I was about to buy a toy from the footpath vendor for Rs.50/-. My handphone rang. My friend Simarjeet was on the line. I told her that I’ll call her later as I was to make a payment for the toy.
She told me that there was another vendor just a block farther who was selling the same toy for Rs.47/-. She confused me for the time, but i thought it was no use walking a block to save just Rs.3/- and the Lucknowi mindset ” yeh bechne waala kya sochega” overtook the thought and I made the purchase.
Same 2nd case came just 3-4 days after that incident. I was selecting a mobile phone for Rs.22,000 something and the salesman who was also my newly made friend whispered that I can get it for Rs.20,000 to Rs.20,500 at the wholesale market barely 6-8kms away. I took the chance. Though what I lost by buying at the wholesale market is another story, we come back to our initial issue.
Comparing the 2 incidents, the price difference was around 6% but the amount involved was much greater and it is human psychology what any human being would have done.
Now we compare the same scenario in our industry. A shirt that we used to sell at Rs.350/- in 2009 is being sold at our stores now for Rs.500/-. Its inflated almost 50% in these 6 years if we take this as an example.
Another piece I take up, a dress material in cotton cloth. This piece was for Rs.2750/- in 2009 and is still at Rs.3,750/- which shows inflation of 36%.
Yet one another piece I take up, a saree in pure georgette. This piece was for Rs.8,500/- in 2009 and is at Rs.10,500/-. It means it has become dearer by 23%.
Point to be understood in all the above 3 cases is that volume sales of the shirt remained the same whereas the volume sales of the dress material and the saree dipped.
The cash inflow from sales of the saree and the dress material remained same or slightly higher though they were selling less but the inflation helped in maintaining the same sales. Here another aspect to be taken as a business that the investment in stocks increased due to this.
So why was the shirt @50%+ selling more and the dress material and saree selling less when its inflation was also less? It was because that the quality had been decreased to make it affordable enough so that it does not remain in the store shelf.
When the quality (of fabric, workmanship, etc.) goes down, it affects the overall buying process of the King (the customer).
The pure georgette fabric rose Rs.400/- to Rs.600/- per metre in these years, the workmanship rose 50% and the King says “mazaa nahi aaya” and mind it – she / he is not wrong.
With the entry of e-tailers, final price what the customer pays, has risen even more. Its deep matter that every buyer MUST understand. The portal charges the seller 10%-20% for giving him the platform, which is also their right as they have to spend heftily on advertisement and all. Their own competitive market is another story which can’t be mixed in this as it will make this longer and the subject will also drift away.
You have to keep aside another amount for models, make-up & photography. So can these sell at that (added up) high price? Answer to it is YES. People are buying. But what ends up in their hands is not the Chikan they had seen at my store. People have started selling fake Chikan on the net and new buyers understand them to be Chikan. Its a slap on our face as this is not what we were taught to sell.
Runa Banerjee ji and Sheeba ji of S.E.W.A. gave life to dying Chikan-kari in 1984. A new kind of generation, the designer generation has taken the task in their hands to keep kindled the flame. Hats off & good luck to them.
krishna chikan 