For the quintessential middle-class Indian, mom & pop shops (kiranas) serve as a pillar of society, and has been bringing people together for decades. But in the wake of lightning speed delivery and technology, they struggle to keep up with the world around them. Here's a look at what keeps them going among the Goliaths...
India’s retail market is growing faster than ever with a projected growth of $1.5 trillion by 2030.
The constituents of that number are more surprising than you would think. Mom & pop shops, colloquially known as kiranas — small, family-owned and operated businesses — contribute to about 90% of the in-person retail market, arguably the next big asset for corporations looking to invest.
There are over 12 million kiranas in India, these stores act as one-stop centres for residential neighbourhoods, turning into both sites of intimacy and community.
In the age that we currently live in – a time when technology is hell-bent on alienating us from each other by putting more screens between people, places like these hold us together.
In fact, most of India’s grocery retail happens at these brick and mortar kiranas across states. Although these stores are primarily known for selling groceries and essentials, there are also ones that sell everything from clothes and footwear to electronics and cosmetics in every neighbourhood.
You’re likely to spot one in every neighbourhood and they almost always resemble each other: hundreds of household items are crammed inside wall-to-wall wooden or glass shelves in these outlets.
Most items are unbranded and sold loose, effectively dealing directly with local suppliers and distributors instead of being at the mercy of corporations.
By providing employment opportunities within the community, kiranas end up becoming the pillars of the brick and mortar market due to its significant economic, social, and cultural impact on society.
What distinguishes kiranas from supermarkets is the level of trust they can easily forge with their regular base of customers. For one, they become a shorthand for convenience by offering essentials in close proximity to its customers. Owners often operate these neighbourhood stores for more than a decade, effectively building a sense of camaraderie with locals.
These are independently-owned stores and not part of a larger chain or franchise, which effectively means that they often have a limited stock of goods and are more focused on serving their immediate neighbourhood.
Owners are likely to remember the names of their regular customers and shoppers prefer the personalised atmosphere of buying groceries from such stores where a conversation often comes free with a purchase.
It felt a lot like a community gathering at Haroon Stores in Panampilly Nagar, Kochi that has been around since 2007. Now a general provisions store, it originally used to only sell fruits. In the span of two hours, a host of regular customers walked in and out of the store, their eyes darting across shelves to locate the ones they needed to buy.
Unlike big chains, Haroon Stores sources their products locally at Ernakulam market, a mark of their dedication to give back to their own community.
This is the kind of neighbourhood store that lets its customers have a say in the items they stock — instead of prioritising variety, Haroon Stores maintains a tradition of housing items that their customers buy often, offering them not only specificity but also personal catering.
The welcoming environment that the store creates doesn’t just stop there. Customers — most of whom the owner knows by name and face — can also call the store to reserve or pre-pack their groceries and then pick them up at their own convenience.
Like other kiranas, Haroon Stores makes concessions for its customers. “If someone breaks an egg on the way home, they can return it to us and we will replace it,” the store’s owner says playfully.
The idea is to not only attract new shoppers but rather, find small ways to make existing customers feel like they’re valued at a store where bonds are not only of the transactional kind.
It's a beautiful cycle that allows them to be patrons to the community while simultaneously serving it.
In that sense, the future for mom and pop shops in India is evolving as the retail landscape changes. One significant example is the adoption of digital technologies. More and more shop owners are gradually embracing UPIs as a form of payment in a bid to expand their customer base.
This kind of digital transformation allows them to attract younger customers as well as adapt to evolving customer preferences.
In fact, if these small businesses decide to leverage technology, they could effortlessly enhance their visibility, streamline operations, and provide convenient online shopping options.
Considering these smaller outlets have access to a reliable group of customers, they also pose attractive investing opportunities for bigger chains like Swiggy’s Instamart and BigBasket.
The potential for them to become super distributors is alluring although it remains to be seen whether it stands the test of time. Still, collaborating with bigger chains could be a viable way forward for these stores in helping them to create a more comprehensive shopping experience for a varied demographic of interests and needs.
Perhaps, the future of these mom and pop shops could be about finding a middle ground between convenience and familiarity.
As we hurtle forward into a world that is increasingly digital, it’s no surprise to see people still flocking to these brick and mortar stores.
The charm of these places, after all, rely on their ability to forge in-person communication and renew connections, offering us a moment of much-needed pause from a life in front of screens, a life that is at times, on autopilot.
It is no wonder that the bigger fish in the retail market are so keen to make franchises out of these stores for it gives them an opportunity to access a niche audience that their inaccessible hypermarkets can barely dream of reaching.
After all, kiranas have been the past and present of Indian grocery, who is to say that it can’t also be the future?
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