Pankaj Kamani | FT13152 | Art reflects ethnicity

With an inhibition like most of my colleagues, as to what am I supposed to do actually as a part of my marketing project, I walked into the streets of Mahabalipuram. My pursuit of looking for a business which can give me insights into the nuances of how a business works took me to the MAMMALLA ART GALLERY.

Mammalla Art Gallery is located on the main street of Mammallapuram near the bus stand. As numerous other art galleries in the town, this art gallery deals in statues, exotic paintings, variants of Kashmiri shawls, silver and stone ornaments, carpets etc. The store is owned by two Kashmiri brothers. The owner has been here for over 30 years and the store is on streets for over 10 years now. I interacted with the owner and tried my best to understand how the business works.

Inventory management:

The owners order the products from various places in the country depending on the product-speciality of the location. For e.g.,  

·         Shawls and carpets are ordered from Kashmir.

·         Stone ornaments are ordered from Rajasthan.

·         Paintings are ordered from Delhi.

·         Statues are ordered from Mysore and Bangalore.

Apart from that, the owner also maintains a small workshop at his hometown, i.e., Srinagar, Kashmir. There are around 25 odd people working at the workshop who manufacture the carpets.

The owner maintains an inventory of around INR 2,00,000 – 3,00,000 in his shop.

With intent to target various sectors of the market, the owner maintains a wide variety of similar products across different price ranges. For e.g., the carpets available range from INR 1000 – 10000 per piece depending on the quality of the product and the material used in manufacturing the product.

Supply Chain Management:

On asking how the procurement of the products is done, the owner responded that they need not physically fetch the products. Vendors from various locations visit Mahabalipuram once in a few days with their pool of merchandise. The same vendor sells his products to various shops in the town and the onus lies on the shop owners to choose the right products that might befit the market and lure the customers.

Every month, the manufactured carpets are brought to the town via different logistics vis-à-vis train, couriers, transportation services etc.

Apart from this, as a good number of goods are bulky, customers want them to be delivered at their hometowns. The shop ships the products to various locations, both in and out the country via various modes of transport, e.g., air, ship, train etc. with the help of courier services.

Consumer base:

The shop attracts a great deal of local customers from local places like Chennai, Bangalore, Mysore, Kerala etc. and some of the north-Indian states. With Mahabalipuram being a famous tourist spot, affluent foreign tourists are not to be bragged about. Tourists from various countries like France, Germany, Italy, Holland, England and other European countries often visit this store.

Customer attraction:

To lure the customers, the owner has strategically placed attractive products towards the entrance of the shop. The entrance is covered with attractive granite and marble statues and stone ornaments. The ethnic statues would attract the foreign tourists which form a major customer base to such stores and the stone ornaments are a great deal of attraction to women and children. Few lavish carpets are also displayed with dazzling lightning which catches customer attention from far distance.

Though the owner doesn’t do any kind of advertisements to attract the customers, but, the strategic placement of products and strikingly flashy signboards are bound to get a glimpse from a passer-by and turn him/her into a potential customer.

Customer Satisfaction:

As a common practice where the foreigners are looted of their money by overpricing the products, Mammalla Art Gallery stands different from the crowd. As per the owner, they treat every customer equally and believe in maintaining a long term relationship with the customer. Hence, they don’t betray the customers by over-pricing the products. This sincere etiquette has paid off well and the shop has got a bunch of regular local as well as foreign customers.

Sales & Revenues:

As narrated by the shop owner, the sales are not uniform throughout the year. It varies peaks and volumes depending on the season. During the month of Oct-Feb, most of the European countries snow, and, to escape from the shiver, many of them move on to various tourist places across the globe. This is that period of the year, when, Mahabalipuram is full of tourists from various countries and these shops generate good revenue. But, during the off season, i.e., during the remaining part of the year, not many customers come to the town, and the sale comes as sheer dependence on luck.

The shop-owner was reluctant to share the exact figures for the revenues and the margins generated.

Takeaway from the exercise:

Even small shops like Mamalla Art Gallery, knowingly or unknowingly, follow the different aspects of marketing management, and such practices are inevitable for any business to run. But, then, as the sales in this shop was based on sheer luck and fine maneuvering with strategic placement of products and lightning, I also learnt that advertisement the product/store is an important aspect of marketing management. Apart from that, this exercise definitely did help me understand the market better and reflected a clearer picture on how a business works.

 Thank You.

Pankaj Kamani