This article exists because the honest answer is not the one you were hoping for, and finding it out after you have entered three months of data is much worse than finding it out now.
Why two accounts is usually still the right answer
The instinct is to put both shops in one account so the totals stay together. It is worth thinking through what that actually produces, because the totals are the least important thing a shop system holds.
Stock is the problem. In one account, the quantity against "Rice 5 kg" is a single number covering both shops. It matches neither shelf. A low-stock alert fires when the combined figure drops, which tells you nothing about whether either shop has run out — and one shop can be empty while the alert stays quiet because the other is full. A stock count then cannot be reconciled at all, because the count you did at one shop is being compared against a number that includes the other.
Customer khata has the same shape of problem in a milder form. A customer who buys at both shops has one balance, which is arguably right, but staff at one shop can then see and settle credit taken at the other. Whether that suits you depends on how the two shops are run.
| Two accounts | One account, both shops | |
|---|---|---|
| Stock accuracy | Correct per shop. Alerts and counts work. | A single pooled figure that matches neither shop. |
| Staff separation | Complete. Nothing to leak. | Everyone sees everything unless permissions are used carefully. |
| Day's closing | Per shop, which is what you actually reconcile. | One combined figure, hard to check against either till. |
| Combined totals | Export both and add them up. | Immediate. |
| Cost | The mobile app is free, so two accounts cost nothing. | Free. |
The only column where one account wins is the last thing you need and the easiest to work around. The columns where two accounts win are the ones you rely on every day.
The other route: branches in the web dashboard
Since this article was first written, branches have shipped in the web dashboard. You can create a location, mark one as the main branch, assign staff to it, and have products, parties and purchase orders carry the branch they belong to. If several locations are the shape of your business, that is the version to ask about.
Two things decide whether it helps you. The dashboard is a separate product, granted on request rather than bought, so it is not simply a setting you switch on. And there is no branches screen in the mobile app, so the branch view lives on a computer — which is a mismatch if the people who need it are the ones standing at a counter all day.
If neither of those is a problem, the two-account approach below is not something you have to live with. If either is, it still is, and the rest of this article is how to do it well.
How people handle the combined view without branches
- 1
Run each shop as its own account
Its own products, its own stock, its own staff logins. Each shop's manager sees only their own shop, which is usually what you wanted anyway.
- 2
Export the report you care about from each
Usually the sales summary and the outstanding dues. The grid exports to CSV, so it lands in a spreadsheet rather than being retyped.
- 3
Add them up in a spreadsheet, once a month
A single sheet with one column per shop. Ten minutes, and you get the comparison the app does not give you — including the interesting part, which is where the two shops differ.
Correct in two places beats combined and wrong in one.