On 14th October 2009, I along with a couple of my colleagues had been to Nilgiris Super Market to purchase Deepavali Sweets for our organization for distribution to our customers.

We purchased items worth Rs.9,980/-.  Even though we are well aware that Nilgiris do not give any discount or anything free for a bulk purchase , we still asked the employee, whether we are eligible for any free items or discount since we have purchased items Rs.10,000/- in one shot.  In today'' word 10,000 rupees may not be a big amount, but still it is good enough coming from a single purchase.  We were told by the employee in a very polite and friendly way that with Nilgiris we are assured of good quality and that itself needs to be treated as a discount of free gift.

The point to be noted here, we live in an era where customer is the king.  Supporting the customer is another fact that the present market atleast in India is a buyer's market.  If you go to any reputed electronic shop, one who is the best in the business, if you purchase an item for Rs.10,000, you are assured of gifts worth Rs.2500/- in the form of a DVD player or something like that.  The company however reputed it is understands the customers pulse and by giving the gift they are not doing any favours, they are just doing so to stay in the market, because these days however big you are in the market, you cannot survive by displeasing the customer.

Another aspect which concerned is us is the fact while they have a big outlet at Brigade Road, Bangalore with lots of items, lots of employees and all modern equipments, there was no officer in managerial cadre to answer customer queries.  The employees extremely polite, well mannered hadworking  and friendly but they had their limitations as they did not have any powers whatsoever to put up our proposal.  Had there been a manager, even if we did not get a discount, we would have been able to put up your suggestion to Nilgiris through the Manager.  There could have been a possibility that the establishment would have understood the customer's pulse through the Manager and possibly come up with a offer in future to keep customers interested in them.

Nilgiris is a very famous establishment very well known in India.  It is a 100 year old company, founded in 1905.  Nilgiris is a brand name every body can trust of and safely buy a item, but still they cannot afford to be complacent and take everything for granted.

Regards

Satish