Track credit on your phone: know who owes you at your shop

See which customers have outstanding credit and send payment reminders without a notebook.

Who it's for

You run a small grocery or spaza shop on a busy street. It is you behind the counter most days, with a sister or a helper on the till when you go to the wholesaler. Half your regulars buy on credit until payday. The problem bites at month-end, when a customer says they already paid you for the bread and the paraffin, and all you have is a notebook with a page torn out and three names written the same way.

The problem today

Everything goes in the book. Someone takes mielie meal and airtime, says put it on my name, and I write it down quickly because there are four people waiting. When my helper is on the till she writes it on a slip of paper and sometimes it never reaches the book. At month-end I sit with that book at night trying to add up columns and work out who is Thabo from the flats and who is the other Thabo. Some people I never phone because I am shy to ask, so that money just sits there. Others pay and then argue that I am charging them twice, and I cannot prove anything.

What the app does, screen by screen

1. Customer list — The owner and staff open this first to see every credit customer with what they still owe, the biggest balances at the top.
2. Add to a customer's account — Staff use this at the counter to put what a customer just took onto their name in a few taps, before the next person is served.
3. Customer account page — The owner and staff see one customer's full history here, every amount taken and every payment made, so an argument can be settled on the spot.
4. Record a payment — Staff use this when a customer pays something in, so the balance drops straight away and both sides can see it.
5. Reminders — The owner uses this to pick who is behind and send each one a short WhatsApp message asking them to come and settle.
6. My account (customer sign-in) — The customer signs in on their own phone to see what they owe, what they have paid, and the statement for the month.
7. Owner overview — Only the owner sees this: total money out on credit, who has not paid in a long time, and which staff member captured what.

Who uses it and what it keeps track of

• Customers — Name, phone number, where they live or work, how much they are allowed to take on credit, notes like which days they usually pay. Owner and staff see this; each customer sees only their own details.
• Credit taken — Which customer, what they took, the amount, the date, and which staff member wrote it up. Owner sees everything, staff see what they need at the counter, the customer sees their own entries.
• Payments in — Which customer, the amount, the date, whether it was cash or a transfer, and who received it. Owner and staff see this, and the customer sees their own payments.
• Follow-ups — Who was reminded, when, what was said, and what they promised. Owner and staff only, never shown to the customer.
• Staff and roles — Who works at the shop and what each one may do, so a helper can add credit and take payments but cannot change limits or wipe an account. Owner only.

What it changes for the business

The book stops being the weak point. Every amount is captured at the counter the moment it happens, with a name and a time and the person who wrote it, so month-end is no longer a night of adding up columns. You can see at a glance who has been carrying a balance too long and send them a message instead of waiting and hoping. Arguments end quickly because you both look at the same list. Money that used to quietly disappear comes back, and you stop feeling shy about asking, because the app asks for you.

The one decision that matters

The one to get right is what happens when a customer wants to take more than their limit. You can make the app refuse it outright, or let it warn the staff member and carry on. Refusing keeps you disciplined but it embarrasses a good customer in front of a full shop, and your helper will start writing on paper again to avoid the scene. Let it warn instead: the screen shows the balance and the limit in red, and the sale can still go through, but it is marked as over the limit and you see it on your overview that evening. You keep control without your staff working around the app.

What to build first, and what can wait

Start with the customer list, adding credit at the counter, recording payments, the account history and the WhatsApp reminder. That already replaces the book. The customer sign-in can come next, once your own numbers are clean and you trust them. Stock counts, barcode scanning, supplier accounts and monthly reports can all wait. If you try to build the whole shop at once you will never get the credit part right, and the credit part is where the money is leaking.

How BooDoo builds it

You describe the shop and the credit book in your own words and BooDoo builds it. You get a real database with sign-in, so you, your helper and your customers each open a different screen. The same request gives you an Android app for the counter and a website on its own live address, and you can put the app on Google Play under your own account. WhatsApp buttons open a chat with a customer who is behind. Later, when you want a limit changed or a statement added, you describe that change.

How you'll know it works

At month-end you no longer sit with the notebook at night. You open the app, see the outstanding list, send the reminders, and watch the balances drop as people come in. The nobody-remembers argument stops happening at the counter.

Build it

Paste this in and it gets built.

I have a small grocery shop and many of my regulars buy on credit until payday. I want an app on my phone and my helper's phone where I keep a list of my credit customers with their name, phone number and where they stay, and where we can quickly add what someone just took to their name while they are standing at the counter. It must show me what each person owes, their whole history of what they took and what they paid, and who on my staff wrote each one up. I want to record payments so the balance drops immediately. Show me a list of everyone who owes me, biggest first, and let me send them a WhatsApp message asking them to come and settle. Warn us when someone goes over their limit but still let it through. Later my customers must be able to sign in on their own phones and see only their own balance and statement.