Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Passively Record Sales in Informal Sector Convenience Stores

Informal sector convenience stores play a vital role in the economy of African countries. They provide employment and contribute significantly to the economy. Effective sales recording is crucial for these shops as it enables them to obtain financial loans, garner insights into customer preferences, and facilitate inventory management. However, these shops struggle to record sales. Current solutions to address this challenge have their own limitations. They require active participation from shop attendants, which may introduce errors. Given the increasing relevance of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in today’s world, this paper explores the potential of AI to passively record sales in these informal sector convenience stores, hence contributing to the body of knowledge on improving retail record-keeping operations in Africa. It introduces a novel intelligent system designed to automate sales recording in these informal sector convenience shops. The results indicate that AI can be effectively utilised to passively record sales in informal sector convenience stores.