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Retail in India - A Consumer Experience
Anuradha Goyal
As you travel across the city, or across cities in India, you can see the much predicted retail boom happening everywhere. There are shopping malls, supermarkets, hypermarkets and big format retail chains everywhere. Not sure how many people actually understand the difference between these terms, but the mantra is big format shopping space, a place where you have to go using a vehicle as it is not very close to your house, you have to pay for parking, have to go around the store collecting items you want to buy in a basket or a trolley and then stand in a seemingly non-moving queue waiting for your bill to be processed. If you are lucky, you will have a flawless bill with all the free / discount items packed with your shopped items, but more often than not this is usually not the case. I am using this post to summarize my retail experience through a series of incidents, which are primarily from retail chains in Bangalore, and I am assuming the experience may not be very different across cities.
Shoppers Stop: I get some 3-4 e-mailers informing me of the annual sale at Shopper’s stop. I am sure company has spent enough money to communicate the sale information to the customers, and the impact is that I do stop by while passing through one of the outlets. I enter Shopper’s stop and see the sale being announced from every corner through various marketing material. I am looking for certain things, but could not make out of this is on sale or not, I ask the nearest available sales person and she says ‘What Sale? There is no sale.” Just in time, I get a SMS on my mobile, from Shoppers Stop announcing the sale and show this to the person and she shows me a blank face. I point to the material shouting sale all over the store and this lady runs to her colleague and says “What are we supposed to do about sale?” Now, to me this is a classic case of wasted time, effort and resources, you spend so much to bring the customer to store, but when the customer lands, she feels almost let down.
Mobile Store: They have some huge stores in prime locations, considering the fact that selling of mobiles usually does not need so much of physical space. I had to buy a mobile phone and I wanted to exchange it with my old one. There were about 12 people wearing the red ‘Mobile Store’ T-shirts, and I assume they were all there representing the company and should be available for any help that the customer may need. There were 3 groups of 2s, who were busy talking with each other and were in no mood to halt their conversation to attend to the only customer entering the store. Probably they thought someone would attend me, which is a fair thought assuming the customer to salesperson ratio. Next there were a couple of ladies who were busy talking on the mobile and were so lost in the conversation that I am sure they did not even notice my entering the store. There were two people who were busy figuring out something on the only computer available on the store. There were two ladies sitting on a counter, looking nowhere and lost in their thoughts.
I looked around to see the most approachable face and discover that no one is looking at me, probably in the hope that someone else would look at and attend. I walked up to the guys who were on the computer and said I am looking for buying a new mobile phone. He looked up as if I was an interruption and said, “Which one?” I tell him my requirements and ask him to suggest mobiles for the same and he wears a completely confused look. I give up and say the models that I had researched before stepping out to buy and he points me to dummies of those models in a glass window. Finally with no hope of any help or information, I ask him for the buy back price for the old mobile, he makes some frantic calls here and there and says, if you leave the mobile here, I can tell you tomorrow. Now I do not even know where to classify this experience. 12 people on the floor, with absolutely no knowledge of the countable number of products they sell, unable to attend a single customer with absolutely defined requirements. 10% of the number of people with a decent knowledge about the most commonly used product would have helped.
More: Erstwhile Fabmall, and newly christened ‘More’, opened its new outlet near my house and I went there to buy my monthly groceries. By now I do not expect any help from any of the people floating around and fill my trolley with my month’s supply and stand in the queue. The bill amount appears a bit too much to me, but looking at the long queue I pay and come out. I sit in the car and something tells me that I should total the bill, I do that and discover the discrepancy of 300 Rs on a bill of Rs 1500/- , a good 20% amount. I go back to the store with bill in my hand and the guy quietly says Sorry and hands me 300 Rs. I ask for the store manager, but he is expectedly missing at such times, and no one has his cell number.
Westside: I went to pickup some gifts for my new born nephew. I liked something that was in 1-2 year section, but could not find the same thing in new born section. I asked the salesperson around if she could help me find the same item in the 0-3 months section and she plainly said ‘No, not available!’, and just when I turned around, I could find the item and looked at the salesperson and she said ‘If it is available, take it’. Again some 10-12 people on the floor, with no knowledge of what they are selling, what the inventory is and no effort to re-arrange the items meshed up by customers. I spoke to the store manager and got the most customer unfriendly response ‘Please buy whatever you can find, we can not help you with anything’.
Reliance Fresh: There is always an extra item added to the list, in case total number of items exceeds a certain number. If you discover, they say sorry and rectify, if you don’t, they made it. Though I can not say this organized fraud on this small sample, but I am getting inclined to think so and this may be prevailing across stores, especially on weekends where the places are so crowded that most people may not bother to check the bills for small amounts.
Subhiksha: All salesperson are sitting in one corner and chatting away. You ask for something and they take 2-3 minutes to decide which one of them will respond. Finally one person walks up to you, almost making you feel guilty for coming in way of the conversation, only to say he does not know.
Landmark: This upmarket bookstore plays some jarring music, and this is the reason I do not enjoy going there for exploring books. Once I had to go there to use the gift vouchers I received on my birthday, and I was there right after the store opened and again I was the only customer. The music was too loud for my comfort and I asked them to reduce it and they point blank refused saying there are other customers. I looked around and said where, and they obliged me by reducing it by one level. As soon as I reached the shelves, the music was up by about 5 levels, making it impossible for me to concentrate on books. I gave it one more try but I guess letting employees play music at their levels and their kinds is Landmark’s way of retaining employees. I had no option but to walk out.
M K Ahmed: Now this is a store that I love to shop at. It is not very big, but you find everything there. You can ask any person on the floor for anything and you would have that item in your hands within 2 minutes. They do not advertise any big discounts, but when you see the bill the discounts are very much there. Despite being as busy as any other store, you hardly spend any time in the queue. There is no show off, no jarring music, no lost employees, and no display of discounts that do not show up in the bill. Just plain simple customer service supported by the knowledge of the products being sold.
I seriously hope that as the retail space matures, organizations would look at educating their sales force about the products and the customers. Eventually, when there are stores everywhere, selling the same products at more or less the same price, customer service is what is going to dictate where the customers park themselves.
Retail in India - A Consumer Experience
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Ledzius
March 25, 2008
08:49 AM
Good observations. I have always had better experience with shopping at small stores compared to the so-called "retail giants".
To give an example, I needed an electric hot plate (as standby when I run out of gas). I went to Big Bazaar, eZone, and Spar, and none had any. In fact, I was told it is not available in India. I was actually contemplating getting one from abroad. Then a couple days ago, I ventured into this hole-in-a-wall kind of store in Jayanagar, and asked for it. Sure enough, they had them and I bought one. Mind you, this was not even some exotic foreign brand, but a local brand which is quite good.
And in Food World, my favourite snacks would be out of stock for a month or so. They would take their own time in restocking an item. On the other hand, a mom-and-pop store that I used to frequent would always have those (fast moving) items. Never once was I told they were out of stock.
These "giants" have a lot to learn from the local grocer in supply-chain management.
Plus, these retail chains think they are following "Western" practices. Most of them were not even air-conditioned till a couple of years ago. And under those conditions, vegetables (which they religiously seal in plastic pouches without any ventilation) would rot in no time. After a couple of bad experiences, I stopped buying vegetables from these chains. Of course, now the situation has improved since most outlets do air-condition (at least their vegetables section).
And you are right, many of these stores are overstaffed by incompetent employees. A typical Health and Glow outlet will have 10 employees and perhaps two or three customers at any given time. I wonder why waste money on hiring so many employees then.
Vardhan
March 25, 2008
09:06 AM
I was involved in a few IT backend for
a) westside
b) reliance fresh
c) Vishal mega.
This topic is indeed interesting from the enduser perspective. How many of you really look at the
bill receipts .
Do you see "the discounts, promotions, bonus buys"
Do you make a choice based on these promotions?
Vardhan
March 25, 2008
01:03 PM
Is it a case of retail maturing or the consumer differentiating?
As the author pointed, M K Ahmed was enjoyable experience and you go into the store with an expectation and you are satisfied and you become a repeat customer.
I think shopping in the sabji mandis is also a unique experience. Also bargain hunting in the fashion streets. Searching in a chor bazaar or burma bazaar has its own thrills.
The big retail chains introduce uniformity for their price points. You know what you expect in a bigbazaar, you will have to wait in a queue. But then shopping experience is deliberately created to make you spend more. Greed/excitement takes over your senses and you forget the basics.
a) Am I looking at alternatives
b) IS this really what i wanted
c) Is this my budget
d) Should I count the bill, it is a big queue
e) Oh it is a promotion, i will save a lot of money
Do we ever engage the salesperson. It is we for whom he is there. Though much is said about the salesperson job to sell, it is also important how we use his skills and get out task.
a) So many times I have walked into a store and have been advised that many things I never knew.
b) Most of my fashion clothing pick is defined on my eyes peeking at the reaction of salesperson nod. Especially when we are children
I also pity the people when customers shout at them and treat them unfairly.
Indian retail is much more different to other countries and I love each experience as we learn a lot there. We see different shopping attitudes.
I remember asking for the difference in 28, 52 inch High definition TVs between Sony, Phillips, Panasonic, and list goes on, with different models. The decision is so unsure one, but everyone likes to make one. That is retailing and end consumer experience.
Neha
March 26, 2008
10:07 AM
Oh you didn't mention Lifestyle!
Accidentally went shopping to lifestyle in Hyderabad on women's day. They had an guy with a mic going around harassing unsuspecting customers. "Hello Mam (he actually pronounced it that way), what are you doing? how many times can you say kachcha papad, pakka papad?" and the woman would go on to do a rendition of the pappad song much to the agony of the rest of the shoppers. Then the constant checking. Checking they fisrt you when you go into the changing room, frisk you when you come out. i don't understand why i need to be frisked a 100 times! When i finally reach the end of the line at the cash counter i'm told the line is for members only...ggrrr..where the hell is the sign?!! No answer. Get in another line, make the payment. The guy tells me if i spent 3000 bucks then i'll get a gift. The gift is a luck draw. i draw, colour plus shirt, size 44, mens. What the hell!!! who does a lucky dram for size? the men in my family wear a maximum of 42. Rudeness unlimited from the staff. They thought the gift was a favour or something. Threw it back and went home extremely annoyed!
Anamika
March 26, 2008
05:55 PM
On my recent trip to India I had occasion to shop in the malls in Gurgaon and my experience parallels yours. There was one grocery store where there were about 10-12 floor staff standing around and two customers (including me). I browsed and picked up what I wanted and then stood in the line to pay. There was just one person ahead of me and after 10 min I was still waiting to pay! I finally put down my basket and walked out without buying and not one of the staff members asked to know what was wrong. My Westside experience wasn't as bad as yours. However, it was unnerving to be followed around by silent personnel as I browsed. A few times I accompanied some of my European friends to the mall and it was interesting to note how the level of service improved when there were "foreign/white" people around!
At the opposite end of the spectrum was my experience at Akbar Alis departmental store in Mumbai. There we were positively smothered by attention by each and every sales person on the floor. It was so bad that I was scared to even look at a display in case I got cornered by the sales person there!
The main reason why I prefer malls to individual stores is that I can browse on my own without having to rely on the salespersons' idea of what is suitable to be shown me and also, there is less pressure to buy. A lot of storekeepers get sulky and rude if you choose not to buy what they show you! The big chain stores however, make up for this with rude/non-existent service. I wonder why these stores arent interested in turning a profit by training their sales people. Are these stores just meant to turn in a loss and save the parent company a lot of taxes?
perihelionflux
URL
March 27, 2008
12:10 AM
i think the lack of engagement on part of the sales people is borne out of the outdated cultural and social maps that Indians navigate with in their daily lives. there is no concept of 'please', 'thank you', 'May I...', 'Can I help you' in majority of interactions that take place in the indian shopping experience.
In recent times, Indians have forsaken politeness, patience and grace in their interactions and this invariably reflects in the shopping interactions. i wonder if this has been brought about by, in addition to other factors like the exigencies of living in a overcrowded country, the puerile stereotypes peddled by Indian movies where the hero always gets what he wants without bothering about niceties ('Chalti kya Khandala?..' song is an example of uncouth beseechment..sorry i don't know of any recent songs as i haven't watched new movies for a long time now)..and i don't discount the effect of indian movies on indian youth at least..
i agree that if there is a gora, then the indian salesperson suddenly loses his constipated inter-personal behavior and adopts a puppy dog approach to gratify. however i have seen the opposite happen in the west, though rarely, if you switch the colour of the indian salesperson and the white shopper.
in India, I have found the small stores better as they wish to retain and repeat your custom. so after shopping once or twice in Vishal megafart and few other supermarkets in Gurgaon, i started shopping for vegies in the monday/saturday markets and for groceries at a biharis' store where the salesperson would offer to carry my stuff to my car..
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