Overview
What WholeMatt is and how it works
WholeMatt is a shared-retail platform that brings independent sellers together under one professionally managed physical store and a centralized digital system. Instead of every seller renting, staffing, and running their own shop, WholeMatt provides a prime shared location, trained attendants, a smart Point of Sale (POS), real-time dashboards, and full inventory and payout tracking.
Sellers simply bring their products, lock a slot, and start selling. WholeMatt handles the store operations — rent, staff, security, and daily running — while the platform records every sale, calculates profit, deducts rent, and manages payouts transparently.
The Unified System
One network, shared profits
The Unified System is WholeMatt's current model. Instead of a seller earning only from their own shelf, every locked member earns a share of the entire network's profit based on how many slots they hold. This means your income isn't tied to a single category — you benefit from every sale across the store.
- All new sellers join as Unified Sellers — the old category-based system is retired.
- Sales flow through the Unified POS and are recorded as Unified Sales.
- Profit is pooled network-wide and shared by slot allocation.
- Rent, payouts, and reporting all live under the Unified menu in the portal.
When a member joins the Unified system, the stock they have brought in is forfeited into the shared pool — because they now earn a share of profit from all sales, not just their category. Members who don't join are unaffected: they keep their stock and continue earning only from their own categories, and do not share in the Unified pool or hold slots.
User Roles
Who does what on the platform
Membership & Slots
Joining and locking your slot
- Pay the membership fee via M-Pesa STK push on the Join page. New members may qualify for an onboarding grant (reduced fee) set by the admin.
- Lock your slot by paying the lock deposit. This activates your Unified Seller account and sets your earnings start date.
- Add capital (optional) to increase your slots — each KES 20,000 of capital adds one slot. Admins can also grant slots.
- Start earning — your profit share begins from your payment-share start month (auto-set to the month 30 days after you lock, or admin-overridden).
Payout eligibility is locked for 30 days after you lock your slot. During this period your earnings accrue but can't yet be withdrawn — this is shown as a notice on your dashboard's Payout tab.
Revenue Sharing
How profit is calculated and shared
Profit sharing is the heart of the Unified System. Here's exactly how it works, step by step.
Payout amount
For each item, we deduct KRA tax and platform commission from the selling price.
Profit per item
We then subtract the buying (restock) cost — what it costs to replace the item.
Your share
Total network profit is divided by slot allocation. Fractional slots are supported.
Worked example
If total network slots = 10 and you hold 1 slot:
If you held 0.5 slots:
The more slots you hold, the larger your share — and every locked member earns from every sale across the network.
Only approved sales count toward the profit pool. A seller must have locked at least one slot to participate. Commission and KRA rates are set by the admin in Platform Settings — currently 20% commission and 16% KRA.
Rent
Monthly store operations fee
Each locked seller pays a monthly rent that covers the shared store operations. The Unified Rent Engine runs daily and automatically:
- Generates rent records — one per seller per month. The entry month is prorated based on your slot issue date.
- Proration rule: If your slot was issued on day 1–5, full rent starts the next month. Day 6+ → prorated daily rate (rent ÷ 30 × days remaining in the month).
- Due date is always the last day of the month.
- Auto-deduction: rent is automatically deducted from your available funds when possible, and partial deductions are tracked.
- Admins can override a seller's monthly rent, pause rent, or mark a month as ignored.
Default monthly rent is KES 3,500 unless the admin sets a custom override for a seller.
Payouts
Getting your earnings
When you have unreleased earnings, you can request a payout. Here's the flow:
- Set your payout profile — your M-Pesa number and registered account name. Changes require admin approval to prevent fraud.
- Request a payout from the Payouts tab for any amount up to your available balance.
- Admin reviews the request, verifies the recipient, and sends the money via M-Pesa.
- Your dashboard shows Paid Out (already sent) and Unreleased (available to claim) across both legacy and unified earnings.
There's a 30-day lock period after slot locking before payouts become eligible. This is clearly communicated on your Payout tab.
POS & Sales
How sales are recorded
Every sale flows through the centralized POS, used by attendants and admins:
- Scan or select products → the cart builds automatically with seller attribution per item.
- Accept payment via Cash, M-Pesa STK, M-Pesa Till, or KopoKopo.
- A receipt is generated instantly with the receipt number, M-Pesa confirmation, and payment method.
- Sales start as pending and become approved once an admin/manager confirms them — only approved sales count toward earnings.
- Customer lookup lets cashiers search, add, or merge client phone numbers into a single Unified Client account.
Stock Management
Keeping your shelf full
Stock levels update automatically after every sale. The platform helps you stay ahead:
- Auto-deduction — quantity drops with every sale, in real time.
- Low-stock alerts — you're notified when a product runs low.
- Stock history — every movement (sale, restock, adjustment) is logged for auditing.
- Receipt Scanner — suppliers/admins can scan supplier receipts to auto-restock existing products (fuzzy matching prevents duplicates).
- Dispensable products — items sold by measure (e.g. perfume per ml) are supported.
Clients & Loyalty
Knowing your customers
Every paying customer is tracked as a Unified Client:
- A customer's primary phone is their account key; extra numbers can be merged as aliases.
- The system tracks total spent, visit count, and last seen per client.
- Customers earn loyalty points automatically on KopoKopo payments (earn rate set in Settings).
- Store credit wallets let customers hold credit balances for future purchases.
Platform Settings
What admins can configure
Admins control the whole platform from the Settings page:
- Branding — platform logo and founder photo.
- Spot Tier Pricing — deposits, monthly rent, and commission per tier (managed in Categories).
- Membership fee & onboarding grant — standard fee and reduced grant fee.
- Unified Profit Share Rates — commission % (default 20%) and KRA % (default 1.5%) deducted from every sale before profit is calculated.
- POS payment methods — enable/disable Cash, M-Pesa STK, Till, Card, KopoKopo.
- Loyalty points — spend-per-point and point value.
- WhatsApp channel link — shown on the dashboard banner.
FAQ
Common questions
When do I start earning?
From your payment-share start month — automatically the month 30 days after you lock your slot, unless the admin sets a custom month for you.
Why can't I withdraw yet?
There's a 30-day lock period after slot locking. After that, any unreleased balance is available to claim from the Payouts tab.
Do I earn from other sellers' sales?
Yes. Profit is pooled across the whole network and shared by slot allocation, so you earn from every approved sale — not just your own shelf.
How are fractional slots handled?
Your share = network profit × (your slots ÷ total slots). This works for any number, including 0.1, 0.5, or 2.5 slots.
What if I had sales on the old (legacy) system?
Any unpaid legacy earnings are included in your Unreleased balance. Payouts already made (legacy or unified) are deducted once.
How is rent deducted?
Rent is auto-deducted from your available funds by the daily Unified Rent Engine. If funds are insufficient, a partial deduction is recorded and the remainder stays pending.