The aisles are narrow. Shelves are old and not labeled which makes finding items difficult. Flooring is dirty. Items are all over the place.
Everything from stocking, pricing and manning the cashier is done by the owner and his family members.
It is very labor intensive as they are still sticking price labels on each and every item. The cashier has to manually key in the prices of items indicated on the price tag or based on their memory (no bar code scanning). They have to count their stock manually as there is no system in place to track the stock level. So when there are many customers, you just wait patiently in the queue as you watch the cashier punching in the prices.
Of course, as a small business, they probably do not have the financial resources to invest in such a system. And it may not makes economic sense for them to invest in one as well if they do not have intention of expanding the business.
Their only competitive advantage is that their items are cheaper than the large supermarkets. This is especially important to the poor and old people staying nearby.
Even then, their items aren't the cheapest all the times, especially if the supermarket runs a promotion.
The other day I was at the grocery shop to buy a packet of brown rice.
I was deciding between two different brands, one all brown and the other a mixture of brown rice. Both are same price at $6.90.
In the end I bought the mixture one only to realize that I've bought the wrong type that was recommended to my by my friend.
So I took it back the next day to exchange it.
Usually for exchange, you can only get another item of the same value or of a higher value as usually, businesses only allow you to do that if this condition is met.
I told the Indian man at the cashier and showed the packet to him that it is still intact and not opened.
He said, "Usually we do not allow exchange. But this time, I let you change."
I told him, "Ok."
I went to take the other pack and showed it to him that it's the same price. Then I told him I'll put the wrong one I bought back to the shelf.
Before I left, the man said again, "Next time check properly before you buy. Next time cannot exchange."
I've bought something wrongly and exchanging it for another item of the same price. He didn't even need to do anything like re-keying the item into the cashier. This will also not affect his stock taking as his cash system cannot detect which brand I bought as they are the same price. He did not lose out on
Why was he so unwilling to do an exchange?
What if the item I am exchanging for costs more? Wouldn't he be making more money?
More importantly, he gets another happy customer with his good service.
Will he be able to compete with the large supermarkets in offering the cheapest price? For how long can he continue doing it?
Imagine if he allows his customers to exchange items that cost less and refund the difference.