Documentation

Novend Documentation

A practical guide to setting up your organization, selling on the counter, managing inventory and wholesale stock, syncing offline work, connecting hardware, and administering users, branches, and billing, on desktop, web, Android, and iOS (PWA).

01

Getting Started

Create your account, set up your business, and reach the dashboard ready to sell.

  • Open Sign up, enter your name, email, and password, and accept the Terms and Privacy Policy
  • After signup, complete onboarding with your business name and optional contact details
  • You land on the dashboard, your live overview of sales and activity
  • Add your first branch, products, and activate a selling device from Settings when ready
  • Invite cashiers and managers with the correct roles, never share owner credentials
  • Run a test sale, print or preview a receipt, then verify the order and inventory movement
  • Use Sign in next time, or get the desktop app, Android app, or iOS Home Screen PWA from Downloads
Create your account and accept Terms & Privacy
Set up your business name and details
Land on your dashboard after onboarding
Sign back in anytime to your workspace

02

Sales & Checkout

Fast, barcode-ready checkout with holds, discounts, payments, receipts, and returns.

  • Search or scan products into the cart; quantities and prices are locked in at sale time
  • Apply discounts according to your store policy before taking payment
  • Choose one payment method per sale (cash, card, or mobile money)
  • Hold incomplete sales to free the counter, then resume without losing the cart
  • Complete checkout to create one receipt and reduce inventory with a recorded reason
  • Open Orders to review history, reprint receipts, or start a return
  • Keep selling offline, queued sales sync when the network returns
Sell with barcode search and a live cart
Immutable receipt after payment
Review and reprint from Orders

03

Inventory & Catalog

Products, stock levels, valuation, and wholesale storage you can trust at the counter.

  • Track quantity, cost, and sell price per product, stock cannot go negative
  • Import an existing catalog from CSV or Excel: Products → Import, download the template, map columns, preview, then import
  • Opening stock on new products applies to the branch you choose; updates never silently rewrite on-hand quantity
  • Keep wholesale / warehouse inventory separate from branch floor stock
  • Use low-stock thresholds and archive products instead of deleting history
  • Pharmacy workflows can use batch and expiry detail where enabled
Products, SKUs, and pricing
Branch stock with low-stock visibility
Wholesale storage separate from the floor

04

Catalog Import

Bring an existing product list into Novend with a guided CSV or Excel wizard. Administrators and managers only.

  • Open Products and choose Import. Download the CSV template (Excel on Pro and above) so headers match Novend fields
  • Required columns: Product Name, SKU, Category, Cost Price, and Selling Price. Optional: barcode, quantity, unit, minimum stock, description, status, and expiry fields
  • Map each spreadsheet column to a Novend field. Saved mappings can be reused on the next file
  • Preview creates vs updates. Opening stock applies on new products only, to the branch you select, existing SKUs are not restocked by import
  • Your plan’s product limit still applies. Spreadsheet files are not stored; Novend keeps job counts, filenames, and your column mapping
  • Cashiers cannot import. Cost prices in the file follow the same visibility rules as the rest of the catalog
Products → Import: template, map columns, then preview
Imported SKUs appear in Products with the same catalog fields

05

Transfers & Adjustments

Move stock between warehouse and branches, and correct counts with a clear audit trail.

  • Issue warehouse stock to a branch when replenishing the floor
  • Transfer between branches when one location needs what another has
  • Adjust stock only with a business reason (damage, count correction, write-off)
  • Review transfer and adjustment history when quantities look wrong
Transfer stock between branches
Issue warehouse stock to a branch
Adjust quantities with a clear reason

06

Offline & Sync

Keep selling when the network drops, then reconcile automatically with the Novend cloud.

  • Sales and inventory updates save on the device first so the counter stays fast
  • Pending changes upload when connectivity returns
  • Watch sync status in the app, do not edit completed sales to “fix” sync
  • Desktop and web use the same account and sync model, including the Android app and iOS Home Screen PWA
See what synced after you reconnect
Local backup options on device

07

Hardware & Devices

Barcode scanners, cameras, thermal printers, and activated selling devices.

  • USB and camera barcode capture search the same product catalog
  • Thermal receipt printing from the POS using your branch receipt template
  • Activate desktop, Android, and iOS PWA devices within your plan’s device limit from Settings
  • Prefer the desktop app for dedicated counters that need printers and barcode hardware
Configure barcode scanning
Connect a thermal receipt printer
Manage activated selling devices

08

Customers, Suppliers & Returns

Keep relationships and corrections connected to real sales, not spreadsheet side notes.

  • Attach customers to sales and review purchase history on their profile
  • Maintain supplier contacts and delivery context alongside inventory
  • Process returns against completed orders so stock and money stay consistent
  • Completed sales stay immutable, corrections use return workflows
Customer profile and purchase history
Supplier records in one place
Returns against completed sales

09

Analytics & Reports

See revenue, profit, and operational reports, then export CSV, Excel, or PDF when you need a file.

  • Monitor KPIs and trends from the analytics overview
  • Review expenses and profit & loss views as your plan allows
  • Export sales, inventory, and branch reports as CSV on every plan, plus Excel and PDF on Pro and above
  • Use daily breakdowns when you need to drill into a specific day
Revenue and performance at a glance
Exportable business reports
Profit and loss insights

10

Users, Branches & Billing

Roles, branch setup, plan limits, upgrades, and organization controls.

  • Assign cashier, manager, and administrator roles from Users
  • Open additional branches as you grow; stock and reports stay branch-aware
  • Monitor plan capacity for products, users, and devices before hitting limits
  • Upgrade without rebuilding your catalog, entitlements change, data stays
  • Manage billing, receipts, and business profile from Settings
Invite and role-manage your team
Open and manage branches
Plans, capacity, and upgrades

11

Security & Access

Protect accounts, staff access, and customer data in day-to-day operations.

  • Use strong unique passwords; do not share owner or admin logins across the floor
  • Deactivate users who leave instead of reusing credentials
  • Limit cashier permissions so pricing, inventory, and user admin stay protected
  • Install updates from the official Download page and lock unattended devices
Keep your profile and access current
Organization profile and defaults