The concept of retailing just coming in India and the old players like Big Bazaar are already feeling the heat. And obviously they should worry with Reliance foraying in the market and cellular man Mittal entering MOU with the largest retailer in the world - Wal Mart. The scene of Indian retailing industry is set to change and the customer is all set to be king once again
However this post is not about the big player and how they will play. The biggest advantage of supermarkets is it is a collection of markets at one place (building). This has significant advantage and the ease of shopping it provides. However is this really an advantage? In my view as the stores are getting bigger and bigger, shopping times are increasing and so is the pain of shopping.
Just think how much time it takes to locate, decide and pick and item, say X, then we spend close to 2X time to pay the bill and get out of the fish market. Wow what a convenience!!!!
Other interesting point worthwhile to mention is that we always end up buying all items other than what we came to buy. This is the basis of retail industry and it’s really good (for them of course!). No matter how hard we try to buy an item we came for and get out as fast as possible. Alas! We will always have n+1 items in your shopping bag :)
However it is the time taken to look for one item that we came specifically to buy, that pisses me off. And the sheer size of the store makes it almost impossible for the staff to tell the specific location of the item. And better sometimes they do not know whether they are selling that product anymore or not. This has happened so many times that now I do most of the shopping at the local store, in doing so am able to save lots of time.
I know some things cost more but as they say time is more costly and invested in sleeping gives the best returns. :D
9 comments:
heyy.. there is another problem with the fdi in retail.. all those shopkeepers whom we otherwise refer to as baniyas n kirana owners are gonna be doomed.. their number runs into lakhs.. our govt is not even paying mere lip service..
garcia kafka: That may be true for bog citites however to make inroads into smaller towns will take long time
All things have pros and cons. Supermarkets are no exception. The fact that everything is at one place is the biggest advantage. And if you visit the place twice or thrice, you would know where what section is. The only really bad thing is the queue at the billing counters. And even during daytime cos they have fewer counters operational.
It is all matter of habit Abhinav.Once you start shopping a particular shopping mall,you actually save time by buying every thing at one place.Of course you need to be pocket full ,and have patience to look around for things.And then also get some exercise while walking around.(specially for Americans because this is the only time when they use their legs to walk)
I know and if u r particularly refering to Mustaffa then it is real pain in neck to shop there, it was a initial day craze to shop there but now we are stick to online ordering of grocerries and all , this saves time, saves money (as we buy only that what we require and no impulsive buying) and yes it does save us the time to look for taxi also as if in mustaffa it is almost impossible to find taxi back home
But won't deny the fact these malls do offer sometime good deals also
~preeti
The local shopkeepers will b obsolete.. Maybe v r gettin FDI, but the sense of small entrepreneurs is gone...
I think both are going to survive in India.. big shopping malls and baniya shops.
We just can't think of discarding these small grocers at once. We are not running off to a mall to buy just a loaf of bread at 7 o'clock morning when we really need it.
I completely agree with you..Though designed for convinience, the supermarts will actually be disadvantagoues for customers..Not only that, this will wipe out the livelyhood of many petty shopkeers..
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