Cloudtrade
Most Kenyan business owners lose money in the same three places. Stock leaves the shelf without leaving a record. Cash and M-Pesa at the till never quite match what the books say should be there. And KRA eTIMS adds paperwork at the worst possible time, at month end. Cloudtrade POS closes all three gaps in one system that runs on a phone, a tablet or a till. The fastest way to judge it is to watch it run a business like yours. Below are 27 Kenyan business types, each running live with its own stock, staff and sales in KES. Pick yours and open the demo.
Jump to your business
Retail & Shops: Supermarket · Mini-Mart & Duka · Wines & Spirits · Fashion Boutique · Phones & Electronics · Shoe Store · Bookshop & Stationery · Gas & Water Refill · Furniture Store · Multi-Branch Chain
Food & Drinks: Restaurant & Bar · Café & Bakery · Fast Food & Takeaway · Butchery · Fruits & Vegetables
Health & Beauty: Pharmacy & Chemist · Salon & Barber · Beauty & Cosmetics Shop
Hardware & Auto: Hardware Store · Auto Spares · Electricals & Solar
Services: Car Wash · Laundry & Dry Cleaning · Cyber & Printing
Wholesale & Agri: Wholesale Distributor · Cereals Store · Agrovet
Retail & Shops
Supermarket
Saturday evening at a busy supermarket means long queues, rushed cashiers and sukuma weighed by guesswork. By Monday nobody can say why the shelves and the books disagree. Cloudtrade scans barcodes for a fast checkout, sells fresh produce by the kilo straight from the scale, and flags fast movers before they run out, so you reorder Jogoo and Brookside before customers walk to the shop next door. Every till is tied to a cashier, so short cash always has a name.
Mini-Mart & Duka
A duka lives on small sales: a packet of milk, half a kilo of sugar, airtime for the regular who pays on Friday. The weak spot is the deni book. Pages go missing, amounts get argued over and money quietly leaks. Cloudtrade gives you one-tap checkout for those quick sales, a proper credit account for every regular showing what they owe and since when, and a daily stock alert telling you what to pick up at the wholesaler tomorrow.
Wines & Spirits
A liquor store earns most of its week on Friday and Saturday nights, which is exactly when stock walks out unrecorded. One missing bottle of Johnnie Walker can wipe out a whole day’s margin. Cloudtrade counts every bottle and crate from delivery to sale, so a stock take shows exactly what is short and on whose shift. Customers pay by M-Pesa or card in seconds, and weekend reports show which brands deserve their shelf space.
Fashion Boutique
In fashion, the size that sells out is never the one left on the rail. You still have the dress in XL, but medium went on Tuesday, and you only find out when a customer asks for it. Cloudtrade tracks every size and colour as its own stock line, so restocking follows what actually sells. Best sellers show by size, lay-by customers pay in instalments on their own account, and M-Pesa or card payments close the sale fast at the counter.
Phones & Electronics
Selling phones on Luthuli Avenue means high-value stock, thin margins and the worry of a handset coming back with a story. Without the IMEI on record, every warranty claim turns into an argument. Cloudtrade records the IMEI or serial number on every sale and prints it on the receipt, so any phone traces back to the day and the attendant who sold it. Accessories and screen protector fittings ring up on the same till, and lipa mdogo mdogo buyers pay on account.
Shoe Store
Shoe shops run out of the middle sizes first. When schools open in January, size 36 school shoes disappear while the small sizes pile up in the store, and guessing what to reorder ties cash up in boxes nobody wants. Cloudtrade keeps stock for every shoe size, shows a size-run report for each style, and warns you before the popular sizes run out, so your next order carries the sizes customers are actually asking for.
Bookshop & Stationery
A bookshop’s year is made in January, when every parent arrives with a school list and wants it filled in one visit. Between CBC textbooks, exercise books by the dozen and printing at the back counter, the till falls behind and stock counts drift. Cloudtrade lets you ring up whole school lists quickly, run schools on credit with clear statements, and sell printing and lamination as services on the same receipt as the books.
Gas & Water Refill
A gas point carries two kinds of stock: full cylinders on the rack and the empties customers bring back. Lose track of either and money disappears without a trace. Cloudtrade separates refills from new-cylinder sales, keeps count of your empty cylinders, and books 20-litre water refills on the same till. Home deliveries are recorded with the customer and the rider fee, so every cylinder that leaves the gate comes back as cash or a known balance.
Furniture Store
Furniture is a big-ticket sale paid in pieces. A customer leaves a deposit on a sofa set, promises the balance at month end and wants delivery on Saturday. Keep that in a notebook and something gets forgotten. Cloudtrade records deposits and balances against each customer, prints quotations that become invoices with one click, and tracks what has been delivered and what is still in the showroom, so every bed and wardrobe is paid for before it leaves.
Multi-Branch Chain
Running three branches usually means three sets of figures sent on WhatsApp at night, none of which agree. Cloudtrade puts every branch on one system. Head office sees each branch’s sales as they happen, moves stock from a branch with too much to one that is running low, and checks every till and cashier without driving across town. Each branch keeps its own stock and invoice numbers, and you get one clear picture of the whole business.
Food & Drinks
Restaurant & Bar
A busy restaurant and bar loses money in the gaps: a plate of nyama choma served but never billed, a round of Tusker that never reached the bill, a table that left before paying. Cloudtrade ties every order to a table and the waiter serving it, sends food orders to the kitchen screen, and keeps bar stock bottle by bottle. Bills split easily between friends, and an M-Pesa prompt closes the table before anyone stands up.
Café & Bakery
A café lives on the morning rush: thirty cappuccinos in an hour, croissants straight from the oven, office orders on account, and no time to write anything down. Cloudtrade keeps the till quick with one-tap items, records made-to-order drinks and bakes separately from bought-in stock like bottled water, and shows which hours earn the most. Card and M-Pesa payments go through fast, and the kitchen screen keeps the barista and the kitchen in step.
Fast Food & Takeaway
Chips, smokies, chicken and soda: fast food is volume at small margins, often late at night, with riders collecting orders for the delivery apps. One forgotten order a day adds up quickly. Cloudtrade takes an order in a couple of taps, sends it to the kitchen, and keeps each delivery platform on its own account so you can reconcile what it owes you. Daily costs for potatoes, chicken and oil sit next to sales, so you see real profit at closing time.
Butchery
In a butchery every gram counts. A carcass comes in at one weight, and by evening the cuts sold should add up close to it. Without a scale linked to the till, nobody can explain the difference. Cloudtrade sells beef, goat and chicken by the kilo with weighing-scale barcodes, keeps your daily stock in kilograms, and runs credit accounts for the hotels that collect every morning. Close the day with a reconciliation that shows exactly where the meat went.
Fruits & Vegetables
Fresh produce is bought at Marikiti at dawn and has to be sold before it wilts. A greengrocer who doesn’t know today’s margin on tomatoes is guessing every price. Cloudtrade prices sukuma by the bunch and tomatoes by the kilo, records the morning’s market buying as a cost, and tracks spoilt stock written off each week. You see what every item really earns, and M-Pesa payments land without anyone copying codes into a book.
Health & Beauty
Pharmacy & Chemist
For a chemist, expired stock is money thrown away and a compliance risk. Too many pharmacies discover an expiry date only when a customer points it out. Cloudtrade records the batch number and expiry date of every pack you receive, warns you well before stock expires, and helps you sell first what expires first. Clinic and corporate accounts run on credit with clear statements, and every sale shows which member of staff served the customer.
Salon & Barber
In a salon or kinyozi, staff are paid on commission, and every month end someone disputes the count. Who did those box braids on Saturday? Cloudtrade records the stylist or barber on every service, so commission reports work themselves out. Bookings sit in the system, retail products like braids and hair food sell on the same receipt, and M-Pesa payments are confirmed at the chair instead of on a screenshot.
Beauty & Cosmetics Shop
A beauty shop holds hundreds of small, valuable items in many shades, and a few lipsticks slipping into a handbag can wipe out a day’s profit. Regular customers also expect you to remember their foundation shade. Cloudtrade tracks every brand and shade as its own stock line, keeps a purchase history so loyal buyers are served fast, and shows best sellers by brand, so you stock what your customers are asking for this month.
Hardware & Auto
Hardware Store
A hardware sells cement by the bag, nails by the kilo, cable by the metre and mabati by the sheet, often to the same fundi on one invoice. Contractors want a quotation, then credit, then a statement at month end. Cloudtrade handles bags, kilos, metres and pieces on one till, turns quotations into invoices in one click, and keeps contractor accounts with balances and ageing, so every bag of cement given on credit gets followed up.
Auto Spares
On Kirinyaga Road, a spares shop lives on part numbers. The same brake pad fits five models, garages buy on credit, and a wrong part sold means a return and an unhappy mechanic. Cloudtrade finds parts by number and brand, shows which parts move fastest, and keeps garage and fleet accounts with clear balances. Oil and filter bundles ring up quickly, and every sale is tied to the counter staff who made it.
Electricals & Solar
An electrical shop sells cable by the metre to fundis and solar kits worth tens of thousands to homeowners. When a panel or inverter comes back under warranty, you need to know exactly when and to whom it was sold. Cloudtrade records the serial number of every solar panel, inverter and battery, sells cable by the metre, and runs electrician accounts on monthly credit, with warranty details printed on every receipt.
Services
Car Wash
A car wash pays its washers per car, and on a busy Saturday nobody can say for sure who washed what. Fleet clients add another headache: dozens of washes a month on one invoice. Cloudtrade records the washer on every job, works out commission per washer automatically, and bills fleet accounts once a month. Air fresheners and tyre shine sell on the same ticket, and M-Pesa payments are confirmed before the car leaves the bay.
Laundry & Dry Cleaning
A laundry charges by the kilo for wash and fold and by the item for suits and duvets, and customers pay when they collect, sometimes weeks later. Lost tickets and unpaid bags are where the money leaks. Cloudtrade prices per kilo and per item on the same receipt, keeps every uncollected order on the customer’s account until it is paid, and bills apartments and gyms monthly, with pickup and delivery charged as a service.
Cyber & Printing
A cyber takes hundreds of tiny payments a day: printing at ten bob a page, KRA returns, eCitizen applications, passport photos and airtime. Cash piles up, and by evening nobody knows what came from printing and what came from services. Cloudtrade sells per page and per service in seconds, keeps stationery stock alongside, and closes each attendant’s till with a daily cash-up, so the money in the drawer matches the work done.
Wholesale & Agri
Wholesale Distributor
A distributor sells by the carton and the bale to dukas on 14-day terms, and the real risk sits in the debtors. When a route customer is forty days late, you want to know before you load their next order. Cloudtrade prices in cartons and bales, applies a credit limit to every customer, and shows debtors ageing at a glance. Supplier statements reconcile against your purchases, so you pay exactly what you owe.
Cereals Store
A cereals store sells maize by the kilo, the gorogoro and the 90kg bag, and prices move every week with the harvest. Mix up the units and the stock never balances. Cloudtrade sells the same maize in kilos or bags from one stock count, updates prices in seconds when the market moves, and keeps school and hotel accounts on credit. Posho milling charges ring up as a service on the same receipt.
Agrovet
An agrovet’s year swings with the rains: a rush for seed and fertilizer at planting, feeds and vet drugs all year round. Vaccines and dewormers expire, and farmers often buy on credit until harvest. Cloudtrade tracks expiry on every vet drug and seed lot, sells feeds by the bag, and keeps farmer and co-operative accounts with clear balances. Seasonal reports show what to stock before the next planting season.
M-Pesa at the till, money straight to your bank
Checking M-Pesa messages and trusting confirmation screenshots is how money goes missing at a busy counter. With Cloudtrade, the cashier taps M-Pesa and enters the customer’s number. The customer gets a payment prompt on their phone and enters their PIN. The sale closes itself the moment the payment lands, the receipt prints, and the money is paid straight into your own bank account. It works with most banks in Kenya, and you can try the prompt at the till in any of the demos above.
What it costs
Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial, and paying yearly saves you up to 25%.
- Starter: KES 1,000 a month. For one shop getting started.
- Super: KES 2,000 a month. Our most popular plan, for growing businesses.
- Premium: KES 3,000 a month. For businesses with several branches.
- Enterprise: KES 5,000 a month. For chains that need everything.
No setup fee. Setting up and using Cloudtrade is covered by your subscription alone. A setup fee applies only when you want our team’s hands-on input, such as importing your stock, setting up your branches or building a custom integration, and we agree it with you upfront before any work starts.
Your own domain. Cloudtrade runs on your own web address, such as pos.yourbusiness.co.ke, so staff and customers see your name, not ours.
Add-ons when you need them: M-Pesa straight to your bank, KES 40,000 one-time. KRA eTIMS, KES 35,000 one-time, then KES 10,000 a year.
Don’t see your business?
These 27 demos are only a starting point. Cloudtrade already fits most businesses that buy stock, sell it and get paid, from a single kiosk to a group of branches. Tell us what you sell, how many branches you run and how your customers pay, and we’ll show you how it would work for you, on WhatsApp, today.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a setup fee for Cloudtrade POS?
No. Setting up and using Cloudtrade is covered by your monthly subscription alone. A setup fee only applies if you want our team's hands-on input, such as importing your stock, setting up your branches or building a custom integration, and we agree that fee with you upfront.
Can I run Cloudtrade POS on my own domain?
Yes. Cloudtrade can run on your own web address, such as pos.yourbusiness.co.ke, so your staff and customers see your business name instead of ours.
How does M-Pesa money get to my bank?
With the M-Pesa add-on (KES 40,000 one-time), the cashier sends a payment prompt to the customer's phone, the customer enters their PIN, the sale closes itself and the money is paid straight into your bank account. It works with most banks in Kenya.
Does Cloudtrade POS work with KRA eTIMS?
Yes. The KRA eTIMS add-on costs KES 35,000 one-time and then KES 10,000 a year, and sends your invoices to KRA as you sell so you stay compliant without extra paperwork.
Is there a free trial?
Yes. Every plan, from Starter at KES 1,000 a month to Enterprise at KES 5,000 a month, starts with a 7-day free trial, and paying yearly saves you up to 25%.
See it run your business today
Pick the demo closest to your business, make a sale, take an M-Pesa payment and close the till. It takes five minutes, and you’ll know whether Cloudtrade is right for you. When you’re ready, we’ll set up your own account with your products, on your subscription alone.
