Page 76 - #letter to son

DUSK DIARIES
Dear son,

The granary and grocery business is a highly competitive one and has
its own complex dynamics.

While demand is relatively stable on account of consumer staples that
are perishable and have a daily consumption cycle, the competition
revolves around the customer. Uniquely though, while the business is
territorial with every grocery having its own loyal catchment customers,
every shop tries to ‘extend’ this territory and this is one of the levers
they have to grow the business. So this ‘elbowing-in’ phenomena is a
common event.

Even as this is playing-out, there is a fierce battle to retain the customer.
This explains why groceries are open all-hours, all-days. While
consumers are perpetually divinely dissatisfied, the grocer tries every
trick in the book to keep them happy. The incentives doled-out include
free home delivery, priority service and discounted pricing. They cannot
bear their customers go across the road to someone else and consider
loss of a customer as loss of face – it is serious. The customer on the
other hand easily defects if she finds her neighbourhood grocer to be
shut for whatever reason. This explains why a grocer’s establishment is
always open.

Sitting in my father’s shop, I was witness to first-hand excellence in
customer fulfillment. The professor of entrepreneurship was the Jack
Trout of marketing and Al Ries of advertising. He knew the customer’s
pulse and would modulate his spiel accordingly. He knew their families
well and would be privy to their household issues. He would lend a
patient ear and share a caring thought. For me, his shop was more than
just a place where people could get their things – it was a hangout for
them, a real-life social network.

Alas, what pulled me into the business is also what thrusted me out of it.
I was friendly with the owner of a nearby grocery. One day, I strolled
into his shop and found that he was in a very jovial mood.

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