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Goodbye paper tab book: how to manage store credit from your phone
The paper tab book is one of the oldest tools in retail. It's also one that causes the most trouble when it gets lost or forgotten. Here's the digital version.
The problem with the paper tab book
Almost every neighborhood shop has one: a notebook where they jot down customers who take something today and pay later. The system works well... until:
- •The book gets wet, lost, or full
- •Someone else wrote something and the handwriting is unreadable
- •A customer swears they paid and you're not sure
- •You don't know exactly how much you're owed in total right now
Store credit is a powerful loyalty tool — trusted customers who can "put it on the tab" are the most loyal. The problem isn't the credit, it's the manual management.
How digital store credit works in TIENDAONLINE
From the POS (at the moment of sale)
When a regular customer says "put it on the tab," instead of opening the notebook:
1. You process the sale normally from the POS
2. At the payment method step, you select "Credit / Store credit"
3. You link the sale to the customer's profile
4. The debt is recorded automatically
From the Customers module
In your store dashboard you have a Customers section where you can see:
- •Name and contact for each customer
- •Current debt: how much they owe you right now
- •Purchase history: what they've bought and when
- •"Register payment" button: for when the customer pays part or all of the debt
How to register a payment
When the customer pays you:
1. Go to Customers → [customer name]
2. Tap "Register payment"
3. Enter the amount paid
4. The system deducts the payment from the debt and saves the record
If they pay in full, the debt drops to $0. If partial, the balance remains.
Advantages over the notebook
| Paper tab book | Digital credit | |
|---|---|---|
| Can be lost | ✅ Real risk | ❌ In the cloud |
| See total owed in seconds | ❌ Have to add up | ✅ Automatic |
| Per-customer history | ❌ Hard to track | ✅ Complete |
| Remember who owes most | ❌ Have to scan all of it | ✅ Sorted by debt |
| Register partial payment | ❌ Complicated | ✅ One tap |
Can you remind the customer about their debt?
From the customer profile you can see their WhatsApp. With one tap you can open WhatsApp with the customer's number to remind them about their balance — the system doesn't do it automatically, so you control when and how to ask.
A real example
Maria runs a corner shop. She has 23 customers with active credit. Before she used three different notebooks and sometimes didn't know exactly how much she was owed in total.
With TIENDAONLINE: she opens the Customers module, sees the list sorted by debt, and in 30 seconds knows the total receivable is $1,847. She identifies the 3 customers with the largest debt and decides which ones to message this week.
How much does it cost?
The store credit module is included in the free plan. No extra cost, no limit on customers with credit.
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