Am I missing something?
A lot of hue and cry has been raised by some regarding the entry of Reliance and the proposed entry of Wal-Mart into organised retail. While i would be the first person to admit that neither Reliance nor Wal-mart are saints, i also have a few questions to those who oppose them.
For instance, I purchase my groceries and stuff from Latta Stores. Now Latta stores is a big store in my area. Much bigger than, say, Selvam stores. Let’s assume Selvam stores was operating far longer than Latta in my area. I could sense that Selvam stores has lost quite a number of its customers after Latta came into the scene and expanded.
Now, did anyone feel sorry for Selvam stores? nah, this is taken as business reality.
Latta is giving at much cheaper rates and at good quality. In short, its giving value for money to customers and Selvam could not match that, period.
Let’s take another example. Whats the history of Saravana Stores in T Nagar? 30 years? 40 years? I know for sure Saravana’s entry into Jewellery has been very recent. And i also know that not many small time jewellers cannot match the price at which Saravana sells and so they are losing their business to Saravana. Did anyone feel sorry for them then?
The latest i hear is that Saravana stores is planning to open its branch in Madurai.
So when that happens, will not some small time retailer lose their business to Saravana?Of course, yes.But will anyone oppose Saravana Stores? Of course no.
So, if a small fish is eaten by a big fish, thats fair and normal in business.
If a big fish is eaten by a very big fish, say a whale, thats unfair.
What logic! I think this tops even some of our politicians sense of logic.
Or am i missing something?
April 15th, 2007 at 12:04 am
//Or am i missing something? //
U r not missing out on anything…what other work do these politicians have, Karthi..they have to do something to be in the minds of people…and the target is the vote bank…namba inga enna solli enna use…what cld we do during the recent bandh…ellarum onnum panna mudiyaama chumma dhan irundhom. If the Govt. does not accept the judgement of the Apex court, then of what use is it to the nation ?
Whatever u said in ur post is spot on…but indha political scenario la we can only go with the flow
Pesaama neenga Latta Stores la ye grocery vaangaradha continue pannunga…Wal-mart varum podhu paathukalam
April 15th, 2007 at 12:57 am
this kind of debate goes on here all the time. Small towns ban Wal Mart stores or Home Depots from opening in their area because all the “mom and pop” stores and little hardware stores will lose their business and be wiped out. so cities actually come up with ordinances saying “no wholesale store” !!
so some neighbouring town gets the walmart and everyone drives 20 miles and spends on gas after realizing that the wal mart prices and quality are hands down better!
if the Wal mart were to say “placate” these mom and pop stores (how they do it I do not know), then no one seems to complain.
this would be like Latta stores buying out all of Selvam stores inventory, employing all the laid off workers from Selvam and making Mr.Selvam a Latta shareholder..
guess you get the picture now!
April 15th, 2007 at 3:01 am
sir, its the fear of monopoly that reliance can become, if it does, there will be just 2/3 companies and them forming a cartel is easy. thts the fear. even i have that fear
April 15th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
all if them have space. beleive me
even though saravana has opened up, the small stores exist
becox namma oorula for buying jewellery and clothes(read as silk sarees)
people see sentiment
my mom always buys at GRT even though they dont reduce the price or such thing
and sometimes we buy the smaller jewellery from shops in madipakkam
so ellaarukkum idam irukkum
thanks to our population!!!
April 16th, 2007 at 12:02 am
Its not just abt small fish or big fish. Its abt Indian big fish or Vilaayathi(Foreign) big fish. Though I against opposing Walmart’s entry, the reason behind the opposition is Indian politicians/traders dont want to let foreign ppl do business here with the aim of profit.
It is as simple as this. US restricts work Visas so that US ppl can b employed more. The same way, Indian traders want to have less competition atleast from foreign traders.
April 16th, 2007 at 12:03 am
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/mar/28forbes.htm
April 16th, 2007 at 2:23 am
Valid point - I agree.
April 16th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I believe I’d like to disagree..:) Selvam taking over Latta’s business is still one home-grown store taking over another one. The entry of the firangi driving our own home-grown people out of business is the contention - me thinks. I’d oppose Walmart too. I think I can give you a bunch of reasons why. But that might take up too much of your comment space..:)
April 16th, 2007 at 9:39 pm
sree,
thanks
sundar narayanan,
Maybe half the problem will be solved if some big shot in PMK joins the bharti-wal-mart JV. i dunno
vatsan,
i believe anyone with the required wherewithal can enter the fray. Already there is trinethra, spencers and N other players da.
monu,
you have a point, i agree. but thats beside the point. its a fact that big business takes away customers from small business, not all cusomers but to an extent. adhu saravana stores pannina parava illai but reliance pannina thappungradhu enakku purila…
April 16th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
fathima.
then why oppose reliance? its very much an indian fish. thanks for the URL.
vinesh,
thanks dude
subha,
The opposition is not just for wal-mart. They oppose reliance fresh too. Reliance is not firangi i suppose…probably you can write a post on the reasons for opposing wal-mart
April 17th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Hi,
you are definitely missing this point:
selvam store or latta stores dont try to monopolise. I live in germany, there are only 5 brands of supermarket:these supermarkets sell only fast running mass products. u will rarely find ethnic varities. In a multicultural country like us, id supermarkets tend to mcdonaldaise, we would loose many regional specific groceries/food and other items.
the mom and pop stores as they are called are the classic example of enterprenership in indian society.if u have 10,000 rs, u could open a small shop;sell note books/fanta/some groceries and make 1000 rs per month.If these giants like reliance enter, these companies would erode these mom and pop shops like they did in US or in germany…u have to depend on the supermarkets for everything.
Imagine after 5 years, u want to open a small grocery in ur area ,
1.u need to pump in more money as capital to stay afloat with giant corporates
2.or other option open to u is to be a franchisee in ur locality to these corporate companies..truly u would not be the boss of ur firm
I am for liberal economy but we cant follow western style policies blindly..and we have to customise to our local needs. Prabhu, if u have been looking at ur grocery bill for past half a year, u would have noticed that price of every single food item had increased. It is not a mere demand-supply economics. It was artificially inflated price because of commodities exchange ( u could google to know more on this)..before liberalising food, agriculture and retail, we need to have strong independent regulatory authority to manage..the failure of commodities exchange example shows that we have many more lessons to be learnt..
Suresh
April 18th, 2007 at 8:42 am
PK, better go hide somewhere.
Maruthuvar Ramadaasu is looking for you.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:01 am
I’m worried about what Suresh and Vatsan mentioned.
Do you have Margin Free Supermarkets (govt. controlled) there in TN? I think they sell goods at a very fair, but do not try to monopolise, but gives a fair competition to the small time (or ‘mom n pop’) stores to increase their quality and service.
I believe such a tactic would be enough than welcoming Wal Mart here.
April 22nd, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Latha and Selvan are local stores like annachi. You can have an account balance and do a shopping in a hurry.
Saravana you can watch others buying…
Walmart and Reliance watch TV ads, news paper ads, and all kinds of offers.. a/c shopping, bargain counters, credit card acceptance, telephone shopping, online shopping, you call it shopping experience, but cannot buy a single banana inside. Hi Annachi… oru palzam kunduga.. Silly it sounds.. right.