THELA MANAGEMENT

THELA MANAGEMENT/STREET VENDORS IN INDIA
Millions of street vendors in India are without any rights and treated as a nuisance. Yet this vast body of people provides invaluable services in cities and adds to their earnings.
Our street vendors, all 10 million or more of them, are part of the color of India. They provide the magical allure, the sights, the smells and the sounds that have inspired zillions of foreign writers to India. Street vendors don’t only contribute significantly to the economy, but more than half the urban population is dependent on them. Both men and women vendors are found all over the country. The number of women vendors tends to decrease in the north of the country, as well as in large cities, whereas it is higher in the south and north-eastern states.
In Meghalaya, for example, women constitute about 70% of vendors, whereas in Kanpur they are about 20%. In Mumbai, about 17% of vendors are female, in Patna 21% and in Bangalore 44%. A majority of them belong to backward castes or the Muslim community. In some cities even members of upper-castes, especially Banias, take to street trading.
Their literacy level is usually low since they start going out on the streets at a young age. The variation in levels is, however, a reflection of the region they come from. The proportion of illiterate street vendors in Varanasi, for example, is 52%, whereas in Mangalore it is only 25%.
Street Vendors are part of our “Informal Economy”, which despite being virtually non-existent in developed economies, still holds a large chunk of India’s net product output.

Marketing strategies employed by Street Vendors
1. Target Market
The street vegetable and fruit vendors aim at target segments of households that are affected by the following variables:

a) Convenience (old people and housewives who do not frequently visit markets)
b) Time-saving (Working households, where wives and husbands are affected by their hectic work schedules and hence buy the eateries from the vendors on weekend basis)

2. Brand Image
The quality of products supplied by the vendors (from the experience at my hometown), is usually better than what we get at wholesale Mandis. This can be because they sell in relatively smaller quantities, which makes it easier to find defective products as well as in transportation. This is the reason why street vegetable and fruit vendors claim a higher price than the wholesale market. In the latter place, it is sometimes difficult to make your own selection of product assortment due to multiplicity of customers (more demand) and hence less chance of detecting defective products.
The customer is ready to pay a higher price but gain a higher value. This suits the Benefit-Cost model which says, if the Acquired Value (benefits other than the cost) are higher than the Transactional Value (economical value), then the resultant mathematical value of the product is higher. In this case, the customer gains:
• Time-saving
• Quality
• Product Satisfaction
• Greater Bargaining Power

3. Customer-friendliness

In normal Indian households, frozen products are still less preferable as compared to fresh products. Failure of Amul Pizza was a very clear example of this fact. Retail stores offer frozen food products at a price higher than the wholesale market, claiming the quality to be better. But in case of Street Vendors, this factor is overridden as they supply fresh goods (in some cases, on regular basis from gardens and farms), as demanded by the customers. Besides, the familiarity factor plays a major role in Indian market as Indians are largely said to have high emotional quotient. We will definitely trust a person, who sells us products directly as compared to a Branded Retailer, whose goods go through several middlemen and are hence subject to tampering. Even language and culture play a substantial element in this. The customer can effectively convey what he wants even if he is not familiar with English/Hindi languages, which are a regular feature of major retail stores.

Retail stores are impersonal. They deny us the right to bargain, which is a characteristic quality of the Indian consumer. The discounts they offer are sought on bulk purchase, which may or may not be a regular buying habit of a middle-class household. Besides, Thelawalas resort to tactics like offering freebies. For example, in smaller towns, some vendors offer free coriander or spices if you regularly purchase vegetables from them.

The most important aspect of this customer-friendliness is familiarity with the local taste and flavor. In eastern UP, for example, since garlic is a quintessential content of the cuisine, it would be a regular offering by the street vendor. Even during Ramadan, they offer dates for sale to Muslim customers. Similarly, in Gujarat, if tomato is the more preferred vegetable, it would be a regular feature of the thelas of the street vendors visiting the co-operative housing societies.

4. Diversification

Due to very short inventory and capital costs, Thelawalas can offer variety of goods with little additional investments, depending upon the popularity of particular products.

For example, at Utsav Chowk, there is a juice-maker who sells Mausmi, Pineapple and Orange juices for Rs. 20 per glass. Seeing the popularity of his juices, perhaps he identified more needs. Besides, it is a known fact that fresh fruits are more nutritious as compared to juices. Thus, now he provides a plate of cut-fruits (pineapple, water-melon and papaya) for Rs. 10. This has many advantages. First of all, those concerned with the nutritive value, will find this option more feasible as compared to juice. Secondly, while offering only a few slices of pineapple, one pie of water-melon and one slice of papaya, if he can earn even Rs. 5 per plate then 5 plates per day give him additional revenue of Rs. 750 per month.
Similarly, the Parathe wala on the highway sells an assortment of various kinds of Parathas on his Thela. Starting from Rs. 18, we can have around 7-8 varieties of Parathas along with chutney and salad, with curd & butter on additional prices. Now he has started offering combinations of Parathas (potato-onion, cauliflower-onion), with additional cost of Rs. 2. This adds taste and variety to his products and increases revenues without incurring additional costs as his materials remain the same but offerings are different.