How to choose billing software for your shop or restaurant

Generic billing software treats every business as a list of products and prices. Look for one that changes with your trade:

• Restaurants: tables, a kitchen display, add-ons, packing charges, QR ordering.
• Grocery: weighing-scale labels, loose and packed goods, per-kg pricing.
• Pharmacy: substitutes by salt, loose tablets, prescriptions and the H1 register.
• Clothing: sizes and colours with their own stock and barcodes.
• Electronics: model variants, warranty on the bill, B2B invoices.

• CGST/SGST or IGST decided by the place of supply.
• B2B invoices with the buyer’s GSTIN, checked as it is typed.
• HSN on every line.
• GSTR-1 prepared from your sales, as a file you can upload.
• E-invoicing, if your turnover needs it.

A bill should take seconds. Check barcode scanning, a quick search, keyboard shortcuts, split payments and printing on your own thermal printer — on the device you will actually use.

• Stock that goes down with every sale, per outlet and per variant.
• Low-stock alerts and a history of changes.
• Several outlets with their own prices and stock, and one owner view.
• Staff roles, so a cashier, waiter or chef sees only their own work.

If you want customers to order or pay from their phone, check whether the money goes to your own payment account, what fees apply and whether the software takes a cut.

• Browser-based software needs no installation and works on the devices you have — but needs internet at the counter.
• Your data should be kept separate from other businesses’, with per-device sign-in.
• Prefer a clear price per outlet with a free trial, and know what is charged per use.

1. Show me a bill for my trade, start to finish.
2. How is GSTR-1 prepared, and in what format?
3. What happens to stock on a return?
4. What can a cashier see and do — and what can’t they?
5. What does it not do today?

Suiteloom is billing, POS and inventory with the screens each trade needs, GST on every bill, QR ordering and multi-outlet staff roles, at one monthly price per outlet for each trade. It runs online in the browser. It does not do accounting, purchases or supplier management, and it does not bill offline — if you need those, pair it with your accountant’s software.