Work / BalaShoppa

case study · smme · inventory

BalaShoppa: stock control for shops that can’t count on signal.

A stock and sales app for spaza shops, market traders, hawkers and micro businesses. It is built to run fully on the phone the owner already has, with no account, no cloud dependency and no data bundle needed to use it.

  • RoleFounder: product strategy, UX, design system and build
  • PlatformAndroid (Expo and React Native)
  • MarketSouth African micro and informal businesses
  • StatusClosed testing on Google Play, heading to public release

The problem

Most small shops in South Africa keep stock in a notebook or in the owner’s head. That makes it hard to see what is running low, what is actually profitable, and what has quietly gone missing. It also leaves the owner with no records to show a supplier, an accountant or a lender.

Most inventory software assumes things these businesses don’t have: a stable connection, cheap data, a new phone, time for onboarding, and a willingness to hand business data to a cloud service. The design brief was to remove every one of those assumptions.

Key design decisions

  1. Offline by default

    Everything is stored in an encrypted database on the phone. There is no login and no server to reach, so the app opens and works in a shop with no signal. The first screen asks for consent, not a sign-up.

  2. Built for the counter

    Large Restock and Sold buttons, clear low-stock warnings and plain labels, so recording a sale takes seconds. Numbers follow the South African format owners expect (R1 227,50).

  3. Reports that don’t need the internet

    Revenue, profit, margin, top sellers and stock movement are all calculated on the phone, including cost and ageing views that show what has been sitting too long.

  4. Records owners can use

    Stock and sales records can be shared straight from the phone, ready for an accountant, a supplier or a funding application.

  5. Compliance built in, not bolted on

    An Admin & Compliance area tracks consent, privacy policy versions, data exports and audit entries, so the app supports POPIA obligations from day one.

  6. A business model that fits the market

    Core stock tracking is free. Paid Pro and Max tiers add deeper insight, such as advanced reports, profitability charts, exports and audit tools, for shops that are ready to grow.

Dashboard with product count, units in stock, inventory value, cost and ageing, and a low-stock alert
Dashboard: the day at a glance.
Item list with search, quantities, prices and stock status badges
Items with stock status.
Item detail with buy and sell price, alert level, and Restock, Sold and Stock loss buttons
One tap to restock or sell.
Reports showing revenue, profit, average margin, top seller and stock movement
Reports, calculated offline.
Admin and Compliance screen with data overview and consent, privacy policy and export status
Compliance status, built in.

How it’s built

BalaShoppa is written in TypeScript on Expo and React Native. More than 500 automated tests and a suite of end-to-end browser tests run before each release, alongside dependency security checks. Releases go through staged Google Play testing tracks and on-device smoke tests before they reach users.

The same approach carries into client work: design decisions that are documented, testable and traceable, so the product can be shown to work, not just claimed to.

Visit the BalaShoppa site ↗

Building for low-connectivity or informal markets?

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