Last evening when my mother sent me to the Kirana Store to buy some household items, I happened to come across such an amazing conversation with the Kirana Store owner that my entire point of view on Business & Entrepreneurship altered and elevated.
I and the uncle began this conversation on the topic of increasing prices, these days but it led him to give me some of the best Entrepreneurship lessons ever!
7 Business Lessons By A Kirana Store Owner
1. He talks to his customers and be highly friendly with them. Every time a customer would enter, he would ask things such as, “How are you?”, OR “Is your son back for vacations at home?”. The conversation-making traits are something clients love and he strikes just right there.
2. He tries and understands the preferences of the clients. Meaning, the kind of shampoo they often purchase or the kind of soap they prefer. When the owner is very much interested in the customer’s choices and preferences, the client happens to rely on him even more.
3. He gives away free candies to little kids. This does not lessen the weight of his heart but instead, it is a marketing strategy for him. He thinks that kids are not taking free candies at home but happiness, which will further lead to the repetition of purchases from their homes. Awesome!
4. He delivers things to clients himself, sometimes. He also accepts returns though the returns are not many but he tries not to refuse the returns which is such a satisfaction for a customer.
5. His pricing strategy was something mind-boggling to me! The products at his shop are Rs.5-6 lesser than the other Kirana stores. This results in more selling and also making a decent return, anyway.
6. He decided to put up his shop in an area where 10 big Kiran stores were already there. Rather than thinking it as a huge competition, he felt that this is a place where he could find an ample number of customers.
7. He opens his shop at 8 AM whereas others open at 9.30 AM. He closes the shop at the latest. He opens the shop even on Sundays which helps his profit a lot.
