I feel very pleased that many people have have contributed to Chikan-kaari, be it writers who write blogs on Chikan-kari stitches (believe me, they are very much better to me in terms of illustrations), additional information providers who write comments on thier blogs and over and above all the buyers.
This was a question posted to me by one of my friends from Kolkata who visited us just yesterday – ” WHY DOES YOUR SITE NOT HAVE ALL THE DESIGNS & PRODUCTS YOU HAVE IN YOUR PHYSICAL STORE.” I wished to answer this here on wordpress.com as it has become a question that most of my friends have in their minds and question me in some or the other ways.
Of 85% of the companies that are mentioned when i searched for Chikan-kari in Lucknow do not operate from Lucknow and are online stores who take limited cotton stuff from Lucknow and have limited stock.
Its not wrong if I’d add that ANY website selling Chikan stuff will NEVER EVER be able to stuff its website. Those who are solely dependent on online sales can post their full store, but internet driven sales mainly of Chikan goods is so less that (she or) he’ll wind it up in a year or lately by the next year of opening the site
People who have a store & wish to increase their sales, try to become online. They wish their site to be like another high-end designers’ but are not able to reach there as the profit margin in Chikan is very less as compared to other ready-to-wear brands, so they end up creating a OK type website.
Then comes the photographs (main content). I tell you by my own experience that modelling and model shoot prices are very high in Lucknow. Also that the models here are not as professional as you get in Mumbai or at least Delhi. Even the best placed & clicked in the studio atmosphere are not as detailed which can prompt a buyer to make the purchase. I mean to say that they are very small (they have to be kept small because large pics take time in loading at buyers’ end and use up lot of space on the site).
The website designers are also not very creative. You give them a website you like and they can copy it. There is no personal talent in almost all web designers of Lucknow. Also because you have less professional web designers, their cost is also 150-200% more than designers of Delhi / Mumbai. The recent scene is changing though.
Then comes the sale. Again, as i have told you earlier, that online Chikan sales are no where when you compare it with other ready made garments and not even 0.5% of any normal mobile phone’s online sales. The products that you see on Lucknowi sites marked as SOLD may have been sold out from the physical store of the website rather than been sold online.
Many websites you can see who have not been updated since 2 years and there’s a reason for it too. Chikan, being hand made, has a uniqueness in every piece. No two pieces are almost ever the same. Its painstaking process to 1)Fit the piece (on a model or mannequin), 2)Click the pic 3)Photoshop it 4)Load on the website and if in the process, the piece gets sold, the whole exercise gets wasted. Its not like you click one image of a certain pressure cooker or a camera or even a machine made apparel where you have tons of the same pieces in the back hand.
Like other Indians, Chikan walas are also very energetic and laborious. The main tonic for us Chikan walas, as i’ve earlier quoted, is sales. This tonic gives us the energy to go on and on.
The main question – ” WHY DOES YOUR SITE NOT HAVE ALL THE DESIGNS & PRODUCTS YOU HAVE IN YOUR PHYSICAL STORE.” , must also not fade away in all this.
A general customer visiting a good Chikan store, wishes to wade through atleast 20-30 pieces in the category she desires. I give my example, we open atleast 300 pieces a day at just one store. So, its not possible to post, say 2000 pieces a week on the site.
The best option (though i sell online) is visiting your preferred store by yourself. The utmost satisfaction is only there. Its like a thirsty person going to the well. Your thirst cannot be quenched by just watching the picture of water online.
Its my own experience that customers come to me, they click pics and send to their dear ones by whatsapp. I tell you, their beauty can never be judged by a picture unless you are a regular re-seller. Whatsapp has helped me a lot monetarily when i am in contact with my regular buyers. I know their taste, they understand my work. My retail buyers have added to just 3-4% of Whatsapp sales.
The scenario is changing, it seems to me that maybe my post will become obsolete in the near future.
HAPPY SHOPPING
krishna chikan 