Where should I start: all items or only some?
Start with the items that sell every day. In most shops, a few hundred items make most of the sales, and those are the ones the counter needs on day one.
Walk the shop with a notebook or open last month's purchase bills and list the items you sell most. For a kirana, that is atta, rice, oil, sugar, tea, soap, biscuits and the top brands of each. For a clothing shop, it is your running styles in each size. Put these in first, bill with them for a week, and the gaps show up by themselves: whatever the cashier cannot find goes on the list for tomorrow.
Trying to enter 3,000 items before the first bill is why many shops give up on software in the first month.
How do I import items from Excel?
Make one row per item in Excel with the columns your software asks for, save it as CSV and import it. Most billing apps, RichBills included, give you a sample file with the right columns.
| Column | Example | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Item name | Aashirvaad Atta 5 kg | Write it the way customers ask for it, brand first |
| Category | Atta & flour | Reports and quick search by group |
| Sale price / MRP | ₹285 | Price on the bill; MRP for the label |
| Purchase price | ₹262 | Profit reports; hidden from cashiers in RichBills |
| GST rate | 5% | Tax on every bill without retyping |
| HSN code | 1101 | Printed on GST invoices and grouped in reports |
| Barcode | 8901725000000 | Leave empty if you will print your own label |
| Opening stock | 24 | So stock is right from day one |
| Unit | PCS / KG / BOX | Box-to-piece and kg billing |
Column names differ between apps; use the sample file your software gives you.
If your supplier sends a price list in Excel, copy those columns instead of typing. If you used Vyapar, export its item report and use Import from Vyapar in RichBills.
Should I use the maker's barcode or print my own?
Use the barcode printed on packed goods whenever there is one; scan it into the item's barcode field once and every later scan finds the item. Print your own labels only for loose, unbranded or self-packed items.
A quick way for packed goods: open the add-item screen, scan the pack, type the name and price, save. Two people can do a full shelf in an evening. For loose items such as dry fruits, hardware or garments, let the software make an item code and print a label sheet on an A4 or thermal label printer. For your own packed products sold in other shops, read our guide on GS1 barcodes, because self-made codes are not accepted by most retail chains.
How do I set the GST rate and HSN code for each item?
Copy them from your supplier's purchase invoice: it already shows the HSN and the GST rate for each item. Save them on the item once and every bill uses them.
Where a rate depends on the price, as with clothes (5% up to ₹2,500 sale value per piece, 18% above), keep the two price bands as separate items or variants with their own rate. Where packed and loose versions differ, as with rice or atta, keep two items. When unsure, use the HSN finder and confirm with your CA before the first GST return.
How do I add items that come in sizes and colours?
Add the product once and its sizes and colours as variants, each with its own barcode and stock. Do not write the size inside the item name.
A shirt in 38-44 and three colours is 15 variants of one product. With variants, the stock report shows exactly which size is left, labels print with the size, and exchanges correct the right stock. The same works for shoes (UK 6-11), bangles (2.4, 2.6) and paint shades.
What is a good first-week plan?
Spread the work so the shop keeps running.
- Day 1: shop details, GSTIN, printer and bill design; import your top 100-200 items
- Day 2: scan barcodes of packed goods on the busiest shelves
- Day 3: print labels for loose items in one category
- Days 4-6: bill everything through the software; note what the counter could not find
- Day 7: add the missing items and check opening stock of fast sellers
- Every week after: one more category until the whole shop is in
How do I enter opening stock correctly?
Count the fast sellers first and enter what is really on the shelf, not what the old register says. Wrong opening stock is the most common reason stock never matches later.
Pick a quiet evening, count one category at a time and type the counts against each item, or put them in the opening-stock column before you import. For slow items, enter zero and correct them when you next buy, so at least the fast sellers are right from day one. If you buy by the box and sell by the piece, enter the stock in pieces, or set the box unit first so the software converts it.
After the first week, compare the software's stock of ten fast items with the shelf. If they match, your setup is good; if not, check whether purchases are being entered, because a missed purchase bill looks exactly like stock theft.
What mistakes should I avoid when adding items?
- Same item twice: 'Parle G 70g' and 'Parle-G biscuit' become two items with split stock. Search before you add.
- Size in the name: 'Shirt Blue 40' instead of a variant makes size-wise stock impossible to read.
- MRP as purchase price: profit reports then show zero margin. Use the rate on the supplier's bill.
- One GST rate for everything: a mixed shop has 0%, 5%, 12% and 18% items; one wrong rate repeats on every bill.
- Skipping units: items bought by the box and sold loose need a box unit, or stock jumps by 100 at a time.
Ten minutes of care while adding items saves hours of corrections later, so give the job to one careful person rather than the whole staff.