Big Bazaars Vs Friendly Neighbourhood Baniya
I am tempted to pit WalMart, K-Mart, Tescos, Sainsbury and closer towards home: Foodworld, Reliance Fresh, Big Bazaar Vs the unorganized community of your good old baniya, bakery guy and the fruit and vegetable guy at every corner. (at least they seem unorganized but i am sure they must have a strong informal network of their own.) Here is what I feel.
First lets talk about these big markets. What are the advantages? Firstly, You get everything in one place. You don't have to go to different shops for your groceries. The baniya might not keep eggs or the bakery guy might not keep a toothpaste. Fair enough. Second, you get consumer protection. The big bazaars are corporates and brand image is very critical to them so they go the extra mile when it comes to gaining a consumers trust and keeping it. Third, you might get stuff at a discounted rate. Things such as wheat, rice etc. Also you might get good offers at these bazaars. ( personally I feel these are just marketing gimmicks that make most of us spend without any reason )Fourth, Since you actually go and look for the products, you are more aware of the variety available to you. You have choice. You can pick between low fat healthy products or the more tasty ones that normal people consume.
The concept of the big bazaar has no doubt come from US or UK. It suits for the people there because it was designed for their lifestyle. They come with their cars on some particular day in the week or the month, buy the groceries for the entire week or a month.(Its really huge) They put all that in their cars and drive off. Also, the markets are huge so it seems the entire town has come to shop there. The market is designed specifically to milk the customer. e.g. There will be things such as snacks, chocolates, candy, soft drinks, milk shakes, magazines books (and things which you don't think much before buying) near the counter. So as you wait for your turn to pay, your mind wanders and you get attracted to those products ( all packaged to attract the customers attention. ) and before you know it you have 3-4 items which you didn't really intend to buy in your cart. Thank you very much the sweet lady at the counter chirps. There is a lot of social-engineering that has gone into strategically placing such products to catch the eye and the heart of the consumer and make him spend as much as possible.
Most of the families in US or UK are not big. The typical family might have an adult male and a female (its possible that they are both male or both female too! :) ) and on an average 2 children (if they are < 16 years of age.) so per person the amount of money they spend is lot more.
India has a huge middle class population. The typical family has a couple, two kids and also the parents. So the amount of money spent per person per month is less. Also it might be the case that the guy is the sole bread winner for the entire family. Not every household has a car. Till now Indians have not been spending too much on luxuries. All this is changing slowly but surely and it is good.
Now lets see what the Baniya has. Before the big bazaars arrived, what did the people do to buy stuff for their day to day life? In a particular post code you might find x baniya shops so wherever you stay chances are that there is one at a walking distance from your home. Similar is the case with the bakery shops and fruit and vegetable stalls.
If you are staying in a certain location for a long time, most probably you know the grocer by the name and he knows more about you than you might think. Its kind of more social and friendly. He knows that you need x kg of rice, y kg of sugar, X brand tea, y litres of oil. So he has a default list which he sends to your doorstep every month by default unless you specify otherwise. You don't have to waste your time or energy. Now that's what I call service.
He doesnt pester you with unnecessary stuff such as unhealthy snacks or crappy magazines which you might toss away after glancing through them for a couple of times. He doesnt make you feel the need of somethings which you dont really need. If you feel like having a chocolate you are always free to ask for it.
If you need to pick up something from the store and for some reason you dont have cash or card on you, no problem, you can pay him later or along with the monthly bill. Free credit :). Everything is based on trust! Also if you need a particular product brought, he might make an extra effort to get it for you. Also like the corporates, the baniyas are also careful about their reputation in the neighbourhood so you do get some sort of consumer protection in a kind of an informal way.
So in the Indian context the latter system is much better is what i think.
Big markets are great for products such as books, electronics, VCDs, DVDs, Furniture or other expensive items for which you spend considerable time comparing between different brands, thinking about various features of a certan item. Whereas our good ol' baniya-bakery outlet-vegetable/fruit stall system is good for the mundane day-to-day stuff.
First lets talk about these big markets. What are the advantages? Firstly, You get everything in one place. You don't have to go to different shops for your groceries. The baniya might not keep eggs or the bakery guy might not keep a toothpaste. Fair enough. Second, you get consumer protection. The big bazaars are corporates and brand image is very critical to them so they go the extra mile when it comes to gaining a consumers trust and keeping it. Third, you might get stuff at a discounted rate. Things such as wheat, rice etc. Also you might get good offers at these bazaars. ( personally I feel these are just marketing gimmicks that make most of us spend without any reason )Fourth, Since you actually go and look for the products, you are more aware of the variety available to you. You have choice. You can pick between low fat healthy products or the more tasty ones that normal people consume.
The concept of the big bazaar has no doubt come from US or UK. It suits for the people there because it was designed for their lifestyle. They come with their cars on some particular day in the week or the month, buy the groceries for the entire week or a month.(Its really huge) They put all that in their cars and drive off. Also, the markets are huge so it seems the entire town has come to shop there. The market is designed specifically to milk the customer. e.g. There will be things such as snacks, chocolates, candy, soft drinks, milk shakes, magazines books (and things which you don't think much before buying) near the counter. So as you wait for your turn to pay, your mind wanders and you get attracted to those products ( all packaged to attract the customers attention. ) and before you know it you have 3-4 items which you didn't really intend to buy in your cart. Thank you very much the sweet lady at the counter chirps. There is a lot of social-engineering that has gone into strategically placing such products to catch the eye and the heart of the consumer and make him spend as much as possible.
Most of the families in US or UK are not big. The typical family might have an adult male and a female (its possible that they are both male or both female too! :) ) and on an average 2 children (if they are < 16 years of age.) so per person the amount of money they spend is lot more.
India has a huge middle class population. The typical family has a couple, two kids and also the parents. So the amount of money spent per person per month is less. Also it might be the case that the guy is the sole bread winner for the entire family. Not every household has a car. Till now Indians have not been spending too much on luxuries. All this is changing slowly but surely and it is good.
Now lets see what the Baniya has. Before the big bazaars arrived, what did the people do to buy stuff for their day to day life? In a particular post code you might find x baniya shops so wherever you stay chances are that there is one at a walking distance from your home. Similar is the case with the bakery shops and fruit and vegetable stalls.
If you are staying in a certain location for a long time, most probably you know the grocer by the name and he knows more about you than you might think. Its kind of more social and friendly. He knows that you need x kg of rice, y kg of sugar, X brand tea, y litres of oil. So he has a default list which he sends to your doorstep every month by default unless you specify otherwise. You don't have to waste your time or energy. Now that's what I call service.
He doesnt pester you with unnecessary stuff such as unhealthy snacks or crappy magazines which you might toss away after glancing through them for a couple of times. He doesnt make you feel the need of somethings which you dont really need. If you feel like having a chocolate you are always free to ask for it.
If you need to pick up something from the store and for some reason you dont have cash or card on you, no problem, you can pay him later or along with the monthly bill. Free credit :). Everything is based on trust! Also if you need a particular product brought, he might make an extra effort to get it for you. Also like the corporates, the baniyas are also careful about their reputation in the neighbourhood so you do get some sort of consumer protection in a kind of an informal way.
So in the Indian context the latter system is much better is what i think.
Big markets are great for products such as books, electronics, VCDs, DVDs, Furniture or other expensive items for which you spend considerable time comparing between different brands, thinking about various features of a certan item. Whereas our good ol' baniya-bakery outlet-vegetable/fruit stall system is good for the mundane day-to-day stuff.
posted by Rohit Bhat at
01:00
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