Wednesday, 30 May 2012

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

No comments:

Post a Comment