Second assignment first

When we were assigned this task we came up with a set of 11 basic questions that could define a business-
1. How long has this business been running?
2. What is your daily routine?
3. What are the tools required?
4. What are the skills required?
5. How do you sell your product?
6. What is your income?
7. Do you have a family?
8. Why do you sell from this particular location?
9. What kind of buyers do you get?
10. What is the investment?
11. How much do you sell each day?

We did not get precise answers from all the people. We mostly targeted the peddlers on Brigade and MG road

1. Name: Riyaz
He sells sunglasses and watches at the MG- Brigade Cauvery crossing. He has never tried selling his products from another area as he says that maximum potential customers are found on Brigade road.
He has been doing this for the past 10 years. Before this he used to drive an auto. Decided to do this when he discovered it was more lucrative. He gets his products from city market and works 10 hours a day. He has a wife and two daughters and lives on mysore road. He likes to display his products hanging on his arm like a shelf in a shop. He waits for the customer to come to him and believes that anyone interested will definitely stop and look. He is very particular about never forcing anyone to buy anything from him. His customers range from locals to foreigners looking for a cheap gift to give people. He sells his watches for around Rs 120 minimum and makes a 20% profit on each. He earn about Rs 250 – 300 per day but its never fixed. He starts by quoting a price of Rs 225 and then depending on the customer, lowers the price. He expects bargaining.

2. Name: Aslam
He sells Junk jewelry and does body piercing. He has been doing this for the past 4-5 years and has been selling his products in the Springfield lane just off Brigade road. He gets his products from the city market about once a week.
He buys whatever he finds aesthetically pleasing and tries to keep up with the latest trends and makes sure he has a wide variety of things. He buys 3-6 versions of each design. He has a family consisting of 4 sisters and two school going brothers and lives in shivajinagar. He provides for all of them. He has studied till the 12th grade and can speak in English and communicate with any kind of customer. He believes that his education and knowledge of English has been a big boon in running his business. As a school boy, he worked part time at his uncles silver shop on commercial street where he learnt body piercing. His shop is a portable one made of wood and metal. He displays all his products very well and has various stands for each type of product. At night he packs up his stall and stores it in a go-down. He has a good reputation in the wholesale market and often buys on credit. The products come from Bombay to the market to him as a result of which his cost price is slightly high. He makes a profit of about 30% on each product.

3. Name: Nehru
He has been writing on a small grain of rice for 3-4 years on church street. He sits on church street because it is an offshoot from brigade road where policemen don’t bother him, if they do, he runs. He comes from maharshtra. He takes about 2 mins and can write upto 40 names on 1 grain of rice. He took 2 months to learn this art from his brother in Bombay who does the same there. He uses fevicryl paints and extra thin customized brushes to write. The rice grain is then suspended in colored oil and put in a transparent glass container with a plastic stopper at the top which he seals with feviquick. It costs about rs 10 for him to make one of these which he sells for a minimum of Rs 30. He converts this glass container into either a keychain or a pendant. One can even pick a design for him to make and choose the color of the oil. He makes Rs 400 – 500 a day and sells more on weekends. The main customers are couples. He is willing to teach others to do this also.

4. Name: Ratna
She has been selling fruits on the MG road pavement for the past 7 years. She sticks to this location out of habit. She lives with her husband in kormangala and has kids who are married. She sells seasonal fruits like black jamuns and mangoes. She makes not more than Rs 100 a day. Customers are sparse and only locals buy from her. There is a lot of bargaining involved and she does not attempt to advertise her fruits in anyway. She sits everyday from 12 noon to 11pm and has many days when she doesn’t earn at all. The fruits come from Kerala to the city market where she buys them from. She sells the jamuns for about Rs 30 /kg and buys a big basket for about 1200. She never sells out all her fruits in one day and thus does not visit the market very often.




5. Name: Jairam
He is a self taught cobbler and mends and polishes all kinds of shoes on the MG road pavement. He has been doing this for the past 35 years, and has only changed his spot from UCO bank by about 10 meters, 25 years ago. He earns atleast 100 Rs a day and works daily from 10 am – 7pm. He has a variety of tools like 4-5 brushes, different kinds of polish, an awl, needle, glue and threads. He need to replace his brushes every 3-4 months which costs him about 40 – 50 Rs and a tin of polish costs Rs 10. He sells a variety of shoelaces and soles as well. His main customers are the office going men.