The Hindu Business Line : The Big Show

Catalyst kept its eyes open and spoke to people — marketers, stall assistants and visitors — at The Hindu Metro Plus Lifestyle Show 2005 held from June 9-13 at the Chennai Trade Centre. It was no ordinary show: Over 80,000 people visited over five days, with over 30,000 walking in on a sweltering hot Sunday; over 1 lakh sq ft of air-conditioned space; a food court; and an open-air theatre for entertainment in the evenings. Our notes and observations:

The age of the big

Yes, it really is the age of the big: big shows, big stalls, big displays, big products — big everything except a big wallet. But don't let that fool you: the small wallet has slim cards that mean big money.

The TVs are getting bigger and wider; the refrigerators look big enough to be cosy for two, maybe three; microwaves and combination ovens are getting big enough to cook for joint families in the nuclear age; air-conditioners are getting bigger with split, ceiling, and floor-standing models vying for space; and mixer-grinders come with three different jars and a score of different blades. People are walking in to trade up from their smaller to bigger appliances.

Says V. L. Narayan, General Manager-Sales, Samsung India Electronics Ltd, "The sales in this Metro Plus Life style show have been excellent and above expectations. The most surprising thing was the sale and enquiry for high-end products such as plasma TVs and home theatre systems. A lot of people have bought plasma TVs in this show."

Much of the furniture displayed was of the overstuffed variety with snazzy colours and jazzy design. A stall selling massagers and the like had an all-in-one easy chair, which, again, was overstuffed. The beanbags, obviously, were overstuffed, but, boy, were they big.

The art was big, too, with large canvases and large etched metal work. Even the artificial plants were larger bunches with more and slightly bigger flowers and foliage.

Even the cars were big: Ford's portfolio; Toyota's portfolio; Hyundai's bigger cars; Tata's Sumo and Marina; Mahindra's Scorpio; and Maruti's big small car, the Swift.

And there was a funny thing happening with laptops — the top-end with really big screens (17") or with really small screens (10.5" or less). The ones with the big screens cost big bucks and so do the ones with the small screens.

And don't you start about the jewellery and the diamonds! They may be small in size, but don't they make a huge dent in your wallet? S. Kolahaalan, Store Manager, Chennai, Sheetal Group Jewellery Division (Kiah Diamonds), says, "The unexpected thing has been the response. There have been a lot of enquiries for our product. The crowd is really huge and unexpected. It has crossed our expectations."

The age of the deal

It seems that the customer is no longer King. He is a slave to the new master: The Deal, or even better, The Steal.

A young lady haughtily walks away from a stall saying there was a better deal for the microwave oven in the New Year, and the sales rep begs her to wait so that she can talk to her head office. Ah, the wonders of technology: In less than a minute, she is back with a deal: Rs 2,000 worth of freebies. But she isn't happy. Okay, how about a hand-blender thrown in (another Rs 1,000)? And yes, the lady pays cash and wants a cash discount. It doesn't matter that the freebies are going to just end up in her loft, and the hand-blender is going to join another half a dozen under the kitchen sink; and what's more, her present microwave is working as fine as a microwave can.

Cash and carry and swipe and swing have given way to deal the steal. People buying products for the only reason that it was a steal, people buying in advance to enjoy a special deal, people buying stuff for a house they are going to build somewhere, sometime in the future — they are all there.

A furniture salesman offered your correspondent 25 per cent off only at the show, and when told that the furniture wasn't required for another three months, glibly said, pay Rs 1,000, book the piece and have it delivered three months later. The same thing happened to him with an air-conditioner dealer.

At the time of writing, it has just been three days since the show ended and already your correspondent is flooded with callers saying, "We got your number at the Metro Plus Lifestyle Show, and this is your last chance to get the steal deal." And this is just for those who couldn't make up their minds quickly at the show. And some high-pressure helps: we will arrange finance with zero per cent interest, just say yes!

A lady walks into a home theatre demo, likes it in less than a minute, and buys speakers like she buys vegetables — a pair of those large speakers, a pair of this and four of that, and don't forget the gold-plated pins for the connectors. She pays hard cash too and haggles like she could in a neighbourhood market.

But sometimes it goes too far, as in the case of a couple pushing hard in their negotiations with a gentleman selling onyx-ware from Pakistan. At one point, the seller just told them, "At the price you are asking, I will keep the stuff in my house or garden and not bring it for sale," and just walked off, not even turning back to look at the couple.

Don't judge a book by its cover

A very ordinarily dressed couple in their early sixties — the gentleman wearing old-fashioned trousers and a fitting T-shirt and the lady wearing a slightly faded printed silk saree — amble slowly in the corridors of the electronics stalls. They stare open-mouthed at the large TVs and refrigerators and listen with awe to the prices. Suddenly a young couple walks across to them and the man says, "Amma, which one do you like? Shall I book that for you?" He is wearing knee-length cargoes and a T-short with the logo of a software company known across the world. His wife is fussing over an infant daughter and she joins the conversation every now and then with contributions like, "Get amma the combination oven, she can use it easily."

And there were quite a few people wearing traditional clothes — men wearing spotless white veshtis and women wearing heavy silk sarees — who were quite well-informed about some modern products, like the regal gentleman in veshti clarifying to a stall assistant that he was looking for a DVR and not a Hi-8 or D-8 video camera.

Ganesh, Marketing Director, Ekbote, says, "We came to this show to promote our brand and we have received an overwhelming response from the people who are coming for this show. The crowd is one thing that was unexpected and it was massive. Another thing is the class of crowd, meaning the clients coming to my stall are a very knowledgeable crowd with great taste. Most of them liked our products and are planning a second visit to my showroom."

So much for the IT industry's impact on society and the benefits of globalisation!

Don't think change in lifestyle happens only because of IT and only on high-end products. Change is something that happens to even something as common as coffee. Says N. Srinivasan, Managing Director, Vivekananda Coffee, "The most surprising thing in this show was the overwhelming crowd and my brand building was good. People visited my stall and had my special Kumbakonam Degree Coffee many times in one day. Another thing that was unexpected was the response to the home delivery system. People have booked for home delivery from the stalls and we are looking forward for more people to book for home delivery."

In conclusion ...

The Chennai consumer is aware of preferences worldwide in design and taste, is extremely value-for-money conscious with the patience to negotiate and/or wait, and with a surprising amount of purchasing power, that sometimes even they are themselves not aware of.

Estimates show that about Rs 25 crore worth of business took place in the five days inside the show premises. A lot more is expected to take place after follow-up, more showroom visits, and also as a result of contact made at the show.

You can only prepare.

Show class: be big in some way. Be a dealer: make an offer we can't refuse (at least, make it difficult to refuse). And finally, don't judge a man by his clothes: You might not be able to tell the difference between an undergraduate on a wheeze and a software architect on a spree.

Reporter Associate: Partho Ray

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