Bargaining ,Retailing and India

My friend asked me this evening with that sweet look in her eyes and i somehow knew the question that was about to be popped up next “Can we go shopping today?”. I had to decline her not because i did not want to go but because i have become kind of a big spender these days and now my ATM card growls at the idea of going into that machine once again :P ....being a bit free these days we always find reasons of going out and inevitably find ourselves buying something or the other...

But just the mention of shopping made me go back to the times when me and my mom used to go out for shopping ..we saw and saw and saw all the products available in the shop till the time mom was totally and totally satisfied ...and then followed the most interesting procedure of all “BARGAINING”....when mom used to “negotiate” with the shopkeeper about reduction in price....right from the price of vegetables to the silk saree she bought herself she would bargain regarding everything...she firmly believed and always said “Being a buyer gives you tremendous authority," he says. "Salespeople know that if you don't spend your money in their store, you will spend it somewhere else."

Going out shopping was always such an experience for me ....i used to just sit and watch the negotiations....sometimes d shopkeeper won, sometimes mom did but most of the times it ended up in a sentence “neither yours nor mine .lets settle at this”. This bargaining, negotiations ,haggling or whatever you call it form an integral part of the purchasing behaviour of all consumers and Indian housewives define shopping pleasure by how much they were able to negotiate. Being consumers Indians realise that the best point of bargaining is that they have nothing to loose.

But now with the emergence of the retail stores, speciality stores and big brands flooding the markets ..the joy, the practice of bargaining is slightly evaporating but the Indian consumer is missing the pride of have coming victorious after a battle with the shopkeeper...even the heavy discounts at the discount stores cant give that feeling of satisfaction of your will prevailing over the shopkeeper’s price. The idea of bargaining is not practiced nor is considered appropriate in the high level retail chains.....buy the thing at the stated price or leave it ....there are others waiting in the queue....

But cant we in a country like India where the customers feel proud of being able to win the negotiations...start a trend where retail, organised retail goes hand in hand with bargaining???? Can’t we start what we can term as “BARGAINING RETAILING IN INDIA”??? You step into the mall filled with all the facilities u require and expect from a mall ....all the products are the same....u choose the one that best suits your need and pocket both ;) and after finalising when you go onto the counter u can start doing what we Indians love doing and we are definitely good at “NEGOTIATE”

Like the discount store model which was a revolution in the marketing scenario of India...can we give the Indians the pleasure of shopping the best in what they would call reasonable prices????Retail for us has meant no negotiations while the Kiranas wala were about bargaining....when its the same prices that are levied inside and outside the outlet why not offer the last and the most convincing pleasures to your consumers....

The idea of bargain retailing could really prove beneficial in the rural areas of India where people are still not used to the idea of one-price shops...they are getting brand conscious but still their brand knowledge is limited to the knowledge of the near by shop....the Indian consumers feel the big brands to be overpriced.....but a chance to bargain on them probably could benefit both the sides included....the minimal price that is set by the retail store is set after lots of negotiations and whatever is set by negotiations should be open to negotiations. The retail prices set by some humans which can be questioned by some other humans....

Just the thought of going into a retail store, choosing the things of your choice and coming out with a price that suits your pocket and does not cut the company’s pocket too much either is a dream come true for any consumer....as an Indian customer i can say i would love the idea....what do u say???

JUGAAD

This word has various interpretations in various minds .But for me , I liked and am in total consent with what I read on the t shirt of a guy…..The tshirt had JUGAAD printed in bold and just blow it was written a line “The Indian word for creativity”. India is known for its innovations at the cheapest of costs involved. The people who come to visit India are often amazed at the fact that even after having such a large population and chaos, India works efficiently.
The Indians cannot survive without jugaad. How to catch a train on time when you are impossibly late by asking the auto wala to do some jugaad, How to get your file through a series of “friendly”(pun intended) government officials, How to make seating arrangements by using storage trunks, how to make a scooter run for the longest distance with the petrol on reserve by tilting the scooter every now and then on the way…these are things an Indian knows by the virtue of being an Indian.
For majority of Indians, jugaad is creativity,innovation but for some others it is making the seemingly impossible work at the minimal resources present. Quoting my friend here “Jugaad is getting the easiest and most effective solution at the scarcest of resources”. A country like India where people are faced with different situations each day , you can witness the most innovative solutions . I witnessed such a solution the other day on the trip to Lavassa, the first integrated township and hill city .On our way we crossed the area where people face four months of heavy rains each year. Most of the people residing there are villagers who neither find the idea of raincoats effective nor have the comfort of carrying an umbrella to the fields.So the people have designed their own versions of suitable rain shields. They cut the sack (boris) in such a way that it can be easily placed on their heads and over the sacks they have a heavy plastic cut in the same manner as to suit their needs,or at times a plastic sack was proving effective. While wearing these they can roam around freely on the fields and the investment is also negligible. This is “JUGAAD” of India.
The major point for the Jugaadis is that they never say “NO”. They just get the work done. Their decision is not irrational but is rather affected by various factors.


Jugaad sells in India. The biggest example infront of us are the Dabbawallas who manage to make the tiffins reach the customers just before lunch and make it reach their individual homes before the person leaves office for home by the simple color coding which not only determines the tiffin routing but also tiffin prioritizing as tiffins differ from train to bicycle to foot. No science ,no major technology just a plain simple Jugaad of playing with colors has made them achieve virtual six-sigma quality.
North India has moved a step forward in selling the word and its feel to the people. They have introduced a motor vehicle by the name “jugaad” costing around 20,000 bucks. The funda of the vehicle is simple- wooden planks, tyres, water pumps converted to engines and diesel and your are ready to roll……agreed that it has its negative points but it sells and there is no refutation regarding that.
TATA Motors also excelled at selling the dream of the common man by achieving something that even the best of automobile companies could not achieve. They thought and dreamt of selling a car at less than $3,000. When the world was busy with product enhancement they found the solution for the dreams of the millions of India who have been dreaming for years of replacing their bikes with automobiles. They did the “jugaad”.
In essence jugaad much of India runs on Jugaad .In an examination if you do not have a scale you make do with the pencil box for drawing the lines ,if you have a skin problem you prefer using the local herb than going to the dermatologist ….Love it ,Hate it, Ignore it but knowingly or unknowingly we all at some time or other do the “ JUGAAD “ 

References

http://www.thethinkclub.com/pdf/jugaad_an_introduction.pdf

Random thots at two am

First i m wondering what to write abt....and second thinking how to go about it...so i thought just let me share few random thoughts coming in my dimwit brain at this hour of d night or morn is it??? first thought came to my mind was to thank the inventor of headphones which enable you to hear your kinda songs at full volume even with ur roomie sleeping d room :P....doesnt it feel great at times just to plug in the headphones listen to your fav songs and just do nothing?? the feeling of being with yourself conquers many others.....

second i just opened my fb account and found my home page flooded with posts of my friends....at two am my world is yet not asleep ....who says early to bed and early to rise makes a person healthy wealthy wise ???these are d people who have made my life, made me d way i am and however much i thank dese idiots .....it wont be enuf...true we have had our share of fights, disputes, shoutings ,periods of cold war ....but then is that not d beauty of life???? if everything was good and happy and pleasant what would be d point ???would we even then crave for those precious moments with our select few as we do now??? would we not miss d way we tease each other,get angry, and den try to pacify each other ...or after days of cold war facing each other and saying..."chal ho gayi nautanki" and then give each other the best of d hugs to let d other one know that whatever happens m dere wid u ???i surely would....and so tonight at this weird hour i want to say to all my friends "I LOVE U ALL"...

Third enjoying d second year of my MBA where lets say we r nt "dat" busy as we were in our first year..we sleep late get up late....attend d interesting classes(pun intended)....just went to my friends room who had meticulously placed her laptop on d bed table....and wid amzing concentration was watching "Rocket singh" for d umpteenth time ...I love dis life ....they say once into job u wiill miss student life ....i will miss it d moment i step outta dis campus .....where we have lived and loved life :)

Being in this age bracket of twenty something u realize hell loads in life....friends change,foes change,boyfriends/girlfriends change,places change....u crib,u cry,u bitch,u worry about future,money,life yet u laugh, u think(occasionally :) ),u love,get hurt,love again....but then even in this state of not knowing something u keep findings hopes....hopes of happiness,of love,of friendship,of strength,of ur inner self...in this dilemma of what to do and what not to do...u get something more important...u get "YOU"....so if u r in dat state of confusion and worrying ...dun worry coz we all r in d same boat for once....but have d faith dat we all shall sail through...and even if we have problems in sailing whats d complaint all about...nobody ever said life is easy ,they just said its worth living it !!!!!

and now m really hungry so will try and get sum instant food in one of d rooms...so dat i survive till d morn...