Getting Started with Keel: Your First Week

So you've signed up for Keel. Now what? This guide walks you through everything you need to do in your first week to get your shop up and running.

Day 1: Set Up Your Shop

After signing up, the setup wizard will guide you through choosing your business category (product or service-based), entering your store name, and configuring basic settings. Don't skip this — it determines how your dashboard behaves.

Key decisions in setup: your business category (Clothing, Electronics, Salon, Laundry, etc.) controls which variant fields and features are available. A laundry shop gets weight-based billing; an electronics shop gets barcode scanning.

Day 2: Add Your Products

Head to the Inventory page and start adding products. You don't need to add everything at once — start with your top 10-20 bestsellers. For each product, add a name, price, stock quantity, and optionally a cost price (needed for profit margin calculations).

If you're in electronics or electricals, use the barcode scanner to add products quickly. Just point your phone camera at the barcode and Keel fills in the details.

Day 3: Log Your First Sale

Go to Sales and log a sale. Select a product, enter the quantity and amount, choose the payment method (Cash, M-Pesa, Bank, etc.), and save. Watch your stock decrease automatically and your dashboard revenue update in real time.

Day 4-5: Explore Reports & Finance

Check the Overview dashboard to see your sales chart, top products, and low stock alerts. Visit Reports to view profit margins per product. Go to Finance to record any expenses you've incurred.

Day 6-7: Set Up Your Website

If you're on the Pro plan, set up your website URL in Settings. Publish products from Inventory to your live catalogue. Configure banners, business info, and the WhatsApp chat widget on the Website page. Share your new site with customers!