Phone shop app: see your stock anytime without counting shelves

Check what phones and accessories you have in stock from your counter or your office, without pulling everything down to count.

Who it's for

For the owner of a phone and accessories shop, the kind with one shop and maybe a second one, two or three salesboys at the counter and an apprentice who runs to collect goods. The problem bites on a Saturday afternoon. A customer wants a particular model in a particular colour, the boys say they think it finished, and you cannot tell them yes or no while you are away from the shop.

The problem today

Everything is in my head and in the counter book. If a customer asks for Tecno in that blue colour, my boy has to open the drawer and check, and sometimes he says it finished when it is there in the back. When I travel, I call the shop three, four times a day just to know what remains. Chargers and earpiece are the worst. They finish and nobody tells me until a customer is standing there. Then I rush to Computer Village and buy the same thing I already have plenty of, and the money is just sitting on the shelf instead of in my hand.

What the app does, screen by screen

1. Stock check — Staff at the counter type a model or scroll a short list and see at once what is left, in which colour and storage, and the selling price to quote the customer.
2. Record a sale — Staff pick the item, scan or type the IMEI for a phone, choose how the customer paid, and the stock reduces straight away so the next check is correct.
3. Receive goods — Staff or the owner enter what came in from the supplier so new phones and accessories join the stock the same day they arrive.
4. Low stock alerts — The owner sees only the items that have reached the reorder level, so one glance before going to buy shows what to carry money for.
5. Suppliers and purchase orders — The owner keeps each supplier with their line and raises a simple order list before travelling, then ticks what the supplier actually supplied.
6. Owner dashboard — The owner sees what sold today in each shop, what is left overall, and which money is still owed, without calling anybody.

Who uses it and what it keeps track of

• Phones in stock — Brand, model, colour, storage, IMEI, which shop it is sitting in, cost price, selling price, and whether it is still available or sold. Staff see everything except cost price.
• Accessories in stock — Item name, type such as charger or pouch or power bank, quantity left, reorder level, cost and selling price. Staff see quantity and selling price only.
• Sales — What was sold, the IMEI where it applies, who sold it, how the customer paid, date and time, and anything still owed. Staff see their own sales, the owner sees all.
• Suppliers and orders — Supplier name, phone number, what they usually supply, what was ordered, what arrived and what is still coming. Owner only.
• People in the shop — Each person who signs in, their name, which shop they work in, and whether they are staff or the owner. Owner only.

What it changes for the business

Your boys stop guessing. A customer who asks for a model gets a straight answer in seconds, so the ones you used to lose to the next shop now buy from you. Chargers and earpiece no longer finish quietly, because the alert comes before the shelf is empty. You stop buying what you already have, so your money stays working instead of lying on the shelf. And you can be at home or travelling and still know what is in the shop, because you are reading the same thing your boys are reading.

The one decision that matters

The one decision is whether to track each phone one by one with its IMEI, or just keep a count per model like you do for accessories. Counting is faster to enter and your boys will like it. But with a count you cannot say which exact phone went out, who sold it, or settle a quarrel when a customer returns a phone claiming it is the one you sold them. Go with IMEI for phones and plain counts for accessories. Phones carry the real money and the real disputes, and a chain of chargers does not need that much detail. Entering an IMEI takes a few seconds and it ends argument.

What to build first, and what can wait

Build stock check, record a sale, receive goods and low stock alerts first. That alone answers the question you ask on the phone every day. Suppliers and purchase orders can come next, since you already know your people in Computer Village. Leave repairs, swap deals, barcode scanning, customer credit accounts and a second branch for later. Put the thing in your boys' hands this week and let the rest follow once they are entering sales without being chased.

How BooDoo builds it

You describe the shop and how you sell in plain words, and BooDoo builds it. It builds the real backend behind it, a proper database with sign-in so you see cost price and profit while your boys only see what is left and the selling price. The same request gives you a website on its own live address and an Android app you can publish to Google Play under your own account, so the counter uses the phone and you use the browser. There is a ready-made stock app you can try live and copy into your workspace first, then change by describing what your own shop does differently.

How you'll know it works

A customer asks for a model and colour, your boy answers from the screen without leaving the counter or calling you, and the phone is where the screen said it is.

Build it

Paste this in and it gets built.

I run a phone and accessories shop and I want a website plus an Android app so my salesboys can check stock from the counter and I can see everything from my office or when I travel. Each phone should be entered one by one with brand, model, colour, storage and IMEI, and when it is sold the IMEI should leave stock with the name of the boy who sold it. Accessories like chargers, earpiece, pouches and power banks should just be counted by quantity with a reorder level, and I want an alert when any one is reaching that level. Let me keep my suppliers with their phone numbers, raise an order list before I go to buy, and receive goods into stock when they arrive. Only I should see cost price and profit. My boys should see what is left and the selling price, and record sales.