RetailOS — Multi-Tenant Retail SaaS

Problem

Indian kirana stores and small retailers use paper registers or basic billing software with no inventory tracking, no GST compliance, and no offline support. Enterprise POS systems are too expensive and complex.

Business Impact

India's retail sector is 90% unorganized. Small retailers need affordable, GST-compliant software that works offline. RetailOS delivers enterprise features at SME pricing with multi-tenant architecture enabling infinite scale.

System Approach

• Spring Boot 3.4.3 + Java 21 with Maven multi-module architecture (12 modules)
• PostgreSQL 16 with row-level tenant isolation and Flyway migrations
• Redis 7 for session management, caching, and rate limiting
• MinIO (S3-compatible) for file storage — product images, invoices, KYC documents
• Dedicated modules: auth, tenant, KYC, inventory, billing, invoicing, khata, file, sync, analytics, admin, audit
• Offline sync module with queue-based conflict resolution
• DPDP consent management in KYC module for regulatory compliance

Key Decisions & Trade-offs

• Multi-module monorepo over microservices — faster development, simpler deployment for early stage
• Row-level tenant isolation over schema-per-tenant — scales to thousands of tenants without DB overhead
• MinIO over AWS S3 — self-hosted for cost control, S3-compatible for future migration
• Khata module as first-class citizen — credit ledger is how 70% of Indian retail actually works
• Offline sync with conflict resolution — internet is unreliable in target markets

Current Status

Full platform scaffold with 12 modules. Auth with JWT + OTP, tenant management, inventory CRUD, billing/POS, GST invoice generation, khata ledger, file uploads, and audit trail all functional.

Roadmap

• Add barcode scanning for inventory management
• Implement multi-warehouse stock transfers
• Add WhatsApp invoice sharing for customers
• Build React Native mobile POS app

What I'd Improve Next

• Could add AI-powered demand forecasting for inventory optimization
• Consider adding payment gateway integration for digital payments

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