Queen Art Emporium

It was just a casual visit to Mahabalipuram on one of the off days, when I happened to come across many shops selling stone sculptors of various sizes. It got me intrigued enough to further pursue my individual marketing project on the market of sculptors in Mahabalipuram.

The sculptor business has been booming in the last 20-25 years in the Mahabalipuram area and is one of the important sources of income for people living here. The peak season for sales in the region is around the months of October till February (when the weather gets a little more bearable for tourists). There are around 250-300 shops (in and around the area) dealing with sales of sculptors alone!

Pic 1 Queen Art Emporium

Queen Art Emporium, one of such shops selling sculptors is situated on one the busiest routes of Mahabalipuram, the road leading down to popular places like Moonrakers, and the beach o’course! The sign-board and the neat presentation of sculptors kept outside caught my eye (Pic 1). I have decided to take this shop up for my experiential learning project in Marketing.

Pic 1 Queen Art Emporium

I observed the shop for a few minutes, exploring the various sculptors kept on display before proceeding with asking the sculptors (working outside) a few questions to further understand.

Pic 2 Product on display - Notice the different products

A few key points observed are as follows:

•  The work mainly done is on granite stone   (bronze and wood are the other material)
• Oil based colour is used to paint on the stone
• They sell directly to the customers
• Customer base include tourists (foreigners/Indians) who usually visit Mahabalipuram, and also some bureaucrats.
• Stone sculptors are in all kinds of prices, ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 3.5 Lakhs for the big statues.

 The pricing of the products has been keeping in mind the average buyers (mostly Indians and a few foreigners too). They products are not limited to figure of Gods and Buddha but also include slabs and toy cycles (Pic 2) to attract crowds of all ages (their cycle rickshaw is quite popular).

·         The smaller products have been displayed outside the shop as they are much more attractive and able to draw crowd.

·         The pricing is marked up a good level to keep a scope of bargain in hand. Also, discriminative pricing is done looking at the customer (these shopkeepers are experienced lot and know how much a person would shell out for the sculptors)

·         The prospective customer is asked to feel the product in the hand, the stone, and the quality by himself and then decide.

·         A large number of sculptors and artisans sit outside the shop (Pic 3) and craft the stones. Some foreign tourists (particularly males) are attracted towards the art of crafting a stone sculptor and same is used to gain potential customers.

Pic 3 Artisans at work

There is a lot of competition in the market as many shops have come up around Mahabalipuram. A round around showed many shops, some of which were quite inviting like Queen Art Emporium, but some were really in a mess, as the sculptors were all stacked together, some with no or torn sign-boards and some shops which were poorly lit (Pic 4).

Pic 4 - Some competitors (Torn sign-boards, Statues kept in a mess, poorly lit shops)

Contact details have been exchanged with the owner of the shop (Queen Art Emporium) and a few things suggested to Queen Art Emporium to try out in this unique yearlong endeavour of learning for me:

•   Change the sign-board by making it more professional looking and attractive
• Try out the option of playing soft music inside the shop which can be heard on street. This may attract more customers
• Differentiate the products by pricing and observe the trends. Include more unique products in addition to the deities to offer to customers and display those up-front.
• Place heavy, expensive statues on the corners of the shop

I sincerely hope that some suggestions are implemented and good results are seen. More strategic changes can be suggested once I read more and more and come up with creative ideas. Also, corporation with the shop owner to implement them will be a difficult in the coming months.

Until the next visit… Lokesh Aggarwal (FT13436) signing off