MAHARAJA SHOPPING - MADHAN BABU C (FT13142)

 Maharaja Shopping, a well known super market in East Tambaram, is located at Bharatha Matha Street, a quiet residential area. The owner of Maharaja is a renowned and respected person in that area. Luckily, I got a chance to interact with him for nearly half an hour in a fine afternoon during which I understood so many important things involved in starting and carrying out a business, especially a general store. I would like to share some of his experiences which he shared with me.

Before starting the store many years back, he did a market survey for almost a month. Then he started with limited products which involved less risk and which are largely consumed in that region. After that, he slowly expanded his business based on enquiry with customers and people having relevant experience. He says he is very sincere in working on the feedbacks from customers which evidently made a huge difference. He always invests a part of his profits on the shop itself and this was how he improved the look of the shop from an ordinary store to a super market. Proper stocking is always maintained. He says if a product has no demand, he either cuts the product or brings a substitute. If a product runs out of stock, he is able to sell a substitute and the customers are ready to accept that because of his reputation in that area.

He says customers will buy a substitute without any hesitation if they have loyalty/confidence on the seller. It depends on the owner’s behavior, presentation and approach and it can even override brand loyalty. But, it should never be overused which would eventually bring down the confidence level of the customers.

He improves customer satisfaction by proper service and special attention. He advises that competitive pricing is effective when the market is conservative. He also warns that it is always dangerous to maintain only a specific group of customers and one should always try to satisfy all the customers as far as possible. Force selling can also be done by giving offers but one has to make sure that the good given in offer is relative to the main product.

He is very successful in bring up his business. He has many future plans to expand his business by opening few more stores in the nearby regions like chrompet, selaiyur, etc. It was a great experience interacting with him. Thanking him for devoting his precious time with me, I walked out of the store with a high level of satisfaction.