In market, they say customer is the king. It is the prerogative of the customer what he wants to buy and at what price. Customer cannot be talked down leave alone misbehaved with. One of the primary reasons why the market in and around Lal Chowk witnessed a sharp drop in sales is because of this fact. A good number of shopkeepers would sell things at high-profit margins with no regard to repetitive sales and every sale was seen as one transactional sale on the highest profit possible.
What actually led to the demise of Lal Chowk as a primary commercial center can be a mosaic of reasons but primarily the bad attitude of a lot of shopkeepers. The customers from the countryside were talked down many times, sometimes shouted at and sometimes reminded of where they came from. If a customer did not end up buying anything he was not supposed to ask shopkeeper to show and pitch the different items on sale – this was according to the principle of the Shopkeeper bringing the king and not the customer.
This particular attitude finally gave way to the alternative of online shopping. People could buy stuff, try it on for about a week, and then return or exchange it. Besides, you could buy the whole inventory and buy what you want without the hassle of driving down to the congested Lal Chowk. The prices are mighty affordable online and to keep competition the shopkeepers were supposed to bring down the prices and do business on footfall. This never happened and the shopkeepers continued their rude ways of doing business.
The result is before our eyes. The customer is the king of the market and not the shopkeeper. This is a time-tested principle of trade, any trade. Online shopping has loaded over the local shopkeepers and they are asking what happened to their once thriving business. They should either bring down the prices or sell through online medium with shop used both for marketing presence and feedback/complaint centre. Kerala is a very fine example. This is how Kerala fought online business by providing cheaper stuff online than most online vendors.
We hope and pray that the Lal Chowk shopkeepers learn their lesson and consider customer the king of the market.
