ChapChap Merchant application is currently enabling businesses to manage their sales , orders ,books of accounts , inventory and their supply chain. The ChapChap Mobile phone app and desktop version also acts a point of sales through which shops can receive payment. The App, once downloaded, does not need an internet connection to work. This is efficient and cost effective as shop owners do not have to incur high internet costs since it can be used both online and offline.
The application enables small shop owners to widen their customer base by attracting more walking customers, supplement their revenue through reselling of digital products, manage business better on the phone by simplifying the sales process, record and analyse sales data to make informed business decisions.
The numerous challenges faced by shops such as porous book keeping, poor cash handling, high ratio of unpaid debts, poor inventory management, and poor supply chain among others means that about 50% of small shops close within a year of opening. Some of the shop owners are ignorant about which products are needed or wanted by the community. Some of products stocked go weeks without being sold even once, eating up their working capital. Shop operators are generally unaware of the profits per item sold and are unable to determine which products to push. Stores are also popular due to provision of customer credit to frequent patrons. However most of them have poor customer credit management, which leads to accumulation of bad debts and eventual collapse of the stores. Customer credit is prevalent due to cash being the main form of payment. Other payment methods require high levels of documentation and formalisation, which the shops cannot meet. Many shop owners spend hours counting and confirming the cash received and this slows down the selling process leading loss of productive hours. Also receiving of cash causes a lot of losses through counterfeits notes and also theft by the shop attendants.
The ChapChap Merchant app has the ability to provide shop owners with the right tools to mitigate these challenges and help them achieve growth in business.