Choosing jewellery software in India: eleven questions worth asking

Most jewellery software demos look the same for the first ten minutes. These are the questions that make them look different — ask them in this order, and insist on being shown rather than told.

On stock

1. 01Show me one piece. Does it have its own record with gross, net and stone weight, purity, HUID and cost — or is stock counted by category?
2. 02Print a label. Does it carry a scannable code, and is the cost price definitely not on it?
3. 03Freeze a store and count it. What does the variance report look like, and who has to approve an adjustment?

On the counter

1. 01Where does the price come from? If anyone can type it, ask why.
2. 02Take old gold in exchange on the same bill. Is the valuation shown separately from the new piece?
3. 03Split a payment across cash, card and UPI, then show me the invoice. Does it explain every figure?

On compliance

1. 01Is metal taxed at 3% and making at 5%, on separate lines?
2. 02Raise a B2B bill. Does the e-invoice register automatically, and what happens to the sale if the government portal is down?

On the business behind it

1. 01Where is my data stored, physically? For customer records, the answer needs to be India.
2. 02If another shop uses the same system, what stops them seeing my stock and my costs? “Our application checks” is a weaker answer than “the database itself refuses”.
3. 03What happens to my data if I leave?

One more, asked last

Ask who will be on the phone when something goes wrong on a Dhanteras morning. Everything above is a matter of engineering. That one is a matter of whether the company means it.