Van sales — also called route sales or secondary distribution — is a cornerstone of the FMCG, beverage and consumer goods supply chain in Kenya. A driver-salesperson loads a van with product at the depot, travels a pre-defined route of retailers, dukas and kiosks, sells stock from the van and collects cash or M-Pesa payments before returning to base at end of day.

Managed manually, this process has fundamental weaknesses: drivers can manipulate sales records, cash collected is difficult to reconcile against stock sold, route productivity is invisible to management, and customer credit limits are either ignored or over-enforced. Van sales software — specifically BetaSuite VanGo — fixes all of these problems without adding complexity for the driver.

The End-of-Day Reconciliation Problem

Under a manual system, the end-of-day reconciliation at the depot involves: counting the remaining stock in the van, calculating what should have been sold (opening load minus remaining), comparing against the sales book, and matching cash collected against sales recorded. Any discrepancy between these four numbers triggers an investigation — which often takes hours and rarely reaches a conclusive answer because the records are handwritten and unverifiable.

Van sales software eliminates this reconciliation problem because every sale is recorded in the system at the moment it happens. By the time the driver returns to the depot, the system already knows exactly what was sold, to whom, at what price, how it was paid, and what stock remains on the van. The "reconciliation" becomes a confirmation, not an investigation.

How VanGo Works

Trip Start — Loading the Van

At the depot, the warehouse team loads the van and posts a Van Load document in BetaSuite — specifying which items and quantities were loaded onto which vehicle. The driver confirms the load on their VanGo app. From this point, the system knows the exact opening stock on the van.

Route Execution — Selling to Customers

At each customer stop, the driver opens VanGo and selects the customer. The app shows:

  • The customer's outstanding balance and credit limit
  • Their last order and typical buying pattern
  • Current stock available on the van
  • Applicable promotions and pricing tiers

The driver takes the order on the app, the customer confirms, and the invoice is generated immediately — with the KRA eTIMS compliant receipt number embedded. Payment can be collected by cash or by STK push M-Pesa (the customer enters their PIN on their own phone — no cash changes hands for M-Pesa sales).

GPS and Route Intelligence

VanGo captures the GPS coordinates of every customer visit. Management can see — in real time on the dispatcher dashboard — where each van is, which customers have been visited, and which are still pending. Route deviations (drivers going significantly off-route) are flagged. Journey times between stops are analysed to identify inefficient routing.

Offline Operation

Van sales happen in areas with variable connectivity. VanGo is designed to work offline: the driver's device caches the customer list, product catalogue, pricing and credit limits at the start of the day. Sales are captured offline and sync to the central system as soon as connectivity is restored. No transaction is lost due to a network outage.

Trip Close — End-of-Day Settlement

At the end of the route, the driver returns to the depot. VanGo shows the trip summary: total sales, total collected, stock sold, stock remaining. The driver confirms the return of unsold stock. Cash collected is handed over and the amount is matched against the system record. M-Pesa receipts are automatically reconciled. Any shortfall is immediately visible — before the driver leaves the depot, not days later when someone finds time to reconcile a handwritten book.

Management Visibility

Managers gain real-time visibility that was previously impossible:

  • Live route progress: which driver is where, how many stops completed
  • Sales performance by driver: revenue, invoice count, average order value
  • Product performance by route: which SKUs sell best on which routes
  • Collection efficiency: what percentage of sales are paid at time of delivery vs credit
  • Customer coverage: which customers have not been visited in the past week/month

Stock Return and Damage Management

Unsold stock returned from the van and damaged goods rejected by customers are handled with formal return documents. Returned stock re-enters the warehouse system cleanly. Damaged goods are written off through the system with a reason code. There is no opportunity to misrepresent what came back from a route.