I visited all these stores in a short span of time and could not resist comparing the experiences, for whoever it can help or can serve even as a piece of reading.
More Supermarket
More Retail is part of Aditya Birla Group and I am a fan of this Indian business group.
I realized that More has several formats of stores, some are big, like "More Hypermarket" are, and some are smaller in size which are "More Supermarket". I visited a Hypermarket.
I was a regular customer at More long time back and I visited multiple times recently. I loved the Hypermarket concept instead of smaller and crowded Supermarket which I used to visit few years back. I noticed that More Hypermarkets were not too much loaded with inventory and it felt that just enough varieties and just enough quantities were kept. I don't like the stores which keep dozens of options for a simple thing; it just wastes our time and attention. Since most customers are repeat customers, it is much better to make available the necessary objects right away. I am not a fan of "retail therapy" propaganda and I get exhausted if I have to scan thousands of objects from my eyes (and brain). In stores, I make very quick decisions and move on and I do not enjoy shopping as an elaborate exercise. More Hypermarket appeared just as perfect for me to get things and move on to next isle.
I also noticed that More Hypermarket was really spacious and it did not have too much crowd on any occasion. It was a really good deal.
Tata Star Bazaar
Star Bazaar is from Trent Limited which is part of Tata Group, a pride of India.
Experience at Star Bazaar was surprising weird. It felt that items were kept in a haphazard manner, and it was too confusing and time taking to find an item I needed. The kitchen and utensils section had very limited items and those also were kept in between racks of other items. Many items were not available. The inventory and food products were fresh and good which was a plus side.
I remember visiting a different store of Tata Star Bazaar a few years back and I remember it as lacking space and not a great experience either.
DMart
DMart is from Avenue Supermarkets Limited, a publicly traded company in Indian stock market and I had doubled my money from its IPO, a fact which I don't want to forget.
I have been visiting DMart for many years and only after BigBasket and Swiggy Instamart came into being, I stopped visiting DMart regularly. After visiting DMart after a gap, I could understand that "nothing changed". The store is like before, items are like before with some improvements in "home section" which has got bigger with more variety of items. But the crowd and lack of enough space to walk in the store is as it is. I am not a price sensitive customer anymore and DMart does not seem to be understanding the evolving customer needs. But, from business strategy side, DMart seems to be focused on its targeted set of customers and in that area, it may be doing just fine.
Patanjali Store
Most stores are franchisees of Patanjali Ayurved, a new business group in India which needs no introduction.
I have been shopping at Patanjali stores in many cities wherever possible and I have always been highly impressed. I love their products and although the stores are managed with very less staff, I find it always in order. It is so timesaving to shop at Patanjali stores because you do not have to search, compare and make too many decisions. The billing experience is fine also, since I use a "Swadeshi Samriddhi" membership card, but while recharging it, I realized that my newly acquired RuPay card did not work there, so I had to pay via UPI.
Due to lack of variety in products, spacious and less crowded stores, good quality products and stores situated at convenient locations, I have always been happy with my experience at Patanjali Stores. Plus, we get a "bonus" of being able to help the environment, local farmers and community and promotion of Ayurveda and herbal products too.
- Rahul
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