Stationery Shop Software: 7 WhatsApp Messages

Stationery shop management software must answer three questions for the owner: how many of each item are left by the piece after you opened the cartons and dozens and sold them singly? How much seasonal stock is left once back-to-school is over, and what goes back to the supplier? And how much do the schools and companies that buy on credit owe you? Seven WhatsApp messages to Fahim answer all three without a new screen, turning into stock balances per item, invoices, a balance per customer and a profit report. It suits one shop or two branches run today from a notebook and a till.

The rule: you buy by the carton and sell by the piece

One item enters in one unit and leaves in another:

• School supplies: pens, notebooks, rulers and colours, bought by the carton or dozen and sold by the piece or the box.
• Office supplies: copy paper by the ream, files, staplers and ink, taken by company customers in quantity and on credit.
• Services: photocopying, printing and laminating by the page or piece, using paper and ink without a visible item being sold.

Each item has a unit, supplier, purchase price and a minimum balance that triggers an alert; request other fields in Arabic and Fahim applies them on your approval. It is inventory management from WhatsApp, with conversion between carton, dozen and piece.

Seven messages from goods arrival to season close

1. Receiving supplier goods

The owner photographs the supplier invoice and writes: "Received 20 cartons of notebooks, 48 per carton, and 10 cartons of pencils, 12 dozen per carton." Fahim reads quantities and prices from the invoice, raises each item's balance by the piece and works out the cost per piece. A shortage noted in the same message stays visible until the supplier settles it.

2. Selling singly in the shop

The salesperson writes: "Sold 3 notebooks, a box of colours and 2 rulers, total 45 by card." Fahim deducts the quantities and issues the invoice with quantity and price.

3. The school list as one order

In school season a parent brings the class list. The owner writes the contents of a class list once; then whenever it is prepared the salesperson writes: "Prepared 4 grade three lists." Fahim deducts each item by its quantity and costs the list from actual purchase prices. If an item on it runs out, you know before the parent reaches the till.

4. Photocopying and printing

At the end of the shift the salesperson writes: "Copies: 320 pages black and white, 40 pages colour, 6 laminations." Fahim records the revenue and deducts paper from the ream balance. If you record your estimate of ink use, you see profit per page after paper and ink, not revenue alone.

5. School and company orders on credit

For a company customer the salesperson writes: "Order for a company: 10 reams of paper, 5 boxes of files and 20 pens, total 640, pay end of month." Fahim issues the invoice and adds the amount to the customer's balance. Overdue invoices appear in one list, and Moeen, Fahim's personal assistant, flags them in the morning summary. This is what invoicing from WhatsApp is built on.

6. Counting after the season and supplier returns

Two weeks after school starts the salesperson writes: "Notebook count: 310 on hand." Fahim compares it with the book balance and shows the difference. Then you ask: "Which seasonal items have more than half of what we bought left?" You see what deserves an offer, what goes back to the supplier if your agreement allows it, and what to order less of next season.

7. Season profit and month-end close

You ask: "How much did we make on school lists this season?" A hypothetical example for illustration only: a class list sells for 120 riyals before VAT and its items cost 75 riyals, so the margin is 45 riyals before rent and salaries. If 2,000 riyals of non-returnable items remain after the season, that comes off the whole season's profit, and only shows if counted. At month-end Moeen gathers sales, credit, copying and leftover stock into one report.

Notebook and till versus structured messages

Three numbers you see after a month

• Each item's balance by the piece, and items at their minimum before the season.
• The margin on every school list and copying service, the best sellers and the least profitable.
• The value of leftover seasonal stock, and what schools and companies owe.

How to start this week

• Send your item list with balances and purchase prices in an Excel file.
• Write the contents of your three most requested class lists, the first to run out in season.
• Record copying and printing from week one; it is daily income that does not show in stock today.