Rob the mob works very well in Indian market for several reasons:-
We are gullible and do not impose on the regulations and standards like other Countries
We are destined to accept what is in offer than what we can pick.
Pilferage of Quality and Quantity is the result of as much dilution of Economy and Polity
It will be interesting to note all these scales weigh in equal measure when we buy our day to day green and not so green Vegetables either driving into @ Fresh shops in swanky Cars or bargaining the Aam aadmi style with Roadside vendors walking under the scorching sun.
Hyderabad for one has been vegetating on what is called as Weekly street Markets(different from regular roadside market) which go on nomadic search for Buyers every day to different locales. You have a choice of 500 such Vendors across the length of the Road at a busy Junction with more than 20 times as many buyers.
At the other end of the spectrum, we have the Ambhani’s Aam aadmi Green project called Reliance Fresh and the bludgeoning number of Food malls with Vegetable corner in the form of Heritage Fresh@Home, Subiksha, Trinethra, Foodworld, Ushodaya and Spencers.
As if they are on a hunt for bald man’s hair, they occupy four corners of a small strip of 100 metres with Giant posters of buy for 399 and get surprise gift.(Sample-A.S.Rao Nagar, HYD)
If you thought the difference between Day and Night is just LIGHT or for that matter SUN and MOON, for the robbery of the Mob, you don’t need either as exemplified by both ends of this spectrum which shows all colours except GREEN.
Reliance Fresh-Night Light Robbery
Most outlets including Reliance Fresh operate with Customer Fooling Lamps(Compact Fluorescent Lamps) very ingeniously because it saves lot of electricity and does not heat up the place to save also on Air Conditioning Power. But most importantly, it is used as a form of Night light robbery because they emit light with Color Temperature of around 3500-4000 K which is on the red side. Daylight color temperature is 5000 K while normal incandescent lights have color temps of 3200 K which is white.
The result is that all the vegetables look bright and glossy(fresh as claimed by unreliable) which makes the Customers just say wow at Green Apples and fluorescent leaves. The reality of Reliance bites when you come back home and stack your fridge, that half of it is destined to the dust bin.(The worst part is with Spin-aches, masked melon, bitter god & Kali flower, coriander for one was never available whilst plenty across my compound.) Don’t ever get fooled by the variety that is there to offer like Red Cabbage, coccinea or the red radish because they have stayed that bit longer without buyers and your Fresh thoughts will become Rash. If you call this yellow fruit as Bana-na, Na will be the reply in mainland of Tamil Nadu.
In reality, the quality of Vegetables in Reliance Fresh score way below the stuff available on street market and of the six outlets. Heritage Fresh comes up the best. Reliance has something to cheer for Bachelors with ready made grated Vegetable packs so that you can take a cut to the outlet if you don’t want to cut Vegetables. The cost of Vegetables and Fruits are 20% more than outside whilst fruits are far from fruity. One thing is for sure in Reliance is that Quality is inversely proportional as day turns to night.(Next time check out at 8.00 AM first in first out)
The pros:- Quantity, hygiene, storage, ambient temperature, variety, park in
The Cons:- Quality, space, congestion, choice, price, range, bargain
Weekly Market-Day Light Robbery*
Come Sunday or any other day at a different place, the street is abuzz with 100s of Vendors just unpacking their sacks of Vegetables which they bring from far of places with lot of sweat and effort-it is indeed a joy to watch so much of Vegetables in one place for that Greenhouse effect. Quality definitely stands apart and as every vendor calls you for the fresh maal, you feel like Rajah when you say che me dega kya. You have the variety and the choice to decide whether the price and quality are good as it is bright light and you can trust your eyes. But wait, Dukan ka mama tho ham se chalu, they weigh you in. None of these weighing machines are up to the mark and some of them are from Stone Age while others use stones as well. That’s what I call day light robbery where you have to take quantitative risk to ensure quality. The Inspectors have gone for next douse after their share of veggies for the week.
The Pros & Cons:- One man’s gain above is other man’s loss below.
The scales:-The Reliance Membership card ensures 1 point for Rs 100/- buy which means 1% discount. In the market, you can bargain to hold the Lady’s finger for Rs 2/- lesser on 10 which is 20% discount without the mercy of going back to the same Vendor or same lady unlike Reliance.
Reliance Card comes with accident insurance of Rs 50000/- which you can write on water like their petro card which never gets issued after several attempts. You can of course pick Bread and Butter and other little groceries as well at RF, but the Veg sandwich will not taste so great.
If you thought, all this competition will bring down prices, improve quality and the outlets become more customer friendly, we are once again hard done by the fact that, Indian Customer is never the King and want more and more as they grow more and say, you guys rely-on-us more and more for re-tail re-turns.
Well, the scorching heat is the big impediment to buy in the market but any day, I would pay that extra penny to the poor seller on the Road as Ambanis have made enough and more pennies.
Sample size:- 3 different Reliance outlets on six occasions, five of the six above mentioned outlets, 3 visits to Heritage Fresh, more than 30 visits to weekly market in the last 10 years.
Mukesh Amabani’s statement after reading my rev:- If the world is no longer greener, how can you expect my Store to be greener.
Thanks for reading.
