Manimegalai

If the sales go up to 50K to 1 lakh, we can hire people. At that time, we will need people because we will not be able to manage alone. Business is busier during the day, so as of now, we don't require anybody.

I am doing business in the shop. The kids are at home. My husband gets all the things required for the shop. I have been running this shop for the past 18 years.

I shifted to Tiruppur because business was dull in Trichy. Then we went to our village for nearly 6 months. Unfortunately, my father-in-law passed away. My sister-in-law was there, and we had to arrange her marriage. We were doing farming in our village, but there was no proper water supply, so agriculture was also affected. Therefore, we got our sister-in-law married, and we settled down in Tiruppur.

I started a grocery shop because I only know this job. I don't know how to do any other work. Since I got used to this, I continued with the same business.

Single person cannot handle the shop, so I also joined my husband. We cannot hire anybody and pay them a salary, so both of us take care of the shop. When he goes to the market, then I am there alone in the shop. If it is at night, my elder daughter comes to the shop to accompany me.

It was slightly difficult to sell things and maintain the accounts. Now I have gotten used to it so much that I can handle accounts easily. Earlier, writing the accounts was very difficult for me.

My sister-in-law had given this place to us for the shop. When we talked about our plans for the shop, they helped us get the shop ready. Then we started the shop.

My husband makes all the decisions for the shop. I just handle the business. He is the one who settles all the accounts.

Everything is trust. We have lost money as well. We ask customers to return our money, and if they don't, then we let it go. People who trust us don't question us. Some of them continue to make purchases, but our money remains with them. During the corona time, we provided a lot of things, thinking that they would be in need. They still keep buying things but have not repaid the money. It is more for Hindi-speaking people. We give them things on trust. They settle our accounts properly every week.

Our sales go up on Sundays, once a week. We do business on credit, and when we receive the money, the business goes well. The rest of the time, we keep waiting. In the morning, we have good sales from vegetables. Some people receive weekly wages, so they repay our credit and then purchase items. The business is good on that day. However, on the other days, the sales are very low. We receive back whatever loans we have given. They repay on Sundays. They keep buying things daily. We maintain accounts on a card. They give us money on Sundays or Saturday night. Then the next week, we start a fresh account.At least 25 of them take loans. Both of us maintain accounts. Some of them trust us, so we maintain their accounts. Some of them, whom we trust, ask to maintain their own accounts. The rest of them are people who pass by the shop.

We can give credit to those who have been our regular customers. We don't know who the person is when they come for the first time. When they start buying things and promise to pay the money weekly, then we can trust them. We also give them card, which they keep with them.I write the names in the card. Like in this card, the person has to pay 1674 rupees.

We cannot run our business without credit. Not everybody will have money, so when customers request it, we have to help them out.

After opening the shop, we first pray to God. Then we start our business.

I open the shop, and my husband goes to the market in the morning. He comes back by 7 AM. By that time, my elder daughter and I sort out other things. I have food, and then my husband goes and has food. Since he goes to the market early in the morning, he takes a rest and comes to the shop. He comes after lunch, around 2 PM. Then I go for food, take a rest, and come back at 5 PM.

Something that could be improved is if things are sold on time and in large quantities. It would be good if we don't say that our stock is low when people come to buy things. If we forget to buy stock, we have to say no to them. If we don't have the items, we have to say no to them. Sometimes we forget to buy, but then we remember and stock up on those items. It can be any item. I make a note of the item that is not in stock and when my husband goes to the market, he gets it.

When we newly opened the shop, we used to advertise ice creams as well. People learned about the shop through that as well.

We don't maintain any accounts for sales. Whatever comes and whatever items we sell, we just write down that only. We have not done any consolidation. We have not recorded our earnings. We simply sell and buy items. If we have a good sale, we can record our income and expenses. We deposit money in the bank and keep a check of our bank account. When we receive items, we give them a cheque, so we know how much money we are paying.

To make new customers regular, we speak nicely to our customers and provide quality items. If we sell the items with a frowning face, they will not come to us. That's the only difference.

We are nice to our customers. We should encourage customers to buy the items. They should also feel that we are genuine towards them. We have to try and entice them to buy our products. [laugh]. Each one of them is different. If they speak nicely to us, it would be easy for us to motivate them. We would feel slightly disturbed if they go unsatisfied.

We give customers curry leaves as a discount. We don't offer any other discounts because our business isn't that big. They sometimes ask us to give curry leaves or coriander leaves for free. They don't ask to reduce money.

When customers ask for items that we don't have, we write them down and keep them. So, when they go to the market, they buy those items. We would tell the customers to come back in the evening and check with us. They come and buy those items in the evening.

We buy new packs of the stock only when the old packs are sold out. We generally buy only 5 packs. They are usually sold out within a week. Then we restock them again the following week. If they ask for a new product and that product is not there, we ask them to come next day or in the evening. By that time, we buy that item and store it in our shop.

I and my husband manage the sales on Sundays as well. They patiently buy from us because we offer them credit. We ask the customers who want to buy in bulk to wait for a while and finish with the customers who have come to purchase 1 or 2 items.Our business is not so great that we can hire people. If we are unable to do so, then we can keep somebody. Initially, I was new to business, so we had people. Kids were also young. They did not stay for long and started fiddling with money. When I learned the business, we did not keep anybody for help.

In terms of the increase and decrease of customers, most of the customers have left this place, resulting in a reduction in the number of customers. The sales have declined as the old customers have departed. Previously, there used to be good sales, but now it mainly caters to local people and Hindi-speaking individuals. The reason behind this is the lack of job opportunities in the company. Only if they find work, we will also be able to increase our sales. Therefore, the business is currently very slow.

Hindi-speaking customers are now the main customers. Earlier, the business was good because our people used to come. But now they have all shifted to another place. Now there are more Hindi-speaking customers. I have gotten used to the language. I can understand a little bit, but I cannot speak back to them. I can figure out what all things they want. If they are unable to explain, they show me a picture on the phone. I try to understand using that picture.

Vendors give us a lower rate. We add one or two profits and sell. Since we opened this shop, we have been purchasing from them exclusively. They are the only wholesale shop in this area. We buy items like mixture and murukku from another shop. I buy vegetables from the mandi market. He goes to the market at about 5 AM and comes back at 6.30 AM. We buy only 1 or 2 kgs of vegetables. We don't sell them in large quantities; we sell them at a fixed price. One bundle for 10 rupees. We measure and keep them as bundles. We keep them pre-packed and then customers take whatever they want. We buy all the vegetables like carrots and beans. We try to sell the entire lot. If we are unable to sell, we give them away to people in need.

We buy milk daily. Generally, we have an idea of how much we need. If there is an event, we may need more. If it runs out, we buy an extra 2 liters the next day. If we have too much stock, we try to finish the old stock and buy less for the next day. After finishing the stock, we start fresh again the next day with 10 liters. Sometimes sales are very low, especially during rainy days, and we may not have any packets to give to customers. We buy around 20 to 25 liters in different quantities such as 250 ml, 500 ml, and 1 liter. My husband buys fruits from the market, mostly in raw form. Once they ripen, we hang them. Some of them I sell in bulk.

My husband gets vegetables and fruits by a 2-wheeler. When he goes in the morning, he only gets vegetables and fruits. Then he buys grocery items when he goes again for the second time. Sometimes he goes after 6 PM and buys the grocery items.

Wholesalers offer vegetables and fruits at a reduced rate, that's all. No discounts.

Yes, we can replace the damaged items. We should replace them immediately. If there is just one odd number, we have to adjust it. If we are unable to sell it, then we can get it changed.

Customers return items. We cannot talk back to them when the mistake is ours. We only buy 3 to 5 kgs. If it has worms or insects, then we have to take it back. Mostly, we don't face this problem because we don't buy in large quantities. We buy once weekly, and the next stock is bought only when it runs out.

We don't buy a large quantity of stock. We only buy when the packet is finished, otherwise it will go bad. We only buy 3 kilos at a time. When it runs out, we buy more. The customers asked us to add dried chili to prevent insects. These steps are only taken in the wholesale shop. We don't do anything else.

Customers pay online. I started using UPI 2 years ago. Earlier, it used to be only cash payments. The number of transactions was also lower. Whoever comes, they keep asking for Paytm. Sometimes they say that they will get cash the next day, but we don't receive the money. So, we thought it would be better to have an app.

We check the received payment by monitoring the alert in the box. If they deposit it into my son's account, I don't receive a notification. I have to ask my son directly. We don't have a box for Bharat Pay. If the customers are unfamiliar to us, they would save our name in their phone. If we are unable to check, then I ask my brother. My son goes out and we are unaware if the money has been credited. We only find out when we check our mobile. They simply leave after claiming that the payment has been made and show the checkmark. Then my son comes and informs me that the money has not been received. When they return to our shop, we inform them that we have not received the money and ask them to pay again. They would also know when they check their bank account. We tend to only check if the amount is significant. We don't bother if it's just 5 or 10 rupees.

We don't save customers' phone numbers. They generally don't cheat us. If we force them too much to pay the money, then they stop coming to our shop. So, we feel it's okay; we will not pester them for money. At least they will come to our shop. They will definitely give us the money, even if it is late. We have to be patient.

We also take loans from outside and buy things. We take loans from financial institutions. We usually pay them daily. We have taken a lot of loans. It is a minimum of 1000 rupees daily. We have even repaid 4000 rupees in a day. Once the money is paid, we get things from the shop. Finance people help us with loans because we repay them immediately. We also don't want to take loans from them, but when there is a requirement, we have no choice.

We have cards to note down the credit amount. If we are paying 500 to the financers, we put the date and make a note of it on the card.

We have to buy a bigger shop and increase the number of items. We were thinking of doing all this, but the business is very slow, so we left it. If the business improves, we can consider expanding. A new departmental store has opened nearby, and people have started going there. As a result, our business is currently very dull. We bought the adjacent shop to expand our business, and the owner was also supportive. He said we could turn it into a big shop by combining both. However, we need to benefit from it and not incur any losses. My brother used to work with us in the shop, but now he has pursued a career in the medical field. He is studying in Chennai. Otherwise, we were planning to open a grocery shop, but since he is now in the medical field, he has left this business.