Experience vs Convenience, as the retail mêlée goes

Are you still to visit the new shop in the neighbourhood? Well, if yes, you missed out on those neat shelves, creative displays, aisle spaces, bar-coded products, hoards of brands, the greetings extended by the staff, their billing technology… in all, you missed out on an ultimate experience.


What! You went to buy eggs in that new shop? You burnt extra fuel, wasted time waiting for them to scan and bill, and paid extra for packed, branded eggs. Held yourself from impulse buying? Is it convenient?

This is India(ns) talking. Where, once upon a time, anything to everything could, would, and had to be bought from the nearest kirana shop (mom-and-pop store) – the same shop wherefrom our grandfathers went to buy from perhaps the present owner’s grandfather. That was a decade or two ago.

This is 2008, and we are talking about a India where almost everyday, at some nook or corner, a unique shop opens to sell this or that… ‘retail revolution,’ as they call it… Although not important enough like the revolutions described in the history texts, this definitely has made a difference; the good or the bad of it remains subjective. .

The business of buying, selling and buying, with its tremendous growth potential, has attracted not only the national corporate giants, but also the multinational behemoths. From Ambanis and Biyanis to Tatas and Godrejs, to Mittals and Jindals… enterprising Indian industrialists are busy opening jazzy shops, and are heard chanting the charming retail mantra, ‘my customer is my king,’ which most of us must have seen written somewhere at a grocery shop near home.

Indiaretailing assessed: Miles to go before anybody slips!

Crying, but hopeful… Blank, but with ideas… Troubled, but confident… Discouraged, but preparing… Whatever is being heard or witnessed about the state of the small retailers in the country, the opposite of that is equally true.


Since November 2007, team Indiaretailing has been visiting, talking to, and analysing the so-called ‘probable victims’ of corporate India’s entry into the business of retail. The reconnaissance was focused on a random selection of localities in the south of Delhi.


Scattered grocers, chemists or pharmacists, vegetable vendors, merchants of apparel, furniture, electronics, or hardware… almost all sorts of independent retailers… everyone was quizzed to share their views on expected/happening effects on their business and their counter-insurgency plans.

Surprise!
The ones who we had assumed are bound to be pushed into a corner by the recent upsurge, are oiling their guns and have started assessing their ammunition. “We have our own strengths and advantages that the Wal-Marts or the Carrefours of the world don’t, and that is what we will cash in on,” said a small grocer, operating adjacent to the newly opened Subhiksha, in one of Delhi’s happening marketplaces. “As of now, the corporate giants have not affected my business, though the future may be another story. We understand the difference that we can make, and also know what we must learn from the big entrants,” he added.


He is not the only one; there are many of his kind and with similar voices. “Fortis Healthworld has limited stock. Many customers come to my shop looking for products that he couldn’t get there. I have gained new customers. Moreover, the person manning their counter is not an educated pharmacist, whereas I am. I know the alternatives for the prescribed medicines. There are unlimited advantages that we have, and we don’t have to pay heavy rent like them for our shop,” said Rajinder Arora, owner of Ashirwad Chemists. Ashirwad Chemists and Fortis Healthworld, ironically, share the same wall that partitions their stores in GK-II market in south Delhi. As luck would have it, Lifeline, the pharmacy chain, recently closed shop in the same area.

Vinod Dubey, the proprietor of Sanjay Stores, a kirana store very near to the Subhiksha outlet in East of Kailash, south Delhi, says, “Our sales are the same. We have our own loyal customers who won’t change their preferences. We understand their needs. So, we don’t need to worry about anything.”

Furniture retailer Jagdish Kalra, selling besides a Featherlite showroom in CR Park, south Delhi, says, “Featherlite’s stock is limited and their store is comparatively small, whereas we sell all the necessary items. There is no question of losing customers. Moreover, we have been here for two decades now, and have closely monitored the developments and know the markets’ requirements.”

A vegetable vendor selling in GK-II since the last 30 years has his own reasons to smile about. “Although initially people did buy vegetables from these big shops, they had to come back, and I was confident that they would.” This vendor commutes around 35 kilometres everyday, to be present in the wholesalers’ mandi at 4 am in the morning, so that he can get the freshest lot of vegetables and fruits. “Do you think the agents hired by these biggies can match my efforts and products? I even sell these exotic vegetables, be it red or yellow capsicums, dried mushrooms, or broccoli; I know what is in demand and where to buy the best product from.” A tough one to compete with, isn’t he?