Tutorial 2 — Add what you sell

Time: about 15 minutes. You will end with your products or services in the system, the people you do business with, and everything ready for your first sale.

This tutorial assumes you sell things you can count. If you rent apartments, trade crypto, or do freelance work, read By business type → first — the shape is slightly different, and that guide explains it.

Part 1 — Categories

Before you can add a product, you need a category. A category is a group — Groceries, Electronics, Fashion, Main Dishes, Services.

Every product must belong to a category. NairaFlow will not let you save a product without one, because a product with no shelf is a product you will lose.

Create a category

1. Go to Inventory → Categories.
2. Tap Add category.
3. Give it a name. Add an icon if you like — it makes the list easier to scan.

Groceries        🛒
Electronics      📱
Fashion          👗

Keep the list short. Three or four categories is usually plenty. A shop with twenty-seven categories has a category problem, not a product problem.

You cannot delete a category that still has products in it. Move or delete the products first.

Part 2 — Products

Go to Inventory → Products and tap Add product.

The four things you must fill in

The three that make the app work harder for you

Track stock — the decision that matters most

Turn it ON for anything you hold in the shop: food, drinks, phone cases, cement, packaged goods. NairaFlow then takes the quantity off automatically every time you record a sale, and warns you when you are running low.

Turn it OFF for anything you do not hold a count of:

• Services you deliver
• Food you prepare to order (a plate of jollof is not "200 g of rice")
• Items a supplier drops off for you
• Digital products

Turning stock off does not stop you selling the item — it just means NairaFlow does not count it, and never warns you about it running low.

A useful rule: if you would be surprised to find a different number on the shelf than the app says, turn stock off. If you would be surprised to find the same number, turn it on.

The result

A finished product looks like this:

Whole Milk 1L                        Groceries
Selling price    ₦1,200
Cost price       ₦950
Stock            24
Low stock at     5
Track stock      On

You can add a photo and a delivery timeline (for items you order in, like "3–5 business days") as well.

Part 3 — Services, for businesses that do not hold stock

If you are a freelancer or an agency, your services belong in the same place — as products with Track stock turned off.

Brand Identity Design                Services
Selling price    ₦500,000
Cost price       ₦0
Track stock      Off

That gives you a list of what you offer, with the prices you charge, and lets you sell from it in one tap. Your stock screen stays empty, which is exactly right.

Part 4 — Contacts

Your contacts are the people you do business with: customers, suppliers, or both.

Go to Contacts and tap Add contact.

Two choices worth making properly

Type — pick Both if you buy from someone and sell to them. A market woman who supplies you and buys from you is both, and this is common.

Source — where did this person come from? Instagram, WhatsApp, Referral, Walk-in, Airbnb, Booking.com, LinkedIn. This is what tells you later where your money actually comes from — which customers keep coming back, and which channel to put your effort into.

Why contacts matter more than they look

A contact is not just a name. Once a contact is linked to your sales, NairaFlow can show you:

• Their balance — how much they owe you, minus what you owe them
• Their history — every transaction with them, in one place
• Their debts — open and settled

Do this before your first sale, not after. A sale recorded against a name with no contact record cannot later be linked back, so the balance is lost.

A contact with transaction history cannot be deleted. This is deliberate — it stops you removing a customer and losing the money they owe. If you need to correct a contact's details, edit them instead.

Part 5 — Leads (if you have them)

If people ask about your products but have not bought yet, save them as a lead.

A lead moves New → Follow-up → Converted or Lost. When someone buys, tap Convert and NairaFlow turns them into a contact — with their details carried over and their history starting from that sale.

Do not keep two records for one person. Save them as a lead, and convert them. A contact and a lead for the same person means you will forget one of them.

What you have now

• Your categories
• Your products, with prices, costs and stock
• Your services, if you sell them
• Your customers and suppliers, with balances that will build up as you trade

Now record something.

→ Record your first sale →

If something did not go as expected