My yet another quest to find something unique and inimitable
at Mahabalipuram took me to a very small but colourful shop full of paintings.
All the big and small canvases and a craftsman working on a wooden piece of
art-piece somehow differentiated this small art shop from all black stone
sculptor shops in the area.
What particularly interested me was the kind of art that the
owner, Masi chose to practice and sell. His paintings are made not with paint
brushes but with nibs and knives. It was a brave decision for him 25 years ago
to try and do something new and different from others. “People come to
Mahabalipuram to buy sculptors and not paintings.”, as he was advised by many.
But he chose to follow his passion and instinct. And today after more than two
decades of successful business, he is proud of his achievements, which include
exhibitions at Port Blair and Denmark. He also teaches wood carving to students
in France.
His unique selling proposition or USP is that in spite of
having a group of 5-6 people who work under him, Masi still gives personal
attention to each of his paintings. As they say, love what you do and
excellence would follow. The saying gets exemplified in the beautiful paintings
and wood carvings that Masi creates, which enjoy a customer base that includes
foreigners, Indian tourists, hotels, and even locals. What surprised me the
most was the price Masi could command for his art pieces in
spite of being located in a small shop in comparatively small market place. Each painting was worth is the range on INR 15,000 to 20,000! I
wonder what his art pieces would cost sitting in an art gallery in Mumbai,
Delhi, or Denmark!
Makes me wonder, who are these people, ready to shell
huge-money for something that might be just a piece of coloured paper or an
odd-shaped piece of wood for many? The answer lies in the pleasure that comes
only from the possession of something inimitable. The pride that’s associated
with owing one thing that you and only have in this whole world!
These people or customers of such elite products have more
than enough money for food, basic necessities, education, and luxuries. These people generally belong to the
upper-middle class of our society. One
might wonder what kinds of value proposition do these elite products, such as an
expensive piece of art, a sports car, or a yacht provide to a customer.
Yes, marketing concepts jump to rescue! The answer is Esteem Value. People associate their
status in the society with these elite products.
Nevertheless, our Mahabs market caters to the elite class too!
In today’s era of mass-production, where companies are trying to make the money
out of bulk sales, there are businessmen who cater to the latent needs of a niche group of target customers and make money by
creating bespoke products.
Khushboo Singh
FT13430
No comments:
Post a Comment