For hardware and electrical stores
Sell by the piece, metre or box, and bill contractors on credit
Find any of thousands of items by name, code or barcode, quote a contractor, deliver to the site in parts, invoice with GST and see who owes what.
60 days free for up to 5 users, no card required. Then ₹299 per user a month.
managemate for hardware and electrical
managemate is billing and inventory software for hardware, electrical, sanitary and plumbing stores: it keeps thousands of items with their pack sizes, bills walk-in customers at the counter and contractors on credit, and turns quotations into site deliveries and GST invoices, in one web app. Screws bought by the box of 100 sell by the piece or the box, and wire bought by the 90 m coil sells by the metre.
Each contractor can have several site addresses, payment terms and a statement of open bills, and the place of supply follows the site. The reorder list shows what is running low before a contractor's order stalls, and an Excel import brings in the whole catalogue, or a brand's new price list, in one go.
What gets in the way today
Thousands of items, one memory
Only the owner knows the code, size and price of every switch, fitting and fastener, so billing slows down whenever he is away.
Contractor credit in a diary
Material goes to sites on credit, bills are written later, and month-end totals are argued over line by line.
Quotations typed twice
A quotation for a building is typed in a word processor, then typed again as a bill, item by item, when the material goes out.
Boxes, pieces and metres that never match
Stock is bought in boxes and coils but sold in pieces and metres, so the register never matches the shelf.
Your work, step by step
- 1
Quote the contractor
Create a draft order with the site address and print it as a quotation. Change prices or quantities until the contractor agrees, then confirm it.
- 2
Deliver to the site in parts
Record what goes on each trip, by scanning or typing, and print a delivery challan for the site to sign. The order keeps the rest open.
- 3
Bill walk-in customers
Search or scan at the counter, sell by the piece, metre or box, and take UPI, cash or card. Regular contractors can be billed to their account.
- 4
Invoice and collect
Issue the GST invoice from the order. Due dates follow the contractor's terms, and overdue bills rise to the top of Today's plan.
- 5
Restock
The reorder list drafts purchase orders per distributor in their box and carton sizes, and deliveries are checked in by scanning.
A closer look for hardware and electrical stores
Building season, summer and Diwali
A hardware and electrical store follows the construction calendar. Building and renovation work slows in the monsoon and picks up after it, summer brings demand for fans, cooler parts and wiring, and Diwali brings painting, decorative lights and new fittings. Contractors buy in bursts when a site reaches a stage, such as wiring or plumbing.
Once a season is on record, Reports for the same weeks shows the best sellers with quantity and margin. Raise reorder levels on those lines a few weeks ahead, so the reorder list drafts one purchase order per distributor in their box and carton sizes. A contractor's large order is easier to plan when it starts as a quotation, because you can check stock and order what is short before the site needs it.
The counter has its own rhythm. The dashboard's busiest hours chart shows when the counter is busiest by weekday and hour, which helps decide when a second person should bill and when staff can count stock.
Paperwork for contractors, sites and certified goods
Contractors and builders registered under GST need a tax invoice with their GSTIN to claim input tax credit. In managemate, invoices print both GSTINs, HSN codes, the place of supply from the site's state and the CGST and SGST or IGST split. Businesses with turnover up to ₹5 crore in the previous year show 4-digit HSN codes on B2B invoices and larger ones 6 digits, so set HSN codes in your catalogue to match.
Site deliveries go out with a delivery challan showing the site address, what is on this trip and what is still to come, with spaces for the vehicle number and a signature from the site. Under Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, a consignment worth more than ₹50,000 generally needs an e-way bill, which you generate on the e-way bill portal and write on the challan.
Many items a hardware or electrical store sells are on the Bureau of Indian Standards' list of products notified for compulsory marking, including PVC-insulated cables, domestic switches, circuit breakers, plugs and sockets, and steel hinges and tower bolts. Check the current list on bis.gov.in before stocking an unbranded line.
How stock and money move through a hardware store
Stock comes from brand distributors and wholesalers, usually on credit and in boxes, cartons and coils, and leaves in pieces, packets and metres. Money comes in two ways: cash and UPI from walk-in customers the same day, and contractor accounts that are settled weeks later, often in round amounts.
In managemate, a purchase receipt adds stock in your counting unit, at a landed cost that includes freight and loading. Counter sales and site deliveries take it out, and each order shows its cost and margin from the stock delivered. Contractors' invoices take due dates from their terms, and when a round payment arrives you record it against their invoices, oldest first, with the same UTR or cheque number.
Returns are part of the trade. Unused material back from a site is returned against its invoice, goes back into stock and reduces the contractor's balance with a numbered credit note. Defective items go back to the distributor with Return to supplier, which reduces what you owe them.
Setting up thousands of items without closing the shop
Bring the catalogue in by section rather than all at once: electrical one evening, plumbing the next, then fasteners and tools. Each Excel or CSV file can hold up to 5,000 rows, with name, SKU, barcode, category, price, GST rate, HSN code and pack sizes, and every row is checked before saving.
Decide each product's counting unit before importing. Count screws and anchors in pieces with a box as the buying pack, wire and pipe in metres with the coil or length as a pack, and paint in litres or tins. Items that come in sizes or ratings, such as MCBs from 6 A to 63 A or wire from 1 to 6 sq mm in five colours, can be one product with variants: up to three options and 100 variants.
Count opening stock one rack at a time by scanning, saving each count to finish later on the same device. Generate in-store barcodes for loose items and print A4 sheets of 24 labels for the bins, which show the name, SKU, unit and price. Import contractors with their GSTIN and payment terms, then add each site as a shipping address.
The parts you will use most
Hardware and electrical, answered
Can I buy by the box and sell by the piece?
Yes. Count stock in pieces and add a buying pack such as a box of 100 and a selling pack such as a packet of 10. At the counter, tap the product to choose a piece or a pack. A pack is priced at the piece price times its count, so give a box rate as a line discount.
Can I sell wire and pipe by the metre?
Yes. Use metre as the stock unit and add the coil or length you buy as a pack, such as a 90 m coil. Sell any length, such as 7.5 m, or a full coil. Stock is one total in metres, so managemate does not track each cut piece or the remainder of a coil separately.
Can managemate handle thousands of items?
Yes. Import up to 5,000 rows per Excel or CSV file, and use several files for a larger catalogue. Find items at the counter by name, SKU or barcode, or press ⌘K anywhere. Items without a barcode can get an in-store EAN-13, and A4 sheets of 24 labels for the bins show the name, SKU, unit and price.
Can I give contractors credit?
Yes. Set payment terms on each contractor, from due on receipt to 90 days, and bill them on an order or at the counter on their account. Overdue bills rise to the top of Today's plan, and their statement shows open bills with ageing. managemate has no credit limit, so check the balance before a large order.
Can one order be delivered to a site over several weeks?
Yes. Record each trip as it leaves, and the order keeps the rest open, with a delivery challan for every trip. One GST invoice is issued for the whole order. If a contractor wants a bill for each trip, make a separate order for each delivery instead.
Can I update prices when a brand changes its price list?
Yes. Import a sheet with each SKU and its new selling and cost prices using Add and update. Products are matched by SKU, and empty cells leave the saved values unchanged, so only the prices change. Reprint shelf labels for the items whose prices moved.
Does managemate track serial numbers or warranties?
No. There is no serial number or warranty tracking. If a customer needs a serial number on record, sell the item on a sales order and write the number in the order's notes, which print on the invoice.
Can I save each building site as an address?
Yes. Add each site to the contractor's record as a shipping address with a label, such as Site: Baner tower, the site supervisor's name and phone, and a GSTIN if the site has its own. Choose it on the order, and the challan shows it as the delivery address while the place of supply follows the site's state.
Can I add a delivery or loading charge to an order?
Yes. Add an extra cost to the sales order, such as Delivery or Loading, with its amount and GST rate. It prints as a separate charge on the quotation, order and invoice, and the name is saved for next time.
How do I see which contractors owe the most?
The Money page lists what is still to collect, and the Overdue view of invoices shows late bills first. The dashboard groups money owed by how late it is, from not yet due to over 60 days, and each contractor's page shows their balance, overdue amount and open documents, with a statement PDF that ages bills up to over 90 days.
Other businesses
Give your team a clearer working day
Try every feature free for 60 days with up to 5 users. A guided setup brings in your products, contacts and opening stock from Excel.
- No card needed
- Then ₹299 per user a month
- 7-day money-back guarantee