Thanks or No Thanks!!!

My first enduring memory of the United States was Thanksgiving electronics shopping... 


It was a crazy cold New England Friday night when my roommate woke me up at 4 am yelling that we overslept and that now we are going to miss awesome deals... Less than a month in the US, I was inadequately dressed for the occasion - just a thick leather jacket, nothing to keep my ears and hands warm - and could feel the bone chilling cold the moment I stepped out of the apartment... 


By the time the car reached the already full Circuit City lot at Nashua mall, there was no cold because the fingers and the ear lobes were numb... For the first time in my life, I wanted to be 4 feet tall so that I could fully wrap myself inside the leather jacket... 



There was a Dunkin Donuts outlet at the next intersection and we were taking turns to go and get coffee for the other friends... Never mind that the overpriced coffee would be cold by the time it reached our lips, the activity involved in running to the Dunkin shop and back triggered enough metabolism to keep us warm - our sole consolation on that cold night... 


The queue was crazy long already - there were ppl who were waiting in the queue before midnight... Everyone wanted only the selected items -- a laptop, thumb drive, digital camera, flash card -- and was hoping that by the time they get entry into the shop, there atleast 1 one remaining to grab... And it was not just the FOBs like me - but there were Americans, Chinese, Indians, African Americans - everyone was there... Some of them had even brought their aged parents and kids along and instructed them to "lay their hands on whatever they could" for scrutiny before checkout... 


After a long 2 hour wait in the queue, the doors opened... People rushed in as if this is their last chance to grab a seat in the last flight to heaven and by the time we could board the "flight", all the seats were taken - no laptops, no thumb drives, no digital cameras and no flash cards... We were supposed to rot in "cold" hell... Thats what we call in Mumbaiyya slang -- Khaya Piya kuch nahin, glass toda baraah anna...


This thanksgiving though, the picture was entirely different... There were no queues and rushing hordes of customers waiting overnight to grab that elusive item... I went with my friends to pre-screened stores at 7 am and yet the stores were deserted and full of goods... Even though a few stores were offering free breakfast, there were very few takers... Most the people came in with the intention of checking out the product and then going home and purchasing it online on a better deal... 


It was very disheartening to see all the stores have their full staff at work at dawn and then find out that customers come in, get all their queries answered and then say "let me think abt it a bit more" and walk out of the store... The few sales that actually happened carry a 50+% chance of returns... 


If this trend continues, how will these stores survive? These physical stores have real estate costs, staff salaries, benefits, insurance and still have to make enough profits to ensure survival and dividends to the shareholders... Compare this to the online vendors who need to maintain a website which can be done from a garage and only has to maintain a warehouse in the most remote town of US to deliver even better results... 


But this is an indicator that the rules of the game have changed -- its either perform or perish... if the game means that the store model is history now, and the online model is the in thing, then so be it... The stores have to scale up the new rules of this game or face extinction -- the Circuit City way... 


Everyone is going to play according to only one rule - survival of the smartest - and anyone who breaks that rule, will not survive to play for long... Thanks or no thanks... 

2 comments:

Sharath said...

Very interesting. Contrast this with the Diwali sale here in Blore...the serpentine queues in the electronic stores, people buying just about anything they can lay their hands on (albeit on EMIs) and the choked roads and parking lots (if any).

I think this is a true reflection of the state of the economies in the respective countries and the changing dynamics of business around the globe.

I dont know whether to cheer this or get scared at the trend. As of now, its happy shopping....I guess.

NR said...

Sharath - I am not saying that ppl are not purchasing things here.

Actually they are buying things by the hoards but only online and not through the stores. Online, they get awesome deals and no taxes, free shipping where as they end up paying 8% tax in stores.

That was the point I was trying to make - the store model may be history now.