When I started this business, Justdial was launched in the market. People from Justdial came to my shop and took pictures of the products. After that, they called and told me that I needed to pay an annual amount of 14,000 or 15,000 rupees. I told them that I wouldn't pay this amount. Why should I pay that amount when I can buy products with it instead?
II have thought about selling products online. But if I have to invest 30,000-40,000 rupees to sell my products online, I won't be able to do that. As I have already mentioned, people from Justdial came to me and asked me to pay an amount of 15,000 rupees in order to sell products on their platform. I didn't want to pay that amount. Instead of paying 15,000 rupees to them, I can buy products worth 15,000 rupees and earn a profit by selling them at my shop. I can't wait for Justdial to find me customers. I don't think many people use Justdial. That's why I am not interested in investing my money into Justdial.
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.
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.
Just Dial provides an in-built location feature, and we aim to get our address listed on Vasanth Mobile. If you're new to the city and your phone is out of service due to an emergency, you'd find yourself in a city where you can't easily search for services. Not everyone is a regular customer. If you visit a shop that doesn't fulfill your needs, you can't easily explore the city to buy things. In such situations, having a phone in hand is crucial. When you search for the "best service," our shop should ideally be the first to appear. We pay for that prominence.