Samosa and Mithai.. The ultimate business trick
Today, I observed a weird scenario while wandering in the streets of Gwalior. I saw a sweet shop selling samosas along with dozens of sweet varieties it offers. It is not normal, though some shops have bakery products, this shop was selling only Samosas which did not match with its sweet flavors at all. Being curious and hungry as well, I decided to order a plate of samosas and gradually slipped into the talks with the shop-owner. As there were no other customers, the shop-owner also reverted back.
After a couple of minutes of enjoying samosas and talks, I curiously asked the shopkeeper of the reason why he is selling samosas too. First, he became cautious as this kind of question does not often come in his way, but once I assured him that I am a student and quite naive in business, he told me his “business model”, the answer to which made me awe.
He explained when he set up the sweet shop last year, there were 3 more existing shops within 100 meters of his shop. One of which has been since the British time and is widely loved by customers. In the sweet business, people often buy from a fixed shop for generations. So, to capture the market and survive, he devised a strategy so that customers at least visit his shop. There were no samosa shops in this locality, and he knew the love of Indian people towards samosas, so he started selling them. Suddenly, he saw a strong number in the customers eating samosas. The samosas are well made and quite tasty. He started building “haal-chaal” relations with the customers. When the Diwali season came, he saw a large number of customers buying sweets from him which was quite a dream come true. Most of them were the ones who liked his behavior and the taste and purity of samosas he served to give him a shot at the Grandest Indian Festival.
Talking to him, gave me an insight into how simple tricks can save up big businesses, the only thing is to think beyond conventional.
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