Selling in Mumbai is a community thing

Mumbai is always referred to as a cosmopolitan city. My observation, however, is that we are not really cosmopolitan in the truest sense but truly multi-ethnic. That's because even as we live together as Mumbaikars, we do not subsume our identities of origin and preferences to a common urban theme. Most of Mumbai's localities carry a distinct, ethnic or occupation stamp. In fact, one can very easily say that every other railway station here has a particular community residing predominantly in that catchment area.

While everything is porous and we all commute and communicate seamlessly, the community signature of each locality impacts consumer behaviour, retail stores, products sold and shopping pattern. So, when we talk about Chembur and Matunga, people will say it's predominantly South Indian population. Similarly, Parel, Borivali, Kalyan -- each one has an ethnic character to it.

Another characteristic is whether people are largely white-collared or gold-collared, which is my expression for the business community. So probably in income terms, Koparkhairne or Bhayander may be similar – and I'm making lots of approximations here - but Koparkhairne is largely full of people with white collar jobs and Bhayander largely houses the business community. And this determines on which days of the week or month the shops and markets are more crowded.

Communities impact two things -- Predominant food habits and type of specialty retailers that come up in the neighbourhood. This holds true not only for the local stores but also for the modern retail, which is supposed to be standardised and uniform across the city. For example, if I have a supermarket in Ghatkopar, I have to keep a rice variety called 'Jeera Sar' and my store in Mira Road or Mumbai Central has to have 'Sella Rice', a type of boiled rice. If I don't do that and continue with my standard Basmati and Kolam varieties, I will not attract customers in those markets. Cold standardisation signals to the community that I don't understand them. Even a modern retail store has to dovetail itself to the nature of the communities and their food habits.

Interestingly, our catchment studies show us that for any store, top three ethnic communities account for over 90% of the population. And the top three ethnic communities can be very different for each store across the city. Each catchment carries an ethnic community stamp to it. For instance, I have a store in Mumbai Central and another one at Mahalaxmi which is less than a kilometre away. In the same week, the Mumbai Central store will celebrate Eid and we will have merchandise and displays for it while it will be Diwali displays at the Mahalaxmi store.

Triggered from food habit signatures of localities, specialist service providers and stores come up in each locality. For the best varieties of Gujarati khakras, kachoris, etc. the biggest and the most famous stores will be found in certain localities only. While these specialty stores come up and thrive in these specific localities, they also become a destination for others. If I want to buy the best mukhwas in town, I will probably go to Santacruz West or Malad which houses specialist stores selling it. And if I really want the best Vada Pav, then I will go to Lal Baug, Thane or Dombivli because they (vada pav outlets) have naturally come up, flourished in those locations and have a history because of the core communities in those locations.

We, as shoppers are free to go across locations to buy our choice of food or apparels, etc. I live in Parel and if I want good sambhar onion, I will go and shop at Matunga because that's where I will get the freshest and the best quality and in any quantity. One part of Mira Road boasts of a very strong Muslim population and there is a street called Naya Nagar where you can get the best, fresh meat. People interested in fresh meat come to that street from outside the locality as well. Naya Nagar has hence become a destination for fresh meat for everyone because it services and is tuned to local community. You will spot such knowledge and shopping behaviour settled in every locality because community clusters are stable and have a natural equilibrium about them.

Additionally, communities and their characteristics don't have to be only ethnic. I mentioned Koparkhairne and Bhayander earlier as being white-collared and gold-collared. Stores in Navi Mumbai area have a very strong weekend sales and sales in the week after salary days. However, in localities like Mumbai Central, Bhayander, Borivali, etc, stores witness strong weekday sales as well because of the large gold collared profile. So, if I am doing a mid-week activity, say on a Wednesday, the response will be higher across stores in Mumbai Central, Bhayander, Borivali as compared to Vashi / Navi Mumbai. Knowledge of all these is important because the consumer behaviour and catchment impacts the shopping preference for these markets.

Modern retail stores & malls have a very interesting impact in mixing these things up, a bit. Within one kilometre from our Reliance Smart store in Mumbai Central, there is a very strong Muslim neighbourhood. At a similar distance from this store is Kalbadevi, Bhuleshwar and in another direction, there is a totally different Altamount Road. A big store in Mumbai Central then becomes a destination, where these otherwise diverse and self-sufficient communities converge and interact. In that sense, modern retail becomes a place of confluence or a temple of democracy. Retail destinations in such locations create a modern day appeal areas that are beyond micro localities.

As we saw earlier, the community influences and shapes all stores, traditional and modern. Supermarkets and malls, with their wider appeal, nudge the behaviour of the community towards a modernity that is shared and a bit more cosmopolitan. The community shapes its store and vice-versa. This friendly push and pull gives Mumbai shades of its cultural character.

The writer is a retailer, author of 'SupermarketWala: Secrets to winning consumer India' and works with Reliance Retail. (As told to Ashish K Tiwari)