Whoever said, “do whatever your heart desires” couldn’t have been more precise. Though it’s hard to digest that the desire could be as humble as becoming a vegetable vendor, but even that, when done with passion, can be a fulfilling career.
When 15 year-old, elementary-level educated Damodar Shahney, dreamt the customary dream of making a fortune in Delhi, it didn’t take long before reality hit hard. Two years of toiling in factories, steel plants and mills for a meager Rs. 2500 a month made him look for an opportunity beyond the clutches of labor. On a visit to his uncle, an idea struck him. It took an observant mind to identify the need of a vegetable vendor close to the residents in the developing area of Delhi. So with an initial capital of Rs. 4000, Damodar became an entrepreneur—a vegetable vendor. The initial investment included a pushcart on which he decoratively displays 20-25 variants of vegetables, a weighing machine, a kerosene lamp and a few florescent colored baskets that scream for attention even from a distance.
For Damodar, a resident of Naharpur area in North Delhi, the day begins early at 5 am. A 20-minute bumpy ride in the bus and he reaches Azadpur mandi, the hub of fresh vegetables in Delhi, where he spends the next seven hours. Buying best quality vegetables is half the job done. Equally important for his business is buying the right quantity so as to avoid wastage.
The challenge is to buy only such quantities that can be sold in a day, so that he does not have to sell stale vegetables the following day. Potatoes, tomatoes and onions see the highest demand, so he picks up 25 kg of each. However, high demand also means that bargaining is the maximum for these items! So, profit margins are lowest at around Rs 4 per kg. Next come capsicum, ladyfinger, cucumber, and lettuce in the 15-20 kilo range; but profits are marginally higher at Rs 4-6 per kg. It is vegetables like ginger, garlic, lemon, and coriander that spell money for the business. People buy as low as 100 gm of these items; so profits are as high as Rs10 per kg. But at the end of the day it hardly makes any substantial difference, as he is able to sell just at best 3 kg per item of these.
The two-cart strategy
The next phase begins at 4 pm. Welcome to the Rohini market; a place with generous competition around. It takes more than decent selling skills for Damodar to make good. And that “more” is the two-pushcart strategy.
Ten footsteps away from his pushcart stands another vegetable vendor, Pramod Shahney. The similarity of surname is no coincidence; they are brothers. And no, they are not rivals playing out some family feud. On the contrary, it is a well-planned strategy. According to Damodar, his USP is that he sells the freshest vegetables in the market. Forty percent of his customers are regulars who prefer buying from him because of this. The leftover vegetables become a little stale that cannot be seen on his pushcart the following day. Enter Pramod and his pushcart. He sells the leftovers at break-even prices, thrice a week. This way, Damodar does not have to compromise on his USP, wastage is reduced and his younger brother gets precious on-the-job-training.
Sprinkling water on the vegetables every few hours to give that fresh out of farm look is the mantra every vendor swears by. However, Damodar goes a step further and ensures that his pushcart has the most eye-pleasing arrangement of vegetables as well.
Thirteen years of experience and Damodar definitely has some customer understanding. Profit margins depend entirely on who is buying. So when someone sends their domestic help to buy vegetables, its boogie time and tomato is pitched at Rs 22 per/kg. He says that the men lack bargaining skills as he gets Rs 20 per for the same kilogram of tomatoes. Younger ladies don’t quite create a big fuss either, so Rs 19 is a reasonable expectation. But when it comes to middle-aged women, he might be forced to sell graciously at Rs 17!
Weekends are bad days for Damodar. Weekdays see a turnover of anywhere between Rs 1500-Rs 2000 per day, but on the weekend, it could be as low as Rs 500 per day because of the weekly markets in nearby areas. Damodar says that vendors in these markets offer cheaper prices as they buy vegetables of mixed quality. But he loses customers on those days anyway.
Any business has costs but luckily Damodar’s expense heads are limited.
Capital costs first. The pushcart was a one-time investment. It cost him Rs 3500 some ten years back. A new one now would cost double. The balance, costing Rs 500, can work for two years, though he thinks it is advisable to change it after a year and a half. The plastic baskets, which cost Rs 10 each, scream for a change after six months. The jute sacks needed to cover the vegetables come at fifteen rupees a piece and he buys six every week.
Operating cost starts with a battery-operated lamp that is rented for ten rupees a day, a cheaper option compared to the earlier kerosene lamp at Rs 25 per day. Transporting the vegetables from Azadpur is not cheap and takes hundred rupees a day. Lastly, 300 gm of polythene bags that cost around Rs 10 per 500 gm round up his costs.
After all this, was the change worth it? Damodar has no regrets. He now manages to save around Rs 4000 a month after paying house rent and taking care of other personal expenses. Compared to this, his earlier job got him just Rs 2500 all inclusive. Take his brand new Nokia 2300. According to him, owning that mobile would have never been a reality had he not followed his heart ten years back. The phone is not just an impulse purchase. Home delivery is next in his plans.
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