Quieter or Noisy Bazaars...You Decide?
We all heard about the attack on Reliance store in Ranchi. And as I was pondering over it and trying to understand the dynamics of the situation, I got another interesting article from Bhai.
The article he sent me was a news story done by BBC on changing role of supermarkets in India. I thought these two articles neatly tied into each other, and answered some of the questions I was thinking about when I heard about the danga in Ranchi.
The story by BBC does get into some of the pros and cons of the new system that seems to be coming up in most cities in India, the concept of selling fresh fruits and vegetables at supermarkets and more and more people preferring to shop there in contrast to heading for the local sabzee mandi for buying the vegetables and fruits for the day or week.
The article stated that people seem to prefer to go to supermarkets which house a variety of items, so that it can serve as a one stop shop for all needs of the people. Personally, I'm still a little skeptical of the concept of buying vegetables from a supermarket.
I've been living in the US for 3 years and only I know how much I miss going to a sabzee mandee to buy fresh veggies and fruits. The veggies at the supermarket can never compete with the subzee mandee veggies in terms of freshness. The only reason I can think of people not wanting to go to sabzee mandee is because they might feel its unhygenic as all veggies are out in the open and especially in India where there is a lost of dust flying in the air.
The article also talks about how some consumers feel that they can go to the supermarket with their whole family and all the family members will find something to suit their interest. From personal experience, I can say that going to the subzee mandee with my father every Sunday was quiet a fun and educational activity to do.
Some of aspiring executives learn so many principles of communication and business management in well polished, heavy ivory or oak door B-Schools. In my opinion, that learning will only be complete when you put that into practice and one such place are these subzee mandees. First hand you get to practice your communication and business skills. Interaction between customer and clients, the art of striking a bargain ( a very useful skill in business, helps in landing client accounts) are all part of the theory taught in B-Schools, but I have already learned them by just accompying my father every sunday to the subzee mandee. And it was fun too, half a day out of the home. I think our generation is becoming lazy in the name of modernization and development.
The number of Walmarts and supermarkets and extinction of subzee mandees shouldn't be considered signs of development. "The Indian retail industry" - as the articles denotes it, is chaotic and provides employment to a lot of people who don't have the necessary educational skills to work even as an employee at the supermarkets which seem to be taking away from them.
The other side of the coin though is - Are these retail outlets really taking away business from subzee mandee vendors?
Surely, the article talks about the life of one such vendor, who is seemingly losing business and is now faced with dilemma of fighting on in the industry or returning to his village. But, is that because of retail outlets or competition between vegetable vendors from the unorganized retail industry (the others like him; who've also migrated to the city, in pursuit of a better future).
The only flaw to this theory is that the story by BBC talks about the situation of vegetable vendors in cities. The story doesn't present the picture about them in the towns and villages.
This makes me wonder more and more - What is the real picture? Is this the case only with the cities section of the Indian Retail Industry?Does every city dweller now leaning towards purchasing veggies and fruits from the supermarkets?
Being from Bangalore, I can assure people that certainly not everyone is headed to a supermarket every Sunday when they want to buy vegetables for the week. There is more crowd in HAL market to buy fruits and vegetables than there are people doing the same in all the supermarkets in the city. I think there are some more questions that need to be answered before we deliver the final verdict on this issue.
The article he sent me was a news story done by BBC on changing role of supermarkets in India. I thought these two articles neatly tied into each other, and answered some of the questions I was thinking about when I heard about the danga in Ranchi.
The story by BBC does get into some of the pros and cons of the new system that seems to be coming up in most cities in India, the concept of selling fresh fruits and vegetables at supermarkets and more and more people preferring to shop there in contrast to heading for the local sabzee mandi for buying the vegetables and fruits for the day or week.
The article stated that people seem to prefer to go to supermarkets which house a variety of items, so that it can serve as a one stop shop for all needs of the people. Personally, I'm still a little skeptical of the concept of buying vegetables from a supermarket.
I've been living in the US for 3 years and only I know how much I miss going to a sabzee mandee to buy fresh veggies and fruits. The veggies at the supermarket can never compete with the subzee mandee veggies in terms of freshness. The only reason I can think of people not wanting to go to sabzee mandee is because they might feel its unhygenic as all veggies are out in the open and especially in India where there is a lost of dust flying in the air.
The article also talks about how some consumers feel that they can go to the supermarket with their whole family and all the family members will find something to suit their interest. From personal experience, I can say that going to the subzee mandee with my father every Sunday was quiet a fun and educational activity to do.
Some of aspiring executives learn so many principles of communication and business management in well polished, heavy ivory or oak door B-Schools. In my opinion, that learning will only be complete when you put that into practice and one such place are these subzee mandees. First hand you get to practice your communication and business skills. Interaction between customer and clients, the art of striking a bargain ( a very useful skill in business, helps in landing client accounts) are all part of the theory taught in B-Schools, but I have already learned them by just accompying my father every sunday to the subzee mandee. And it was fun too, half a day out of the home. I think our generation is becoming lazy in the name of modernization and development.
The number of Walmarts and supermarkets and extinction of subzee mandees shouldn't be considered signs of development. "The Indian retail industry" - as the articles denotes it, is chaotic and provides employment to a lot of people who don't have the necessary educational skills to work even as an employee at the supermarkets which seem to be taking away from them.
The other side of the coin though is - Are these retail outlets really taking away business from subzee mandee vendors?
Surely, the article talks about the life of one such vendor, who is seemingly losing business and is now faced with dilemma of fighting on in the industry or returning to his village. But, is that because of retail outlets or competition between vegetable vendors from the unorganized retail industry (the others like him; who've also migrated to the city, in pursuit of a better future).
The only flaw to this theory is that the story by BBC talks about the situation of vegetable vendors in cities. The story doesn't present the picture about them in the towns and villages.
This makes me wonder more and more - What is the real picture? Is this the case only with the cities section of the Indian Retail Industry?Does every city dweller now leaning towards purchasing veggies and fruits from the supermarkets?
Being from Bangalore, I can assure people that certainly not everyone is headed to a supermarket every Sunday when they want to buy vegetables for the week. There is more crowd in HAL market to buy fruits and vegetables than there are people doing the same in all the supermarkets in the city. I think there are some more questions that need to be answered before we deliver the final verdict on this issue.
posted by Neha | 1:45 PM
3 Comments:
Buying sabzies at mandee can be fun but than what about cleanliness of these things.When people can buy packed clean fruits and vegetables without bargaining than they will sure opt for supermarkets.But as far as Bangalore goes though supermarkets are coming up they can never beat the freshness of vegetables of vendors.So one can see people still standing around vendors and buying fresh Palak.
Well, my mom had her first supermarket experience in Patna yesterday. Soon, we will see these things happening in smaller towns as well.
From what I see, two things attract people to supermarts:
1. Ease of shopping.
2. Low prices.
Mom could not stop talking about how cheap the stuff was.
Although I understand how the rates can be low initially, it will be interesting to see how they maintain the low rates while keeping high standards.
India sure is developing... the question is.. as it develops.. what will it be like.. France, Britain, Japan, Australia, or the United States?
So, how do you like your Paalak.. cheap and frozen, or costly and fresh ... or perhaps.. cheap and fresh?
-A
Nice article. Firstly not all supermarkets sell frozen stale vegetables. There are a lot of supermarkets that have fresh clean vegetables on racks (which probably remain fresher through the day, because it isnt in the sun)
Secondly, vegetable vendors are not losing out on business yet, as they still provide a few things that supermarkets don't, like personal interaction with the customer. Lots of long standing clients enjoy the attention they get when greeted with 'yen sir. hegidhira eevathu?' :-) literally translated to 'kya sir. kaise ho aaj?' :-)
They feel that they can place their trust in these ppl to pick and supply you with the best.
A similiar trend is noticable in the banking industry, where many people are highly reluctant to switch to online banking facilities because they dont feel secure enough without the familiar bankers they are used to transacting with.
Also supermarkets have not penetrated the non-cities in India yet.
I feel both vendors and supermarkets have their market share.. the former consisting of loyal clients who want to be serviced personally and the latter consisting of busy youths who don't want to be bothered with unwanted chat and personal interaction. And I feel both are justified in feeling the way they do..
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home