Harish

I came into this business when I was 14 years old. My father passed away when I was only 4 years old. I was living with my uncle, then I started working with my sister’s husband in Tiruppur. My sister’s husband has a friend, who asked him to send me to his shop as he didn’t have any person for help. So I went there and worked there for 6 years. All textile shops. My salary was 1500 rupees first and then 1800 rupees, then 2500 rupees, 3500 rupees, 4500 rupees and at last 5500 rupees. Then I stopped working there. My brother-in-law told me that he will provide the money and asked me if I can run a shop. Then we started looking for a shop and started this shop. It has been 8 years.

My brother-in-law helped me in finding the area and providing the initial amount. We did not take any loans. The shops were less in this area, so we decided to start one. But as of now there are nearly 20 shops in this area.

There are 20 shops and 4 shops have been vacated. There is no business at all. We are sitting idle for the whole day and have no business. Business has been slow all over India and particularly Tiruppur is the worst affected. In Tiruppur if there is a company, there will be jobs and business will run. If there are no jobs, people won’t earn money, so how would they come to purchase clothes?

I will wake up at 6 o’clock. After waking up I play with my child. Then I go to buy milk for my child. After buying milk I come and take a bath. After bathing I have tea and come to the shop. I will come at 7:30. When I come to the shop, first I will hang the clothes outside. Then sweep the shop and mop the floor. I will wipe the table with wet cloth. Then buy flowers for God. I will wash and put the flowers and pray to God. I will bring tea and Tiffin. I will close the shop at night at 10:30. I will keep the samples inside and lock the shop. Then I sleep at night at 12 o'clock. I will eat in the shop, my house is upstairs.

As of now there is not much crowd. Business will be good during Diwali. It will be crowded. Actually there is no use of this crowd because other days business is down. So it is the same level. These four days it is a loss for me because we need to appoint four extra persons for work. Sometimes in this crowd some persons will steal in front of our eyes. When we fight the customer, other customers will go. So we cannot fight. We cannot do the business, so we leave it. If we fight we cannot take care of business. We can manage by increasing the rate, but actually we cannot do anything.

I call for extra help during Diwali. The staff comes from my native- Rajasthan. They will stay here for a month and leave after Diwali. The reason for not hiring local people is that their wages are higher. Tamil (local) people will work from morning 9 till night 9. In between they need a 1 hour break for lunch. It won’t work for us. We open the shop at 7:30, but they come at 9. That is the reason. Then they ask for a 1 hour break for lunch. But we will eat here and again take care of the business. Night also he will be there till 10:30 or 11.

Customers are main. We are in the shop and if there are no customers, how will I pay the rent and current bill? How do we eat? We trust customers and are sitting here. We eat because of them. We cannot eat if there are no customers. Customers are first. Customers are very important than us.

I have regular customers like him. If I don’t open the shop for a day, these regular customers will come tomorrow. They will also call me. They have my number. It is written on board and outside. I don’t mingle with them on WhatsApp or anything like that. Whatever they ask I give them, that’s it. This is my relationship with them.

My shop is on the main road and not anywhere inside the streets. People who pass by will come and buy. My regular customers also recommend shop to others.

My shop is on Google Maps. I don’t think customers come after seeing it there.

We write down the sales happening in a day. Daily I check the accounts before closing the shop. I will write the accounts, the income, expenses, everything.

Customers mostly pay by cash. Online payments is rare. I have online payment options like GPay, PayTm and Phone Pe. I don’t have a card machine. We don’t get many transactions. We need to make a turnover of a certain amount or they take charges.

First when I opened the shop for customers who purchased above 1000 rupees I gave a plate and tumbler. Now, as Diwali offer, we can give a 20% discount for some clothes. If we give 20% for lining it will be loss. For sarees we can give 20%. Each saree will be in different rate. For costly sarees we can give 20% and if it is less we can give 15%. If it is very less, then we can give 10%. So discounts will depend on the product. All the customers are the same and I don’t change the rate for regular customers. They bargain a lot, if it is suitable I will give a discount or else I wont. But 95% of the time, I don’t leave the customers. I will sell them for the original price if needed (no profit, no loss).

If we talk to the customers kindly and give them whatever they ask for correctly. We should treat them with respect. Then definitely they will come again. If we speak rudely they don’t come tomorrow. It depends on the way we speak. If something is unavailable, I ask them to come tomorrow and it will be available tomorrow. Whether they come or not we need to give explanations for them. We cannot say it is unavailable. It will be available tomorrow and today this is over. We used to cover it.

For the past 3 years, the business has been down. Before that it was good. After Corona it is fully dull.

To manage festival crowd, I have four persons for help. I will bring local Tamil people also through an agent from Dindugal. He sends me workers and I have to pay one day’s salary as commission. We also pay the workers their daily wage. The agent gets one day's salary from me plus he will get one day's salary from the worker, so 2 days' salary will be credited to the agent. He will send the workers. I will employ them for a week and make arrangements for their stay at the shop.

Discounts for each item differs. There is no discount for lining. In sarees if we pay within a month they give some discount. If you pay in 3 months there is no discount. If you pay immediately, there is a 5 percent discount. They give us one month credit, but then there is no discount.

When I started business my brother-in-law was already in this business and he showed everything. He ordered first.. When I worked in a shop, I came to know the places where my owner would get materials. When I was working they would come to collect the amount from my owner. He will ask me to give them water or tea. We will mingle with them like that. I will talk to them. Suppose if the owner is not there he will ask me where the owner is and I will say the owner went outside. I will say I will bring tea and give it to him. There will be conversation. I already know the address. When I went to his shop he knew that I worked in my owner’s shop.

Depending on the product, I used to get supplies from different places. Sarees are from Gujarat. Lining and Kurtas are again from North- Surat, Ahmedabad, Bhilwara, Pali, etc. Shirts from Erode, Madurai. Pants are from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Braciers, shimmies, and panties and leggings everything is from Tiruppur.

I give credit to customers because we have to trust or else we cannot do business. I am getting stock from Pali. I am in Tamil Nadu and he is from Rajasthan. On which basis does he send? I am living in Tiruppur and give credit to Tiruppur people, then how cannot I trust? He is sending from state to state because he believes in me, right? So I should trust. Only if we trust we can do the business. Without trust we cannot do business.

If we order on the phone, vendors will deliver. Bundles will come in the lorry and we need to pick up. To order stock, I will check how many pieces are there in 38 inches shirt half and full. If the pieces are less in half and more in full means I will decide not to take full and order half hand shirts as it is fast moving. I will see all that and order. I place order may be every 6 months. Each time the condition will differ. Definitely we place a Diwali order. Maximum 75% we will order for new stocks. 25% are there now. If the place is not enough we keep in the godown, at the back of the shop.

I stopped giving credit to customers. I have supplied to small shops. I have supplied like this to many customers. Actually one customer cheated me. She is a lady who owned a small textile shop. When she came here for the first time, I said to pay cash for some time and then change to credit. She came and took cash 2 to 3 times. She asked for credit and I gave. It nearly came to 30,000 rupees. When I go to ask for payment she will ask me to come tomorrow and I will return. I went 3 or 4 times and she didn’t pay. Many of them pay cash and take the stock. Those who are regular customers for many years will take it as credit. Some customers will pay correctly to the shop. Some customers will ask to come to the shop every week.

We call vendor for new stock. For examples, if there is Diwali, we ask what is special for Diwali. They send photos on WhatsApp. These are trending now. I used to check. We shouldn’t do as such if he says. I cannot say okay for everything. I should feel whether what you are saying is correct or not. He will send a sample and I will see. He says it is trending now. I will see and know whether it is really trending or not. After seeing it, I feel okay because it is new design and then place the order.

If the vendor gives 5% discount means, the payment will have to be made within a week. I will pay in GPay or pay in account. He will send his account number. I go to the bank and transfer money in his account.

Yes we have a CCTV camera. Mistakes can be avoided. There may be a chance of a fight with the customers or our product can be stolen. This is safe as we can show the proof to others.

There are nearly 20 textile shops in the area. The stock will be the same. There is a nearby shop and he is having only men’s wear. I have all the items. Some persons will keep all the items low. Pant shirt means only pant shirt. It will be like that. We actually keep all the items like sarees, chudidhar, nightie, in-skirt, pants, shirt, vests, briefs, braciers, and shimmies. All items are available.

We are buying an item regularly and if we feel the rate is high, we will stop buying from a particular supplier. I will give the balance amount and say no. Suppliers will come and give their visiting card and say that we can take samples from them. I will feel it is not okay and say we can meet next. They will give their visiting cards.

Yes, I post statuses on WhatsApp. If I feel like it I want to put a top I will do that. If I want to show a pant and shirt I will do that too. I post only once in a while. During Diwali time, I change status almost every day.

If a customer asks for a item and ays that it doesn’t matter if it takes a month but he wants 20 pieces which are all similar. I check with my vendors. I send them the image and ask them if they can either get it ready for me or give it to me if they have it. They might say that they need a month’s time. I will tell the customer that it will take so long and I will tell them to pay an advance before going. We give a receipt for the money that they have paid and that is all.

Cash crunch is a part and parcel of doing business. We have to manage somehow. Sometimes we can get it from a friend, uncle or brother-in-law.

To improve the shop we have to get as much stock as possible today itself and I have to sell (old stock) at as low as I possibly can. We keep thinking about what we can do to bring more customers and what kind of stock we can buy.

I used to get the payment after 15 days. After 15 days though, I can get the product returned or get the payment for it. Once I received a damaged item that was cut into two. This happened with Meesho. It was Meesho’s fault because when you take a return from a customer you don’t take it this way. You check everything. You take photos and quality and the product that has been sent to you and all that. I used to get calls from Flipkart and Amazon so I told them that I don’t like that all I have told them that Flipkart, Amazon and Meesho are all frauds.

I added my business on Meesho for about 3 months. I got many orders for tops. However, once the order was sent the money used to be given only 15 days later. We can adjust with that 15 days. We have customers who take credit for a month even. I thought 15 days is still fine. I added my shop on Amazon too. But who gets the name and becomes famous? I am giving the top but Amazon is getting popular. Our name will not be visible on Amazon. Amazon is getting the name while we are giving the product but Amazon gets the name. We don’t get any benefit and neither does the customer. Amazon is getting the benefit. They are not our relatives to do all this for them.

I don’t ask anyone for business advise. If I take a decision it doesn’t matter whether it is my in-laws, wife, siblings, parents or whoever that is asking me not to do it, I will still do it. No one can change my mind.

We try to sell unsold stock at a lower cost. There are people who sell things on the platform, they come buy things in a lot and they will give you an offer of 50 rupees. If I give it to them at 50 rupees I will get no benefit. If I get regular customers and I give the same discount to them I will find some benefit at least. So why should I give it to these platform sellers. Our regular customers will be happy that I sold this to them. They will come back to me the next day thinking that I gave him a good price. If I give it to them it is a problem.