I wouldn't say that the market condition is stable right now. If I talk about a customer who buys products from the Lakme brand, they won't buy Lakme products all the time. They could buy products from other brands as well. So, I have to keep products from all brands at my shop. The sales of these products go up and down. When I opened my shop, I expected the market conditions to remain good for cosmetic products. But that didn't happen, and then I decided to go into garments. The thing with cosmetic products is that they have an expiration date, which could be one year or two years. On the other hand, garments don't have an expiration date. That's why I decided to get into the garment selling business.
competition is everywhere. Every lane has 3-4 shops. They will get whatever income is destined for them and customers meant for me will come to my shop.
Yes, I know there are shops on Instagram. Yes, I follow them. I see all kinds of clothes and fashion trends. They are in the clothing business. I don't pay attention to whether it is wholesale or retail. I just follow them. I don't receive any help in my business. I receive help for myself. I receive help for buying outfits for weddings and parties.
I choose not to stock certain brands, like Bajaj, because their products are available in all the other shops as well. This is internal information that I am sharing with you. Bajaj is sold in my shop, as well as in that shop and the other shop. The owner of the small shop has lower expenses. The distributor sells the product to him for 10 rupees and sells it to me for the same price. However, my expenses are higher, so I sell it for 11 rupees while he sells it for 9 rupees. Customers may think that my price is higher and choose to go to him, causing me to lose a customer. That's why I don't stock products that are already available in all the other shops. For example, I sell RR wires in this area, and no one else does. I inform the company not to supply it to any other shop in this area, or else I won't buy from them. This helps me establish a monopoly. As a result, there are no variations in prices. When you come here for RR wires, I can tell you that it costs 25 rupees, and you won't be able to compare prices elsewhere. There are no other competitors because I have created a monopoly. So, I refuse some products and brands, mostly due to quality issues.
Yes, we face competition from online sellers. When kids ask me how much it costs, I tell them there is no pressure and they are free to buy it on Amazon or Flipkart. Duplicate products are sold a lot.
No there is no competition from other shop, their customers are theirs and our customers are ours only. See the customer standing behind you; he continuously gets his car repaired from us only. He has come from 12 kms far. He comes here only and he does not go anywhere else. If material useful in his car is not available with me, I arrange it for him anyhow. If there is no customer in my workshop, they send their customers to me. They are my friends only. If they don’t have any material, they come and take it from me and if I need some material, I approach them. Little bit far there is one shop like us, he is also my friend. At the time of need they give us the material and we give them the material to use in the car of the customers.
A lot needs to be done for the customers ma’am, we can provide customers service same as available in the showroom. Once free servicing is done from the showroom, why customers do not go to the showroom after that? What is the psychology of the customers? In showroom they charge more labor payment. GST will be applied. On top of that there are timings from morning till evening; if servicing is not done today then you will get it tomorrow only. In our workshop immediately customer brings the car for servicing, work is done fast here on the car and within no time customer is told to take back his car. Here we give discount to the customers, at the showroom they would charge the same price whatever they would say. In showroom they don’t give discount of 1/- but we give discount of 10/- to the customers. Now we sell only spare parts. Washing of the car should be there but I don’t have that facility. It was done before but now it is stopped. Alignment balancing is done of the car by mechanics but that is also not there with me, it should be there I feel. Ours is mechanical related work then there is electric related work and for that I don’t have many spare parts for that, I feel that should be there with me too. I arrange that for my customers but I have to call up somebody for that at that time. I cannot keep censors also because in single car 50 censors are installed. Like that so many companies’ cars are there so we have to maintain very big range of censors. Sometimes in showroom also they don’t have this material. They come to us then. Maruti showroom people come to us for that. Hyundai showroom people also come to us. Halogen bulbs are not there in Hyundai showroom so they sometimes come to us to take it. Sometimes we don’t have the material so we go to the showroom and get that material. Like that there is vast range of materials in automobiles. Now foreign country vehicles have come up but Maruti, Hyundai, Mahindra are Indian companies only. Kia, Skoda, BMW, Volkswagen has come up. Like this the range becomes vaster day by day. We are not able to do fulfill all the customers. Even showroom cannot satisfy the customers in terms of material.
3-5 years. Now EV vehicles have come up. It is little bit different market. There is no engine in EV, there is battery in it. With single motor only on the vehicle runs. Company is producing these segment vehicles at present but let us see till when this segment will last. EV is expensive and we have no idea about its spare parts. It has just started up in the market. EV customers will go to showroom only for any problem; EV cars’ starting price is only 20 lakhs.
Because we are already in a competition, I have been in the shop for 27 years, and here there is another shop, which has been going on for at least 15 years. And the market, because of the water, the customers are not coming. I also had two girls, so I have now made one because the business is going down.
There are many products in my shop that we can buy online, and the prices are also lower online. The price would be the same as what we buy in-store or slightly less or slightly more, maybe. It didn't have much impact on external products and not on cyber business, but it did have a slight impact on toys. That's a bit. I said I would set up an Amul Parlor at the outside counter. I am still considering that. On this side, we would have this and as for toys, regarding what you said about online, I haven't had this thought yet. But I sell toys, and I receive the goods every month from Asansol.
Now there is a market of competition. Nowadays, online businesses are also present. So, in that case, we have little pressure.
We strive to maintain a unique collection in this competitive market. If a product is not available in other shops, it should be available in mine. I have a variety of sets, but I also have many unique collections. The number of unique products you can keep in your shop determines this. For example, if the MRP of a product is 340 and another shopkeeper is selling it for 320, I can sell it for 5 rupees less and the customer will buy it from me. This also makes a difference. The wholesale market is located in one place and everyone goes there. When I go, the shopkeepers from my neighboring shops also go there, and we meet there. We all purchase from the same market. From there, we buy 5 different items from 5 different shops. I bought products from 5 or 6 shops, while he bought products from 2 shops.
We try to keep unique items in the shop. That's why I said, "Suppose you have gone to two shops and I have gone to three shops. He has gone to 6 shops." The wholesalers also purchase the products from somewhere. Some of them collect from Bombay; some collect from Delhi or Kolkata. Some bring the collection from Delhi and some take the collection from Kolkata. Now, not all people keep all kinds of items. If I find something unique, I buy it. What he thinks is unique, he also buys. One factor is price, and the other is goodwill. You should have goodwill and good behavior.
Customers see online and they show us the picture and ask if this is available. However, it is only available online and not in the offline market. Online products are delivered to us after a few days. If they show it online today, it will be delivered to us after 6 months because the local shop needs time to create the same design. If they like any design they send us and ask if it is available and if we bring some unique products, we also send them the pictures on WhatsApp. If anyone likes they say keep it for me, I will come tomorrow to take that set.
In the Corona period, people have been using online platforms more frequently, and now this trend is becoming more popular due to the increased prices online. This trend is emerging now, but its impact has originated from the online sphere. People can conveniently stay at home and make purchases online, whereas for this particular product, they need to visit the physical store. I would personally take advantage of this option, and regular customers would also benefit from it. They don't receive genuine products from online sources, so they prefer to visit the shop and purchase the product there. Customers tend to choose any jewelry they come across. The online market is thriving. That has impacted a bit on sale for sure.
There is no point competing with online business because we cannot compete with large-scale businesses. There is a difference in price because I will get a different rate when I buy in bulk compared to when I buy only five pieces. Besides, there is company support - I might get Britannia biscuits from a distributor, but large-scale players will get them straight from the company. The rate will be different when it passes through so many hands! That seller will get all the benefits, whereas if a biscuit packet is priced at Rs 40, I might get it for 36 rupees and sell it for 38, giving a 2 Rupee discount to the customer. However, this is not happening with the other large-scale seller because they might be purchasing it for only 20 rupees and selling it for 22 rupees. When the customer sees that they are getting an 18 rupee discount, why would they come to me? But I have also heard that the products sold to them are very different from the ones that come to us, but I do not know the entire story.
Basically, after the COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping has become quite rampant. People prefer to order items online and have stopped coming to the shop. This has affected not only our business but also the clothing and cosmetics industry. Everybody wants to buy clothes online, whereas earlier people used to go to the shop. Currently, there is a lot of hustle and bustle due to Durga Puja. However, after Durga Puja is over, you will not see this crowd. I can say that online shopping has really disrupted our business.
Customers are like that; they won't leave. They will inquire about the rates and point out that the rates are different from other stores. For example, a product may be sold for Rs 13 there, but here it will be priced at Rs. 15. Customers will mention that there is a difference of Rs 2. This could be because the item is in higher demand there than here. Some people understand when we explain, while others don't. There is nothing like that the item will sell off in the end. I will calculate how many items will be needed for that week accordingly. So, if I take something for Rs 100, it will come down to Rs 75. Therefore, I will get only 10 pieces. Just because the rates will go down, doesn't mean I will get 15 cases, as I would incur a loss of Rs 25. I won't do such a thing.
I can't do anything if customers aren't satisfied. Every customer will be different. There are customers who will buy some items, and for a while, they will buy from us. But after some time, they will stop coming completely and start buying from another store. However, if they are not happy with that store, they will come back here. If there is a rush, they may want to get the items quickly, but it will take time as there is a line. They might go away and get it from another store. Even there, there might be a rush, so they may come back to us. They have done this during festival time as well. However, I haven't encountered any rude customers, and we haven't been rude to anyone either. They will generally call or come back after an hour to collect the items. Sometimes, they will want us to deliver the items to their house, so we will deliver and then receive the payment. Some people will send the bill and go to work; they will instruct us to send the items to their house, where someone else will receive the delivery. Alternatively, some people will give us the bill and keep it ready in the evening, so that they can come back from work to collect it. we need to maintain accordingly, as the customer demands will be different on different days. Like today, we have a bill. He has told us to pack the items and deliver them by 8:30 at night because they will be home only by then. They gave us the bill in the morning itself.
Most of the time we try to sort customers’ problems; or even replace a particular product. We want to reach out to them positively. One person left a review on Google, and we reached out to them to provide a replacement. However, we've also encountered instances where reviews were fake. In our field, there is significant competition, and it's a concern when a staff member starts a new store next to our store. We've also noticed many instances of people using fake names associated with our brand. These concerns highlight the importance of showcasing one's talents and not engaging in unethical practices or stealing from others. In my view, it's crucial to respect and protect the talents of others.
Business is dull now. When I opened this shop, there was no other shop nearby. But now there are at least 15 additional shops. The customers who came were also simple. They used to buy whatever was available. But now they have the choice to go to another shop.
I would feel very bad when customers leave my shop dissatisfied. I would try to entice them by suggesting what would be ideal for them. If it is a lady, I would say that this sandal would look nice on her feet. If it is a man, then I would say that this sandal would fit well for him. We cannot sell anything without talking. It would be great if we could just show one or two items and they would buy them immediately. But it may not give us a sense of selling an item. Only when we compliment them and sell the item, it is satisfying for us as well. Some ladies ask whether this sandal looks good on their feet. We should also try to praise from our side, only then they would agree to purchase.
We give discounts, it depends. Some people go without discounts as well. If we feel like reducing the price, we would reduce it and give them the discount. We must be making a profit of 500 rupees, so we can afford to reduce the price by 50 rupees and sell that item to them. There are a lot of nearby chappal shops. All three shops had a chappal shop.