India is a country with the most number of youth and that’s the figure most of the companies are interested to know. Many surveys have been done which have shown this TG (target group) is the most attractive proposition for the marketers for positioning and selling their wares.
Having grown up in the Delhi University area, I have always been intrigued by the sheer number of the students in the University and the crowds that usually throng colleges during their annual fests. When we were deliberating about testing waters for zarood.com in the university area, we thought it was quite logical to go and participate in the college fests where the foot falls would be high and the possibility of getting noticed a tad bit more.
On the assigned day, our team, all charged to handle a potential flood of customers setup our stall in one of the premier colleges of Delhi University. The range of products we have showcased were really marked down low so as to make them affordable for the students. The product range included, handmade jewellery from our online store like necklaces, earrings, bangles and bracelets and some handmade sikki grass souvenirs.
Our team was all charged up to handle the questions and queries of the students and make them a proposition that would attract them. Our products prices started at Rs. 50/- for a pair of earrings. This price was much lower than the prices offered by the street vendors in popular student destinations like Sarojini Nagar, Janpath and Lajpat Nagar in Delhi.
We had many students stop by our stall, we heard remarks like “wow so beautiful”, “so cheap(meaning affordable)” quite many times. Unfortunately all the “wows” we heard did not convert into sales. By the end of the day we are left a bit dazed. We had seen students buying eatables and drinks only. Almost all the stalls that were there were waiting for them to stop and make some sort of purchase.
This story continued in yet another popular girls’ college in South Delhi and that got me thinking. In the beginning, I thought that we had made some mistake in product selection and pricing. We re-surveyed the street markets and our finding established that we were absolutely competitive and pricing and unlike the street vendors, offered a wide choice to the students. Now we were a bit more confused and did’nt know what was going wrong.
A discussion with industry colleagues helped to get clarity on what was happening. The college going students today are spending their pocket money on things like, movies, snack etc. and very rarely do they purchase fashion jewellery or accessories themselves. The purchases are things like jewellery, mobile phones etc is usually done with their parents.
This indeed was an eye opener and is a learning for the future.
Sid Garg
- May 03, 2016
- Siddhant Garg
