category update, live on every till |
| Several locations | One blurry total | Yard, store room and branch tracked separately |
A morning that goes right
Go back to that contractor. On EliteTeQ the cashier finds the hinges by search, scans the cement, sells the pipe by the metre and the nails by the kilo from the opened carton. The sale goes on the contractor's account, which is still under its limit, and the balance updates. At month-end their statement goes out on WhatsApp without anyone digging through a book.
The farmer's ten kilos come out of the opened bag, the vaccine comes from the oldest batch, and the stock for both is still right at closing.
Nothing clever happened. Every movement simply went through one system.
Practical points
- Offline: if the network drops, you keep selling and it syncs when it's back.
- Payments: EliteTeQ records Octopus, card and cash against each sale, and keeps sales records ready for IRD. In Kenya, M-Pesa is integrated directly.
- Staff: each person has their own login, and price changes, discounts and voids are logged with a name and a time.
- Margins: margin by product and category shows which lines pay and which just fill the yard.
Next step
If month-end always brings a surprise, book a free demo and we'll set it up with your real products, units and prices. Or talk to a real person on WhatsApp through the [contact page](/contact/).
Let's discuss how EliteTeQ POS can help you achieve the results you just read about.