My customers find out about my shop through me. I am not from Bangalore; I am from Kanakapur. I moved here when I was young because my parents moved here. I have many relatives there, so they come to me from there. In Kanakapur and Harohalli, there are no repair facilities available. For any lathe work, they have to come to Bangalore. Customers come to me because I do good work. I charge 5000 for work that others charge 10000 for. Since they have to come to Bangalore anyway, they come to me.
My customers come from JP Nagar, Yelachanahalli, Chunchgatta, and elsewhere. This is an old shop. All the developments here happened after I started this shop. There were no shops here apart from 1-2 houses. So, everyone used to come here for shopping. Therefore, everyone knows that there is a textile shop here. Now, Bangalore has developed a lot and this area has too. There are many shops now. People now have shops near their houses themselves. So, I get customers from nearby areas only.
Customers come from far places: Handia, Saidabad, Kakra, Kathua, Chhibaiya, and Chusni. If the shop's variety, range, and behavior are good, everyone comes. Quality is also maintained.
Customers tell other people to come to my shop, and that's how they find out about my shop. All customers cooperate with each other. They are suggested to go to Lal Chowk, saying that all puja material will be available there.
On Google, I haven't done any specific word searches yet. I have received inquiries in between. If I type a specific word, then you'll find it. However, I automatically receive inquiries in between, maybe about electrical goods. I have listed my main industrial electrical items. I think that's the basis for those inquiries.
As I have already mentioned, we have been in this field since the beginning, so we automatically have customers. In some places, we come to know about new factories or industries. We have our own visits. We get customers from someone who found us online, such as India Mart or Google. Nowadays, people have a habit of searching for products on Google, so we also receive inquiries from there. Almost 50% of my clients are regular. We receive inquiries throughout the year. For example, if a new factory is being built, we provide them with the material for the first time and then we continue to receive inquiries from them. Once a customer becomes a customer, there is a 90% guarantee. We don't have an extraordinary strategy to make new customers regular. Our main strategy is competitive rates. There shouldn't be a problem with the rates. They shouldn't feel that the rate is too high or too low. Even if they feel it is too high, we go and correct it. If we are wrong, we analyze where we went wrong or if the client feels something is confusing because another supplier has given a different rate for a similar product, we address that issue and make necessary adjustments. We continuously seek feedback. If a new industry is formed, they inform us if there are any other problems. If there are problems, and we can solve them, we take necessary actions. However, we don't keep a record of it verbally. If the client stays connected with us continuously, then it is understandable.
The electricians who are actively working are the ones who bring us business. These electricians are categorized by the area they serve. Since I live in Achalpur, I will receive customers from this area specifically. I won't receive customers from faraway areas beyond the crossing. This is because there are already many electrical shops in that area and there is heavy traffic near the crossing. My target customers are from this specific area and not from Allahabad or Laalganj. However, I will receive customers who are within a 10-20km radius of this area.
The wholesalers come to our shop, so I don't have to go anywhere. We have different types of goods available, such as Camel, Koras, Unimax, and Renaults. We have their distributors, and their executives come to us with their orders. We deliver the goods and place the order accordingly. Today's order is written shop-wise, listing the items they want. For example, those who come for Koras. Along with retail, we have also started wholesale. We have already delivered the available items, and for the ones that are not in stock, we will place the order. The goods will arrive in two days. The same applies to books.
At the start of a business, the primary issue is that customers are not aware of you. They are not familiar with your brand. When a new shop opens, customers tend to stick with the familiar options like Agrawal Book Depot, the old bookstores. Our challenge was to attract children to our shop. To tackle this, we created a Telegram group specifically for kids.
Those who have cars and if they face problem in their cars, they come to us. Customers whose free servicing from the showroom gets over, they start coming to us for the servicing. Wherever we might be but customers search for us online and come to us directly. Customers who know us, they recommend us to others also. Some customers come to us through mechanic’s contact also.
No I don’t keep any record of the customers who comes to the shop. We never go to their place, they come to our workshop. They phone me up and say my car is not starting up; this problem has happened in my car, more petrol is being consumed in the car and everything.
All farmers who live nearby bring all of their harvest here to sell it. They know that this shop is here, which is why. The farmers from nearby villages also bring their harvest here. Additionally, they buy stuff from here. There are other shops as well, it's not like there are only a few shops now.
My shop is on Google business. There is a notification on Google Maps that in our area we deal with all the items. First, if they search for fancy, our shop is familiar. I am only in Google business and not on any other platforms. They came from Just Dial and just asked for my number and I gave them the number. I didn’t opt for a monthly subscription. People who visit our shop are local people, since they come to market nearby, they also visit my shop. A person who searches and comes to the shop is very rare in this area. It will be different in Coimbatore city, where people from over all over the place visit.
Customers who come regularly see it on the road and come. Customers who search on the internet are very rare for our shop. People who search on the internet will call me. I have given my mobile number. I get maximum 1 or 2 calls a week. Because it's local they come and buy.
Customers come on their own. They might come through other customers. And they come on their own as well. They come and ask for the price. If they like it, then they buy. Otherwise, they ask and go to another shop. They might ask from another shop and then come back again to buy from us. This also happens. Customers come at their own will. If they find that the products in the shop are fine, then they themselves come here. We do not need to call them.
The evening time from 5:30 onwards will be very busy. We won't be able to answer the phone either. Evening, the people who have finished work and people returning from school will definitely come and buy stuff. So before going back home, they will buy all the necessary items. There are a few companies in this area where people get off the bus and go home, so on their way home, they will just buy items and go. We also have sales early in the morning. If we open around 5:30 AM, there will be sufficient sales. We are also trying to find a house nearby so we can open the shop that early.
People mostly find out about the shop through word of mouth. We don't have any ads or anything. It's been 2 years since we opened the shop, so how people communicate with each other, through that we get customers. Rates will be reasonable. So, we have items of both first and second quality. For example, the pulses will be available in both first and second quality. So there will be an item for Rs 190/ and the same item will be available for Rs 150/ as well. Based on my customers, I will give them the first quality only, so they will use it and give good reviews accordingly. We don't circulate any ads or anything. During the festival time, we may have some offers going on, like for a purchase of around Rs 2000/, we will give something for free. It's been two years, and I have brought out offers at least two times till now.
They discover our shop through various means. We've been here for 12 years, so many people know about us through word of mouth. We've also listed our shop on online platforms like Justdial. When people search for "Vasanth Mobile" in Coimbatore on Google, they often find us. Justdial has helped too, with reviews like "best service" guiding potential customers to our shop. We pay a fee to Justdial to ensure our shop appears first in the search results. A customer without prior knowledge will often choose the shop with the best reviews, even if they have to pay a bit more. This accounts for about 10% of our online customers. We've built a strong reputation through excellent customer feedback, and our regular customers have also been a significant source of word-of-mouth referrals.
Super stockers typically come to us. If you have a shop, they'll approach you regularly. We have a shop in the area, and we supply products from here to there. The super stockers inform us of their stock requirements.
Walk-in customers are around 6 to 8. We have more online customers who find out about us through Google, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.
People who already purchases suggest to their relatives and in commercial they might have a hotel and they might ask for customize products and we meet that.
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.