Peak Season

In West Bengal, the Durga Puja time is the peak season for all shop owners. During Durga Puja, I get a lot of customers at my shop. I even get out-of-town customers at my shop during Durga Puja to buy clothing items and cosmetic products. Other than that, I also get customers who come to my shop to buy products like cream when they are out of stock. I get these types of customers at my shop throughout the year. During the Durga Puja season, new products get launched in the market and these products sell a lot in the city, but not here. So, I buy these new products and sell them to customers by telling them that they are trendy. There are some new products that I will only buy during Durga Puja and not otherwise. It is not possible for me to go to Kolkata every month and buy products from there.

During government holidays, the workload increases because customers leave their bikes for repairs for the whole day.

I manage work alone. I request 2 or 3 days for repairs. If the customer wants, they can leave their vehicle, or they can take it away.

If there is a festival, we have more customers. Otherwise, we only have 5-10 customers daily. After the Corona, the business is down. It was going well before, but now, the work is less. The public does not have enough money, so it is difficult. People are not shopping as they did before. They have reduced their expenditures and are also being careful. When a pandemic happens, we are helpless. The business was going so well, and Corona put a brake on it.

Yes. I have peak seasons during Diwali, Rakshabandhan, Teeja, Navratri, and Holi. I do small business during festivals. I keep something in the shop during 'Teeja', and I keep 'Abir' during Holi.I keep garlands of God during Diwali and Dusshera. Garlands are available for decorating at home. Stickers and rangoli are also available. Yes. I buy things according to the festivals. I do everything according to 'puja-paath'. I do not do anything extra; I keep something in the shop and not waste it in a year. Sales happen during festivals. But no matter how much we wish, it would never get fulfilled. I am self-satisfied, nice, and healthy. There are no issues.Yes. I have peak seasons during Diwali, Rakshabandhan, Teeja, Navratri, and Holi. I do small business during festivals. I keep something in the shop during 'Teeja', and I keep 'Abir' during Holi.I keep garlands of God during Diwali and Dusshera. Garlands are available for decorating at home. Stickers and rangoli are also available. Yes. I buy things according to the festivals. I do everything according to 'puja-paath'. I do not do anything extra; I keep something in the shop and not waste it in a year. Sales happen during festivals. But no matter how much we wish, it would never get fulfilled. I am self-satisfied, nice, and healthy. There are no issues.

When more customers come during festivals, I ask the customer to purchase materials from somewhere else if they have an emergency. I cannot provide fast service due to limited space. If a customer asks for immediate material, I would not be able to provide it. There is someone standing behind you as well. I caught you and left the person behind. Then I caught the person behind. My behavior may become bad if I do not give a proper response. You should give a proper response to someone. I would provide you with some materials and then find someone else. I do not have greed. Satisfaction is the most important. If you have self-satisfaction, God will give you more.

If it's busy season and there are more vehicles then then It falls short on space. There is a basement. it belongs to some other person, I ask for his permission to use it. I have to ask for permission always even for 1 or 2 bikes. It's completely safe; there is no problem ever.

Peak time is during summer season, people go for the outing and on the way their cars get spoilt or something so they come to us. Due to hot climate the temperature increases and car also gets heated up. In sunlight cars come to us more.Yes in Dashera, in Navratri, on holidays, during vacation of the children, people go for the outing and sometimes they need to come to us. In Ganesh utsav also they come to us. In Ganesh utsav they don’t come more to us, in Navratri and in summer vacation they come to us more.

Yes, this is Bhandara Zilla, so earlier they used to grow paddy or grains, but now there is water. Now we have water, that is why people have started growing other things as well, I mean like vegetables and all. Farmers have started growing that. So, the season is like, earlier it was only paddy, but now because there are other vegetables, so you can say it lasts all year, the season, only for one or two months of summer, I mean April and May, the business is not that much during those months.

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.

The peak season is during Diwali. Maximum Diwali season is maximum peak season and mostly regular sales. But generally, there is no season for fancy. Demand will peak during wedding and function season.

During the peak season, I will ask my wife to assist. Other times, I will manage myself. We don’t have sales persons for work. On Sundays there will be a crowd because of sandhai (market). She will come and help at that time.

And this is seasonal business, it is not a everyday business. Like it has been raining for the last seven days now, so, I'm not getting any business. Because during this time farmers don’t go into the farms, they can’t plant anything, they can’t do anything during this time.

Eid is our busiest time of the year. We have customers coming in the morning and they keep coming throughout the day. Because of this, we don't have time to go out for food, so we provide food parcels for everyone in the shop. We also have concerns about robbery, which is why we have 7 people working. We close our shop at 6 AM the next day because it gets very busy.

On Eid, we have a lot of customers. Many women across India prefer a quick Muslim-style makeup with lots of glitter. That's why they apply a lot of makeup. And that's why anyone who comes to our store ends up buying something. It's never empty. During that time, we have a large crowd, so we need to serve customers quickly.

During peak times, I keep stock at the shop. However, during other times, I only get a few items from the market on a daily basis. For example, if I go to the market and the total is Rs.100, the company will give me Rs.80, and I pay Rs.75 to the shop in the market . That's it. There are very few companies in the market, and they don't know me. All the shopkeepers come there to buy, including the wholesale shopkeepers. Yes, it's in Itwari. They can get everything at a lower rate. So, the same company gives us something for Rs.10, we get it for Rs.8, and we get it for Rs.7 at the market. That's why we prefer to buy from there. Today, if I make Rs.10, Rs.20, Rs.20, Rs.50, I can save Rs.200 or even Rs.300. I learned all this before the lockdown, at least 5 years ago. That's why I don't buy from the company; I buy directly from the market. There are many shops in the market, not just one. Yes, there are many shops, or I can call them and they will get it for me. I am currently buying from one shop, but another shop called me and made a bill. This way, I can get it quickly without wasting time.

Customers come whenever they like. Sometimes I get four to five customers at once, and other times I only get two customers in a day. This is a seasonal business. For example, during Rakhi, my stock was low because my friend, whom I mentioned earlier, will be coming again in ten days. After that, there is Dussehra and Diwali. The peak season is from Rakhi to Diwali. During the monsoon season, demand goes down, and I don't get much business, which is the case for everyone. However, from Rakhi to Diwali and then in summers during wedding season, I do get more business. After the new year, business starts to pick up again. I do change my stock according to the season and the latest trends. For example, if there are new Kurtas or Sarees in trend, I stock them accordingly.

I don't expect to make a huge profit from just 2 customers. I would be willing to make less profit in exchange for more customers. Let me give you an example. Since this is a local area and not a market, we don't have 200 customers. Sometimes we have a large crowd, and both of us can't handle it alone. In those cases, I have to call my wife for help. I handle the machine while he does the Xerox, but when I have more customers for form fill-ups and such, I have to call my wife. I inform them that there is a crowd and it becomes chaotic when I have customers waiting outside. There are days when the three of us can't handle it either. This happens occasionally and it's not related to the season. During the Puja time, my shop experiences a decline in business. What do they get? They get brooms, brushes, and other items. The sale of cold drinks is normal, they sell well. But mostly, the sales pick up in November when exams start and the form fill-up process begins. Apart from that, everything runs normally.

Yes, a girl works here. She arrives after 11 am. She stays in the next lane, and her elder sister used to work here before. After her sister got married, she started working here. During puja time, I only keep staff. The rest of the time, I don't keep any staff. During Puja, the demand is high, so we have pressure. There are many other shops here. If people see 50 people standing in my shop, they will go to another shop. In that case, if I keep two staff members, it becomes convenient for me. I can show the products to the customers, and the girl can also show products to the customers. So, we can handle 3 to 4 people at a time. Mostly I keep staff during Puja time for 2-3 months. I keep staff from August till after Diwali. If my business gets expanded and pressure increases then I will have to keep staffs. As we two stay in the shop we can manage.

During puja time, 11pm or 11:30pm would be quite normal. The people close to my shop would come at night because there would be a crowd in the evening. So, I have to keep some time open for them as they don't like crowds. That's why there would be so much crowd in the evening, and they would see this and not come at that time. Instead, they would think of coming at 11pm. I would have to open some time for them and talk to them as well. If they come and go without talking, customers would leave. But when we talk, a relationship can be built with the customer. I have to take care of this and consider it while running the business. The men wouldn't talk much; they would come, get what they need, and leave. However, the ladies would come and talk for some time. They would ask for things, so we have to give them an extra 10 to 15 minutes. After that, we have to arrange everything again and check the stock that was sold. That's how it would take from 12am to 12:30am.

During the Puja time, this would be different. I have to wake up in the morning, and if my husband is not there, I have to open the shop. Otherwise, the staff would have the pressure to open the shop at 9 am for sure. Currently, the shop opens at 10 am, but after 7 days, it will open at 9 am because it takes time to arrange everything after opening. I have to open the shop, clean, and organize the goods. Sometimes, when the goods are finished, I have to go to the market as well. The shop would close by 2 pm or 2:30 pm. Before 7 days of Puja, the shop would remain open until 3:30 pm or 4 pm. Then, it would be closed for 1 hour and reopen at 5:30 pm or 5 pm.

We have peak seasons around festival times and on all Sundays. Additionally, there is a market that is set up on the same land, in the empty space over there, and it becomes full on Sundays. There is usually a lot of rush here, making it difficult for vehicles to come in. Therefore, people who are buying vegetables will definitely come and purchase items from here. So people around 4km, 8-10 km away from here, they will come and purchase everything and go.

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.

The peak season for mobile sales is during Diwali. People receive bonuses during this time, and it's when mobile sales surge. In today's world, mobile phones have become an integral part of daily life. Almost everyone has a cell phone, and it's like an essential utility. People prioritize what they use most, and they want to update and upgrade their phones. A cell phone is a necessity for various activities, from entertainment to banking, so when people have extra money to spend, they often choose to invest it in a new cell phone during Diwali.

We offer a lot of promotions during Diwali, depending on the market situation. It varies based on factors like which models are in demand and what benefits we can provide. We offer discounts and accessories. If a mobile phone costs 10,000 rupees, we might offer a discount of 500 rupees, which attracts customers. We can also provide accessories at a lower price, which can be quite profitable.

We have a peak season. We get good business during summers. Normally, the business is good for 5 days a week. Earlier, the business used to run well. Our daily sales used to be 10,000 rupees. Even on Sundays, the sales were 3,000 to 4,000. But now, the business is dull. So, I want to change the business. When sandals get worn out, people mostly try to buy new ones in summers. After the rainy season, when summer starts, they like to change their old sandals.

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.

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.