Author
Padmesh Bhavsar
Founder of Optocore. I run a family optical business and build the software it uses, which is the only reason these articles have real numbers in them.
Why I write this blog
Most writing about running an optical shop in India is written by people who have never stood behind the counter at 7pm with a customer asking why their lenses are late. I have. Everything here comes out of a working shop's records or out of the law as published — and where a figure cannot be verified, I say so in the article.
What I do
I build Optocore, an ERP for Indian optical shops: multi-rate GST billing, lens and frame stock by power and index, prescription records, lab job tracking, payroll and WhatsApp messaging. Before that, and still today, I help run a family optical business with two branches. The ERP exists because the spreadsheet stopped coping.
Conflict of interest, stated once
I sell the software these articles often conclude you would benefit from. So: every claim is either a counted figure, a citation, or marked as an opinion, and the pricing is published rather than quoted on a call. Judge the articles on whether the numbers hold up.
Articles
- — GST and HSN Codes for Optical Shops: Frames, Lenses, Contact Lenses and Solutions
- — Optical Shop Profit Margin in India: What 163 Frames Show, and the Discount That Eats 85% of It
- — Optical Shop Bill Format: A Real GST Invoice, Field by Field
- — WhatsApp for Your Shop: What's Legal, What Gets You Banned, and What Changes on 1 October
- — Opening an Optical Shop in Maharashtra: The Licence Almost Nobody Mentions
- — Optical Shop Software in India: A Buyer's Guide From Behind the Counter
- — Prescription Records: 68% of Our Customers Were Overdue and We Could Not See It
- — Optical ERP or Generic Billing Software? An Honest Comparison
- — Lens Inventory for an Optical Shop: What 4,619 Eyes Say About What to Stock
Contact
Corrections and counter-arguments are welcome at hello@optocore.in, or through the contact page.