Thank GOD world is not Black & White….

And in this part of the country people take it pretty seriously. Having travelled various parts of country (both north and south), it hard to miss the uncanny vibrance of South India, the colours and sound around demand your attention, as if they speak louder than the words themselves.

In recent times visual and audio have been powerful marketing strategies of the companies but to see it at the ground implemented by the small vendors in their day to day trade was amazing. To give gist of what made me think so, I have been travelling around the markets near the great lakes the mahabs, kalpakam, annupuram and the most evident thing I saw are the colours, the colours of the shops, the billboards, the advertisement, the use of GREEN, YELLOW and ORANGE is a must, the florescent shades of these colours used widely.

To reaffirm my observation I asked a few shop owners about why are their counters florescent orange and yellow, the response was Orange is a good colour, happy colour. This made me think that this is the taste of the common man, I viewed around and to my amazement ladies were in all kinds of flashy coloured sarees and the glitter of the gold (yellow metal) complementing them. Moving forward to cloth market the display were even flashier, at one shop a dummy was dressed in six different vibrant colours (hat, t-shirt, jacket, hanky, jeans(red) and boots). As I entered a fruit shop the display of a very big heart made up of Oranges, Mausambi(green) and apples (red) and it created and amazing effect, I asked the shopkeeper why did he do that, he said “because of it you come my shop not other one just by seeing that”, his reason was confirmed when I asked a few other fellow customers.

As for the different part of the country where more soft and grey shades of colours are preferred, and maybe I am presumptuous some so called niche societies think black and white are more elegant but not this part and not this people. You can spot the difference through houses, shop shutters, different colored rice in their meals and many more day-to-day things that shows vibrant colours are the part of life. Contrary to my above assumption that marketing companies bring out this strategy, I observed, it is the taste and liking of the people that they have understood and designed their billboards.

Punkit Jain

FT13457

Say Hello to the World

On a not-so-busy evening on the East Raja Street in the heart of Mamallapuram, a passer-by fails not to notice the presence of a number of tours and travels agencies, some few shops apart and few adjacent to each other. ‘Competition’,I told myself, ‘is huge here’. These closely located travel agencies include a mix of some eminently lit-up shops and some just putting up a hoarding to claim their existence. Most of these Travel services shops are of more or less same area accommodating 6-8 chairs for the prospective customers, a couple of chairs to serve them and one or, in some cases, two desks with a computer system per desk separating the line of customers from the service providers. ‘Nothing remarkable’ – you would say. However, the question that hit my mind was whether Mamallapuram had such big a clientele to satisfy such feisty and fierce competition.

Mamallapuram, also popularly known as Mahabalipuram, is a famous travel destination attracting travel lovers from all across the globe. In fact, Mamallapuram has been classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Things quickly add up to give one an impression of the good market opportunity for tours and travels services. On silently observing few travel services shops for some hours I came to realise that the frequency of potential customers visiting the shop did not vary much for most of these shops and in fact, the number was pretty decent. However, a shop stood out among others claiming almost double the normal frequency of potential customers visiting any shop. This shop also stood out in terms of the area of frontage of the shop which was almost three times that of a usual shop there. Attractive, well lit and large area summed up to impress any on-looker. ’Hi! Tours – Say Hello to the World’ – the name speaks volumes about the business it conducts.

Upon entering the shop, the office presents itself in a much orderly fashion with around eight desks all around the room with each desk capable of seating and handling two customers at a time by a staff on the other side of each desk. On one of the walls, you could see four clocks indicating four different time-zones giving you an impression of entering a classy hotel –a feel-good factor!

In one of the corners is a lounge with a capacity of seating eight with a corner stand housing various travel related magazines and brochures of the shop mentioning their services and tourist destinations. ‘Impressive ambience’ – no one can deny. I introduced myself at one of the desks and enquired for a couple of questions pertaining to my project. To my amazement, the person at the desk greeted with a rather broad smile and asked me to be seated at the lounge before someone from higher management with better understanding of the firm joins me. Hospitality – ingrained in the staff.

In a couple of minutes, I was joined by Mr Ivon in the seating area. An amicable person in his early 30’s, Mr Ivon told me that theirs was the first Tours and Travels shop in the area started around 9 years back under single proprietorship. But as business grew and capital fell short with an equal threat from the competition, the ownership diluted and is currently under 3 owners. Apt response for market changes and eagerness to expand! The shop, Mr Ivon added, has branches in Mamallapuram, Delhi, Varanasi, Udaypur, Cochin and Chennai. They also conduct Case-by-case or Point-by-Point business in Trivandrum and Bhubaneswar. Strategic locations for an all India tour provisions. When asked about their near future expansion plans, he divulged a vision of adding a few north-eastern strategic points so as to increase the target customer.

When asked about their core competencies, Mr Ivon told that the company’s biggest strength is in the fields of In-bound and Out-bound tour operations for US, Canada, Europe and Australia. To promote this, the organization has liaisons with various marketing agencies overseas like Sayang Holidays. Also, the firm is a member with PATA (Pacific Asia Travel Association) and ASTA (American Society of Travel Agents) bringing the firm above par with its competitors in the local market. This firm, it seems, has got the first rule right – ‘Build business around your core competencies making it difficult for competitors to emulate’.In addition, the firm also indulges in Air/Train/Bus reservations but this is only to attract the local crowd and the business does not heavily rely on this at Mamallapuram.

When questioned about their publicity strategies, I came to know that they heavily rely on local FM radio stations, hoardings, circulation of pamphlets and SMS packs to the masses. The life-size hoardings of various tourist destinations at the entrance to the shop at Mamallapuram are an add-on.

The shop work-force at Mamallapuram, Mr Ivon added, has a total of 30 people including personnel for sales, accounts, tour-leaders, transport/logistics and clerical staff. The shop operates for 6 days a week in summer and 7 days a week in winter. The shop is adequately resourced to service 15-18 customers at a time with a separate waiting area for another 8 which is almost 1.5 times the expected peak rush. ‘A customer who enters our premises’, told Mr Ivon, ‘must be given a seat or else we might lose business. The lounge is basically for children or other elderly people who might accompany the customers.’ How thoughtful and Customer-oriented!

Finally, I thanked Mr Ivon for his time and information to which he promptly responded ‘We are in the Travel Services. Hospitality and information sharing is our duty.’ How Humble!

Kumar Abhineet (FT13432).

"BAY TREASURE"

It was a Wednesday night, and the campus was near empty, with Chennai locals off to their homes, and the others off for a party! This time, the party was at a resort called “Bay Treasure”. I thought it was a good idea to study on a resort at a place where there are so many that each one is at a stone’s throw from the other. Luckily for me, I got to meet the owner of the premises, who, in fact is the person doing the front office job, sitting at the reception. The owner and her husband started this business on 24^th March, 2011(so, it’s relatively new), targeting not the ‘local crowd’, but tourists from India & abroad, plus of course, students like us who like to unwind on days off. The peak season for foreign tourists is July-Aug(The French Season), when the French arrive, and Nov-Feb, when other non-Indian tourists arrive. During these months, their rooms (24 of them) are at full occupancy. Indian tourists keep flowing in throughout the year, whenever they get extended weekends! Each of their rooms has a sea view, but the occupancy is just about 25-30% during off-season.

The resort, apart from the lodge, which they call “The Siesta Wave”, has quite a bit to offer – a party/conference hall named “Rendezvous”, a coffee shop named “Mug Shot”, an A-La-Carte restaurant named “Taste Unlimited”, a buffet restaurant named “Skewer” and a soon to open liquor shop, “Brandy Wine”, for which they’ve applied for a license. But surprisingly, liquor is on offer(in the name of tonic) even now, when the license is not in hand. They claim their services to be 3 star.

When asked how they advertise their resort, they said, they cannot afford newspaper advertisements, and so, are available on Biz List, Just Dial, Yellow Pages, etc. But nonetheless, 75% of their customers are repeat customers, which they feel is the most rewarding. They say, “If u ask us what is our competitive edge, we do not know, because we do not know what other resorts have to offer, but we believe that for our kind of price, we are the best”. They offer novelties like roof top swimming pool(with reclining chairs by the side), Bar-be-que buffet & value for money services, which is what is their USP. They have a continental menu on offer, to cater to the needs of people from the world over. Apart from this, they also serve sea food on request, which is not there on their regular menu. This, I was told, is a request made mainly by the foreign tourists. The other customisation they make is Hookah on the pool side, but at a 50% premium. They prefer having it inside because of the frequent coal change required in open air, but there are customers who specifically want it outside, even if it comes at a premium! So, customer satisfaction is something that they try to maintain, but not at the cost of their loss of profits. The restaurants, as told, are about 60% full on weekdays & 100% full on weekends. A noticeable thing was that they play music only on public demand, and not otherwise, to try & conserve energy. In fact, their coffee shop has floor lights, which again, they turn on only during parties, and not otherwise, to save energy.

Now, there’s one glitch that they’re facing-they are not able to put their garden to effective use, because their kitchen is not in proximity and they don’t have enough staff to serve there and at their restaurants at the same time. So, for now, they screen important sports matches on a projector at the poolside, which is close to their restaurants. They plan to make their garden operational over time, as their revenues increase, and they can afford to have more employees, as it's just been about a year since they started and need some time to gain a foothold in the market. This will further increase the influx of customers.

Varuna Narayanaswamy
FT13485

Wanna drink the healthy way?

It was my first visit to Mamallapuram on the 18th of May. As I walked along a narrow street,completely fatigued due to the heat, I found a fruit juice shop to my rescue. Here I was at “FAVOURITE JUICE LAND” , completely oblivious of the fact that this could actually be the target store for my marketing project!

I found myself a small table to sit, relax and rejuvenate from the beating heat. While sipping the drink, I realised that the person at the juice counter appeared very enthusiastic and exuberant about his work; he greeted each customer with a smile. Once done with the juice, my friends and I paid him the cash, which was when he asked us if we were visitors to Mamallapuram. This triggered a small chat with him and then I knew that this is the shop/business I want to observe and write a blog on.....

I later walked into the shop to meet the owner when I was in for a bit of surprise – the man making tea and coffee was none other than the owner of the shop. This intrigued me further, because I expected the owner to be directing his workers there. Sadiq, was his name, a young man, full of energy and extremely humble.
Below are some of my findings (from the conversation with Mr Sadiq ) on the marketing and business of the Favourite Juice land......

General Details

Started in: 2009           
Started by: Mr Sadiq
Concept: Fruit Juice and milk shakes
Working Since: 3 years

 

Staff

Owner/Proprietor: Mr Sadiq
Total Staff: 3
Juice Department: 1 person
Tea and Coffee Department: Mr Sadiq himself
Cleaning and Maintenance: 1 person

Branches

Currently Mr Sadiq has another branch at Karapakkam Chennai. He manages this branch at Mamallapuram and the one at Chennai is managed by his two other friends.

 

USP

The owner says that he tries his best to deliver fresh fruit juice of good quality. He considers this a secret for the success of his shop.
After trying the “Mango Milk shake” myself, I can vouch for this. The quality of Juice is of very good standards, comparable to that of any such shop in Chennai.
Juice is made using Mineral water, to cater to all types of customers. Tourists are mainly attracted to this place because of these two reasons and of course the hospitality of the owner!

Marketing Strategy

As we know that Word of Mouth is incredibly important in marketing, while speaking to Mr Sadiq, I realised the importance of it even better. This is because he attributes the popularity of his shop in Mamallapuram to Word Of Mouth Marketing. He says that he takes no extra steps to market his shop, he just concentrates on delivering good quality fresh juice and success follows. Like any other start-up he also witnessed initial glitches, but it was his perseverance that sailed him through. Now he has quite a loyal customer base, he adds. Youngsters around that place form a majority of his loyal customers of juice. Older men, drop in for a cup of tea or coffee during their evening walks.

Very recently he started using “Visiting Cards” for his shops, so whenever he meets any new customer who is happy with his service, he hands over one card to them, asking them to try out his other shop at Chennai too. This is working as an add-on to his Word Of Mouth Marketing strategy.

I also tried to interact with one of his customers, who said that he enjoys both the juice and tea at this shop. He believes that is value for money and is hygienic.

Recent add on: As the popularity and success of his store kept increasing, Mr Sadiq wanted to add another dimension to his shop. He then started selling a few ice-creams too! While observing his store, I was forced to believe that this man was quite a strategist. He placed his ice-cream counter right next to the Juice counter, so that the customers, mostly children, would be tempted for some ice-cream too.

As Mr Sadiq had too many customers lined up that evening, I couldn’t discuss the other aspects of his business, which I plan to during my next visit to the place

A Baker’s diary

A typical weekday evening would have people returning from office who generally stop by for snacks and general shopping . Hence, this time of the day was ideal for me to study the customer visits to the local bakeries of Mahabalipuram.

I made observations of particularly two bakeries – Archana sweets and Bakery and Iyengar bakery. The parameters and metric of evaluation are detailed in the table below.

Sl. No.	Parameter of evaluation	Archana bakery and Sweets	Iyengar Bakery
1	Average number of customers in 10 min	8 to 9	2 to 3
2	No. of people to attend customer	3	1
3	Customer category	All - family crowd, youth, foreigners, students, small kids	Primarily college crowd, general labour class
4	Cost	Nominally priced(based on a customer feed back)	Little cheaper
5	Location	Main road	Interior (side lanes)
6	Glamour quotient	Good lighting, attractive hoarding, items arranged very neatly	Dull lighting, not very clean, clustered
7	customer service	quick service, very friendly personal, many regular customers(some visiting for more than 7 years)	Witnessed a customer tussle over some money being due, no personal touch
8	Product lines	A wide range of products - confectionaries, mixtures , sweets, cakes, packaged snacks (lays,biscuits,wafers) , cold drinks	Mainly bakery products
9	language	Owner – local(from Chennai); Main language of conversation : Tamil. But knew other languages - english(foreigners),Hindi	Owner was from Bangalore. Struggling to talk in the local language(Tamil).
10	Process	Bakery timings - 7:30 AM to 9PM).Fresh stock brought from godown(2 trays of each item made).A stock check is done in the afternoon based on the sales in the morning - more is made on a need basis. All perishable items are not kept beyond 7:30 in the evening. The product is not sold even if customer asks.	No particular bakery timings. Bakery closes early when there are no sales. Items made in bulk and kept for at least 2 days if not sold.
11	Work force	4 guys serving at bakery, one person (From chennai visits shop weekly to supply kova for sweets,5 people to make products at the godown One supervisor(master as he is called)	One man army. The owner makes the items himself and runs the shop. Only one small boy to serve at the bakery
12	Key distinctions	Foreigners place order,beyond 7:30 PM the food was kept inside	Nothing extraordinary noted

Take-aways

Archana bakery and sweets is a clear winner. The main take-aways from the observations were:

1.       Customer Satisfaction :

As was observed, customer satisfaction and quality of product is given the highest priority. The fact that any item that was kept for more than 12 hrs (beyond 7:30) and not sold despite customers asking for it shows the level of quality maintained. This small value system gives a great impression to the customer as there is a feel-good factor involved. The guys serving always had a smile and were very accommodative to the customer requests.

2.        Inventory management – The challenge of handling perishable items was evident and inventory management was at its best.

Key points here – small quantities were made at the beginning of the day and adapted accordingly during the day based on the sales. Wastage was minimized and rarely items were left beyond 7:30.Extra effort is taken to minimize wastage due to the fact that they don’t allow customers to buy items which are kept beyond 7:30.A structured process was in place and past experiences/average sales data was used to roughly calculate the number of items to be made per day.

3.       Extra product lines – The variety of products available provided an advantage – They had a whole range of sweets and mixtures so that in case any of the bakery items had low sales, the revenue from sweets/mixtures could make up for it. Further, in an offseason for  sweets,  bakery items could contribute to the revenue. Secondly there was considerable innovation within the bakery products – they had a vegetable roll, mushroom puff, paneer puff which were unique and fast moving items. Thirdly, they had a regular source of income from the packaged foods – lays, biscuits etc.

4.       Strategic Location and glamour quotient   –  It was located at the shopping street of mahabalipuram near a super market/vegetable market and other shops. This helps getting more customers since they would stop by for a quick snack before their regular shopping. Further, it might also lead them to buy sweets/mixtures as part of their shopping list. The lighting was attractive and provided an extra customer appeal.

5.       Adaptability and flexibility – Although the owner was Chennai based, he had made an attempt to learn other languages to cater to different market segments – tourists/foreigners .This provides a comfort factor to the customer since communication becomes clear. Further, there was a special service to take custom made orders from foreigners based on some niche requirements. This shows the flexibility and eagerness to adapt as required.

Adhithi Aji

FT13399

The CCD Story

Recently I made a visit to the CCD café near Mahabalipuram. To beat the scorching Chennai sun I ordered a cup of my favorite café frappe. I spoke to the waiter about their STP strategy (of course in his lingo). He told me that their targeted segments are tourists in need of a relaxing break, people travelling to puducherry and looking for a stopover to rejuvenate themselves and of course the regular students (majority from GLIM) who drop in every now and then hoping that a lot could happen over coffee. Apart from their regular espressos, cappuccinos, café lattes; they sell a lot of birthday cakes and sandwiches.

The first CCD outlet was set up on July 11, 1996, at Brigade Road, Bangalore, Karnataka. Following this, CCD crossed over 1000 cafés throughout the nation by 2011. They have more than 1300 outlets. The number increases almost every week. A ‘meter’ on their official website (Cafecoffeeday.com) keeps continuous track of the number.

CCD positions itself as a much more than a conventional coffee shop. It is seen as a ‘fun place’ where youngsters come in groups and have a good time over a cup of coffee. CCD hence is perceived as a hangout zone, meeting place for business purposes, enjoying one’s private time etc. CCD also provides facilities like Wi-Fi and Worldspace and other merchandise in order to pull in more customers. So it becomes extremely difficult for its competitors to replicate the same experience which makes CCD the market leader.

Looking at the marketing strategy of CCD, the company is known for being vertically integrated to cut costs: from owning the plantations, growing the coffee, making the coffee machines to making the furniture for the outlets. The machines cost them 1.2 lakh each, which they say is half the cost of an imported coffee machine. The maintenance cost of CCD's machines is also less than foreign machines. Cafe Coffee Day is part of Amalgamated Bean Coffee Trading Company, the coffee conglomerate that was the first to roll out the ‘coffee bar' concept in Bangalore. The retail chain serves the coffee it grows on 7,400 acres of its own estates plus another 2,500 acres of managed estates. The group also sources coffee from 11,000 small growers.

 

They have regular coffee shops as well as lounges (although none is available at Mahabalipuram). The rationale behind lounges is that those teen agers who started consuming out of home coffee at CCDs expect more from the place when they grow up personally and professionally. Hence CCD lounges cater to their need by serving a broad spectrum of food and non-alcoholic beverages. CCD has also entered into a tie-up with the Ginger Hotels of the Taj to cater to business executives (apart from the young crowd it has mainly catered to).

The CCD cafes and lounges within the country are rising by the day and there could be a day when every other street in India will have a CCD café of its own.


Anuj Rawat 
FT13410

CHINESE MOBILITY | Aakash Kohli (FT 13394)

I must admit when I stepped in Chennai for the first time, I was skeptic of how to approach a localite with whom I did not share any common language and ask him for a few directions. When it was announced that we had to go for a marketing assignment on observing and conversing with  the very same people, it struck me, "Oh, soo that's what this MBA actually has in store for me!". I understood that it will make me do anything and everything that I have till now very conveniently escaped and avoided. So here goes my observation:

While choosing the assignment I was very clear in my thought process of what I wanted. It would be a small Individual outlet run by a local resident and I will try to understand his business. I stumbled upon a mobile phone shop right in the heart of Anupuram market, it was a perfect fit.I observed for approximately two hours the customer traffic and flow of the shop. In between I also tried to find out all the nook and cranny of his business.

Name of the store:  Nellai Traders

Name of Owner: T. Vel Kumar

Front View of the shop
 

 The shop was opened around 4 years back by Mr. Kumar. He at that time was the only seller of mobile phones in the market. Communication (as I had feared) was the biggest barrier between me and the owner. He did not know a single word in English or Hindi. I tried conversing with him and squeeze out all the information I could.

I immediately noticed that the shop was very basic in terms of infrastructure. It was evident he was following a model of a "need to have" basis in terms of infrastructure. They had 2 counters with display glasses showcasing various mobile models. On the wall there were shelves containing spare parts and memory cards for the phones. 

Shop Sign board

The next immediate thing that caught my attention was that he only kept "CHINESE" mobile phones. This intrigued me a little since although the town is a relatively remote area the presence of these Chinese phones was dominant. I asked the owner of why was he keeping these phones and why not superior branded products such as Nokia or Samsung. At first he said that the price is a crucial differentiating for his costumers. I was somehow not convinced with his answer and decided to ask him again the same question but this time with a different perspective...his own angle. I asked "what's in it for you to keep such phones?" And pat came a different reply with a huge grin on his face..."NO GUARANTEE Attached!" 

He explained that if Nokia or some other branded product sold by him gets broken or has any other issue, the costumer directly comes to him for repairs and demands a refund. This leads to a lot of quarrels with the costumers and also effects the shops reputation in a negative way. Since the villagers are not well educated they tend to believe that the person who sells is the person who repairs the product.

I asked him various questions of his day to day business, and mercifully he had the patience of trying to understand everything I asked of him. 

• I gathered that on a daily basis they get approximately 10-15 costumers who are buyers of Mobile phones or its accessories

• On festivals they do provide sales in order to boost their sales.

• The price range of mobiles offered by him was between  Rs. 800 till Rs. 2500

• The peak time of costumers is around 5:30 to 6:30 pm

• He is running the business on his own and does not hire any staff.

I was about to enquire about other aspects of his business but unfortunately he had to shut shop to go to attend a family function. Next time ill plan to go earlier and try to collect additional information about the mobile store business in Anupuram market.

L’Oreal Getting Real

It's a sunny afternoon outside a department store in Kalpakkam and I was searching for some regular items in the shop when this beautiful, eye catching and attractive product caught my attention. The product says ‘Garnier Fructis Fortifying Shampoo + Oil 2 in 1, Cleanses like Shampoo Cares like Oil’. This rare  combination catering to the needs of fast lifestyles with traditional values astonished me for a while and hence I picked up the bottle to further see its specifications. To my surprise, I found that the name behind this product was the famous French high end brand called ‘L’Oreal’.

 I further tried to see some other products and was amazed to see that the entire counter was full of various offerings made by L’Oreal through its brand name ‘Garnier’ along with some traditional products by ‘L’Oreal Paris’. Garnier came to India with its range of shampoos. The brand is now a mass market brand which specifically targets the middle income markets at affordable prices. It was very exciting to see that a luxury brand from France has penetrated deep into the roots of India to places such as these competing with local majors like Ayur, Chick and Himalaya.

 A very important factor that I noticed was the product range that has been offered by these two brands. It has a mix of various beauty care products which mainly includes hair care, skin care. Under these segments there is a lot of variation and innovation available at the counters both with respect to the products as well as pricing and positioning. Starting from the ‘Garnier light fairness facewash’, ‘Garnier light dry moisturizer’ to a wide variety of options available for men such as ‘Garnier Men Power Light Intensive fairness facewash’, each product has something unique that makes it a very tempting choice for the customer. It was also exciting to see the adaptations that have been made in the product range which completely suits the local environment and culture of this place.  For instance items like ‘Color Naturals’ and dry moisturizes along with variety of fairness products are available in plenty on the shelves which specifically targets customer sentiments and expectations and hence have been positioned very smartly in the market place.

Although ‘L’Oreal’ as a brand itself was not available easily in these local markets except a limited stock of regular shampoos, 'Garnier' has undoubtedly been able to get a lot of visibility in this part of country due to its focus on the local markets and diversified product line along with brand extension and competitive pricing.

Wecome to 'HOT KALKATA CHAT'

< 24 May 2012, Thursday, Mahabalipuram > 

          As it was early in the evening, and the sea breeze was slowly settling down, I thought of having some spicy food. As a vegetarian, not interested in fish dishes, the place HOT KALKATA CHAT in Mahabalipuram seemed to be a nice option to me. Most of the items available are north Indian specials, and included samosas and kachori stuff. I ordered a plate of samosas, and sat down and started conversing with the owner of the shop, Rajkiran. 

         Rajkiran Singh is a trader from the district of Giridih in Jharkhand. He came to Chennai 5 years ago and started working as a material supplier to small hotels in and around Chennai. He worked for around one year and could get good knowledge about the places around Chennai, especially the tourist places. 4 years back, he set up this chat bhandar ‘HOT KALAKATA CHAT’ in Mahabalipuram to run his own business.

        Rajkiran says, in a place of so many dosa bhavans, and idly centres, the chat bhandar can attract a different set of customers, who need a change. His experience says, mostly the local students coming to the beach, prefer something they generally do not eat at home, and can enjoy eating it with friends. The foreigners, he says come here because of the variety of food and the name of the shop. Rajkran is not an educated person, but he can manage speaking in English and Tamil and other few languages. He says, it helps him a lot in catering to the needs of foreign tourists and other visitors.

        The interesting part of the conversation happened when I started looking at the menu, sitting inside the shop. I could not stay outside as there were no seats available (may be a deliberate arrangement) and I had to sit inside the shop, which is a small extension, and happened to see the Menu card. I could see so many items listed which are not at all relevant to a Chat bhandar. I could see all the Rotis, Rice and Paneer items. I asked him how come you are serving these items. He said, he also runs a Dhaba nearby.

        For all those customers, whoever comes to his shop, he introduces the Dhaba items also, and provides more options. Most of them, already sitting there eating Samosa, orders other items also and complete their dinner. The customers also have an option to order for a home delivery, if they like the taste. Then I could understand all his strategy of setting up an extension and catering more than what the customer is prepared for. I felt that he gives very good advertisement to his own Dhaba business through a small CHAT outlet in Mahabalipuram. 

        I also, happened to order a Biryani there and ended up having my dinner there. Anyways the food was good and I was satisfied :)
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FT13470
Sandeep Kumar R

Sun Footwear

I entered Sun footwear at Mahabalipuram. It was a small shop of footwear and there was not much open space in the shop. I met the owner of the shop and enquired about the shop and the business. I asked her few things about the shop.

It was a six year old shop and didn’t have much space, so all the stuff was adjusted in a compact manner. At the entrance was the cash counter and a small television was fixed there. The shop had footwear ranges for both men and women. For kids the shop had only slippers .Usually one person at a time was present in the shop for dealing with customers. The shop had one bench beside the counter for seating the customers.  The main brands that were sold at the shop were VKC and Baba. VKC was the most sought out brand followed by Baba. The shop did not offer any kind of discount, but I was told that the regular customers were given the discount of Rs. 10-15.

In spite of its small size the shop attracted some foreign tourists also. The foreign tourists were mostly interested in buying slippers, which they used for roaming in and around Mahabalipuram temples and beaches.  

 

Shantanu Mishra

FT No. -  13474