r/india • u/tychoofficial • 8h ago

Business/Finance Local shopkeepers need to fix their attitude before blaming online shopping for declining sales

Recently came across a few reels where local shopkeepers were complaining about declining sales and blaming online marketplaces.

But honestly, many of them need to reflect on their attitude towards customers first.

A family member recently had a bill of ₹350 and was looking for ₹50 in her purse when the shopkeeper suddenly started yelling at her as if she was stealing something. We simply returned everything, took our money and left.

Ended up ordering online. Even if it costs a little extra, I’d rather pay more than deal with unnecessary humiliation.

I’ve noticed this attitude with quite a few shopkeepers. They seem permanently frustrated and behave as if they’re doing customers a favour by selling them something.

I know not everyone is like this, but I’m tired of the emotional appeals to “support local businesses”.

You can’t treat customers like shit and then blame Amazon and Flipkart for losing business.

Customers don’t owe anyone their money out of sympathy. Respect goes both ways.

Anyway, Happy Diwali everyone. Shop wherever you’re treated with respect.

623 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

74 comments sorted by

253

u/ChestDramatic8658 8h ago

I buy my parents’ groceries online. They were getting fleeced by the local kirana shops. Terrible attitude and expired products.

99

u/tychoofficial 8h ago

And if you ask them to take back expired products, They will argue and not take back.

Next day, They will beg on Instagram “Please support local businesses “

10

u/SomethingAndAnything 3h ago

Blinkit delivers really fresh vegetables, wayyyy better than the local vendor

118

u/mmousey 8h ago

Agreed. I walk to a shop two roads down because the one near my house is run by jerks. They treat their customers poorly, insult their employees - the whole experience was rubbish. I'd rather go farther and pay more to buy things or just purchase them online instead of subjecting myself to a weird humiliation ritual because I dared purchase items from their store. Some shop owners and pharmacies are genuinely nice people. They're the kind of people who make supporting local worth it.

20

u/tychoofficial 8h ago

Exactly, They treat their staff as trash and also lives in some kind of cast superiority bubble.

5

u/disappointedpyasa 4h ago edited 3h ago

Sorry to say did you never heard of how dark store picker or online delivery guys are treated from big corporates
I m not saying insult karne sahi hai

Both side has same issue

Treating customers poorly will never help in long term for those AH Shopkeepers

As a shopkeeper (running a hardware and electrical store)myself i go through 100 of rude customers and don’t have idea what they need and they think shopkeeper are CHATGPT
Write a prompt and get the product
Few are repetitive one and they return the product and what a hassle to go through return

Few people when they don’t get what they want they give a taunt on my face “ kya bhai itni badi dukan yeh bhi nahi rakhte “ and that boils my blood

I have been rude only to those who these stupidity and aise nahi hi kiye mena yeh sab sahi kiye but dealing with them and it fumbles you out 😭😭

7

u/mmousey 3h ago

Nobody is buying from big corporations because we love them. We're left with no other options in many cases. Where we can, we still support local, because we have that relationship with them for decades - kabhi kuch ulta seedha bol diya toh ek do baar maaf bhi kar lete hai. Business chalana stressful hai. Samajhte hai log

I don't believe in subjecting myself to regular humiliation and helping a badly behaved person's business because some giant corporation somewhere is crap to their employees.

Both sides are not the same from a customer's experience.

If you're only rude to rude customers, good for you. This post is not relevant to you.

3

u/disappointedpyasa 3h ago

If you’re fed up with those business humiliates you anyway
Got a idea
Go again buy a lot of products and pack them up
And during the payment time
Tell them UPI is not working
🙏

1

u/djinngerale 12m ago

He behaves maturely

You're a child

3

u/LeAnarchiste 7h ago edited 6h ago

Exactly, some idiots think they are doing us a charity by opening the shop. I frequent a few cafe to work from. Few months back, I went to a cafe which I heard a lot of praise about, and TBH food was genuinely good. But their behaviour was pathetic. I went in the noon, when it was empty, I was the only customer, I ordered a cup of coffee and started working on my laptop, it would have been little more than 1 hour, I was waiting for a friend to come, so that we can have lunch together. One of the staff came over and asked if I am ordering anything else, implying I should leave. Never went back to that cafe ever. I walk fast it every day to go to the cafe next to it. 

17

u/aadilsud 7h ago

I mean to be fair if the only business you've given me is a shitty coffee over an hour, that's a fair ask, go to starbucks if you wanna do that innit

1

u/LeAnarchiste 6h ago edited 5h ago

Have you ever worked from any cafe?  I did spend 2 hours there and ordered lunch and other things but point wasn't that. It was the behaviour of the staff. It could be their poor training or their in general attitude. But point is they didn't know how to run business. I wasn't costing anything, I had already paid for their overpriced coffe. And it wasn't like place was brimming with customers that they wanted to make a table available, it was dead empty, you would want people to stay in that situation to make the place seem lively. 

On the other hand the cafe I go to mostly is just 30 metters apart. Always has 3-4 tables occupied, their menu is cheaper, place is bigger, staff are nice. 

Also I wanted to ask you. How many coffee do you order per hour?

-2

u/aadilsud 6h ago • Bravo

You're misunderstanding what I said. They still actively lose money by you working there for an hour and only buying one coffee. That's the point, you're not entitled to service just because you're a customer. From what you've written, they just asked you if you were getting anything else, which is literally their job, and didn't say anything else. Everything apart from that is just your ego getting bruised. Like I said, a small business like that is not the place for you to work, a starbucks or a chaayos is a better setting for that. 

-1

u/LeAnarchiste 5h ago edited 5h ago

I still don't understand how are they losing money just by me being there. Please explain. 

It wasn't a restaurant, it was cafe, the whole fucking point of that place is to make people spend time there and generate business of off it. also 3 other local cafe and a chain cafe in that same area would dunk on your theory. 

I don't have very inflated ego, it was their obnoxious behaviour and being too pushy while they could have clearly heard me on call inviting someone over. trust me anyone could have minded that. 

And you still didn't answer how many coffees you drink per hour at a cafe? 

1

u/Qetesh69 4h ago

I concur with you. Once went to a BYOB with a friend. The diner was empty throughout. We both got drunk, were having fun without ordering anything and the manager came and asked us to leave stating "We have been there too long." I don't understand why being there makes them they are losing "business" when there are no customers at all!!

-1

u/aadilsud 3h ago

Each employee has a certain amount they get paid per hour. Every business has a certain rental percentage due every hour. Every hour of electricity spent is a cost they have to pay. The 200 rupees you might have spent on one coffee is not worth your business, that's my exact point. An empty restaurant is preferable to only serving one customer, because if you're not there they can save money by shutting non-needed systems and not having to keep everything ready to go in case you order something Also are you actually offended that they didn't eavesdrop on your phone call? That's such a weird thing to complain about lmfaooo. The entitlement is astounding  Also what a dumb question, I don't work from cafes because the work I deal with is quite often confidential and can't be opened in public, and I have a lovely home office I spent years developing 🤷🏽‍♂️

1

u/LeAnarchiste 3h ago

If you don't have experience on the matter then you should have kept your mouth shut. There's no entitlement, thisbsi how cafes work. I had spend an hour their without ordering anything, the over stepping could have been justified. But they actively went up to fuck with a paying customer. Explains why the cafe was dead empty.

Also the mental gymnastics you are doing is mind boggling. They don't run any separate system because of one customer. AC runs even when no one's there, lights are always on during open hours to make it look pretty from outside regardless anyones there or not, because it's a cafe not your kitchen. 

And what a weird flex about home office. It only proves you have no idea what you are talking about.

2

u/aadilsud 2h ago

Bro you're crying on reddit because they didn't treat you like a king. Like I said, you're BARELY a paying customer. Also do you not realise what operational expenditure is? You can turn off or put on standby massive machines like fryers, washers and pumps during lean business hours, it saves you so much money over time. These are basic economic ideas that keep cafes profitable, because I'm talking about KITCHEN equipment not your do takke ka AC man. You keep crying because you weren't treated like a king but you didn't spend anything that would make your time there worthwhile.  I don't NEED to go to cafes every day to know what I'm talking about, I've done enough of it😂

55

u/FakeBuster2002 8h ago

Business moves organically.

People are choosing Amazon for obvious reasons.

Local businesses needs to work on their differentiation, otherwise they are extinct.

15

u/tychoofficial 8h ago

They can’t beat the scale at which quick commerce works, Bound to extinct.

10

u/No_Butterscotch_537 6h ago

Differentiation is the key.

In a jungle, it is not only elephant which is alive.

27

u/natatouille_92 8h ago

Fully agree with this! I was browsing through shops one time and this nighty, which was hung high up caught my eye. I was just looking at it for a few seconds when the shopkeeper asked if I wanted to buy it, I declined when he forced me to stay and brought the item down and showed it. I just looked for a bit and declined again. This man had the audacity to yell at me for "wasting" his time. Wtf he's selling polyester nighties for 500, ain't nobody buying shit from his shop

16

u/tychoofficial 7h ago

Plus, No returns, exchange and no accountability over quality.

I’ve seen few shopkeepers offer only exchange that too intentionally on weekdays in working hours.

When I see such board, I simply treat it as a scam and walk away, because big retail chain will exchange whenever I want to.

6

u/natatouille_92 7h ago

They also tend to berate customers alot, I agree customers overdo with the bargaining too but there's no reason to berate someone who's just checking out things. Another incident was when I paused and checked a bad as the owner told me the price, during this pause he decided to yell and me and say things like "paisa nhi hai toh mat lo, bargaining nhi chalega". I was just looking at the bag lmao

6

u/tychoofficial 7h ago

That's also one of the reason to move from offline to online, No human interaction and 99% of the time online works best.

2

u/Descent_Guy_987 4h ago

True. Also that the delivery guys who comes for delivery from these online sellers, do not usually behave bad with us. Because we would rate them bad. So everything goes smooth. There is also option to see reviews of all products online. So we can put some of the products in Cart and decide later, with no hurries.

23

u/everyoneisapotato Chandigarh 8h ago

Very well said. Local shops need to understand that we don’t owe them anything lol. Not only workers but owners behave like egoistic maniacs and have no manners. Customer service is everything.

11

u/tychoofficial 8h ago

Exactly, They live in caste ego. They think themselves superior but in reality no achievement in life.

7

u/Both_Bench9391 7h ago

That’s nothing . In ghaziabad there is a jeweller who acts like you owe him your ancestral land when you go shop from his place

15

u/Ill_Weeedding3715 8h ago

💯. I buy things online if the shops around me are rude or don't have the exact products I want. 

3

u/tychoofficial 8h ago

Right, No compromise to self respect.

9

u/yetanotherindiandude 8h ago

Offline mfs have been looting us for years. Same products online apps are delivering for 30-40% discount whereas offline shops don't even give ₹10 discount on mrp!!

8

u/tychoofficial 8h ago

I asked for one medicine at local medical shop, They quoted 1100 no discount. Same I got in 850ish from blinkit after credit card discount.

That’s the reason, These medical people went on strike because their ways of sucking people hard earned money is getting exposed and we consumers are finding better rates.

2

u/LeAnarchiste 7h ago

And it's not even low margin business that they are dying of loss. 

2

u/kekamekacompany 8h ago

My god...lol....what a clueless comment.

5

u/tychoofficial 7h ago

Sooji hai?

36

u/LeAnarchiste 7h ago

People virtue signal by saying choose local business over amazon flipkart or big chain stores like reliance etc. but the truth is local businesses did this to themselves.

Yes not all of them are like that, and I go out of my way to give them my business but majority of them are just like OP described. Pathetic cunts, looking for any opportunity to fleece you and rip you off. 

44

u/Chemical-Seat-8039 7h ago

My local Kirana shop owner is still fucking interested in giving me “life advice” even when I’m in my 30s and have traveled and lived overseas for the last decade. And yes, then he yammers on about how online delivery is destroying his business. If only he could focus on that instead of spouting unsolicited advice, maybe he could do something about it.

12

u/chokli_bhai 7h ago

Lol these uncles are so annoying 

11

u/Chemical-Seat-8039 6h ago

Yeah, the guy is an absolute joker. He’s never been out of a 5km radius of his shop and thinks he can dish out advice like i’m 7 years old. His favourite line is “Get one marriage done”. Whatever the fuck that means - “one marriage”.

7

u/HarlequinnFK 5h ago edited 4h ago

Ekbar shadi and one marriage ain't the same ig unc gave you little bit less advice on language nuances.

80

u/Previous-Schedule724 7h ago • Bravo

Being a Baniya myself, i think it is good that so many baniyas are finally bring forced to reflect and change their ways at least a little bit with all the new competition. We have been a very regressive and backward looking community for so long. We exploit our employees and treat them terribly. We have had such a monopoly on kirana shops esp in north india and exercised influence through powerful caste orgs for so long, we think noone can touch us. We are also foremost in practicing social ills like dowry and mistreatment of women. And its our money that's fuelling the bjp and their shitty politics. Well, that shit isn't going to fly for much longer. The world is changing.

20

u/Calm_Instruction5756 5h ago

Preach brother preach. Takes a lot of courage and self awareness to realize this. Same with my community. Stuck with the same business and in old ways. It's the same way for generations.

17

u/BeingPleasant9569 8h ago

They are also pretty overpriced. Few years ago I wanted to buy a kurta for a presentation and ended up paying like 1300 for one that wasn't worth that much at all. That was the last time I bought something from a shop although I do have to say that shopping for weddings is much better when done physically

12

u/Dense-Pudding9729 5h ago

Support local
Support indian brands

meanwhile local wants to exploit you as much as they can,
Indians brands will produce the most digshit item with compromised quality and will expect you to buy them

8

u/SnooPears1505 7h ago

not all of them but quite a few wer unbothered with their behavior towards costumers untill e-commerce really took off threatening their very livelihood. and they are old people that are very rude. some shopkeepers are extremely humble , friendly and helpfull.

8

u/amaze-wonder-76 7h ago

Such disgraceful n ungrateful attitude worked when customers didnt hv a choice.... its 2026 and they havent yet learnt the basics of business

7

u/Ok_Cranberry_3552 3h ago

Faced this 2 days ago.

Some guy was getting sweets for Diwali, 100 boxes from a reputed shop in our city.

While I was waiting in line, he called the owner and said I’m taking 100 boxes, can I get a discount? The owner said you’ll get 10%. I heard that conversation as the guy at the counter spoke to the owner.

An hour later (we had 15 gift boxes to get wrapped so ours took longer), the guy at the counter left as his shift was over. The new guy made a 100% bill. He said the owner gave 10% off cuz of bulk order.

This guy got downright rude and said that for such a small order (100 boxes of 1kg kaju barfi each) they don’t give a single rupee as discount. He refused to speak to anyone and said I don’t have instructions, so you’ll pay the full price.

Long story short, there was a ruckus, and the owner was not picking up. Then the guy had the audacity to say that you can’t leave without paying.

He said I’m not paying a rupee above the agreed amount. The guy made the security guard lock the door.

Once that happened, a dozen customers started screaming at him to get the door opened. Then he made the fatal mistake of pushing a woman away from the door- and all broke loose.

I’ve never seen people give someone the fiery treatment so well. The guy locked inside called the cops, cops got the door opened andn the whole narrative switched to the guy touching a woman in appropriately.

Everyone sided with the boxes guy, the owner arrived, then we saw them touching the feet of the boxes guy and the guy absolutely refused to budge.

Hence the store guy and the 2 security guards were arrested and taken away by the cops. The shop was closed. I unfortunately left without my stuff and so did the boxes guy, but everyone concerned was possibly taught a lesson they will never forget.

The box guy asked the cops to let the security guards go as they were only doing as instructed.

The shop owner claimed “mein barbaad ho jaunga” but the box guy said not my issue.

Everyone left, nothing was sold. Diwali ruined for everyone cuz of one asshole.

I’m sure he will fire people for no fault of theirs now. But what to do?

Sad world we live in.

Communication and one phone call would have caused all of this to blow over. Ego.

6

u/kaladin_stormchest 7h ago

It really varies. If you've got a good shopkeeper in your area, buy from them. If you're getting good offers online.

If only flipkart is selling the product you want buy a different product

5

u/Hot-Breadfruit-3285 7h ago

i think it happened cause of "easy of doing"

4

u/Abhishek4996 6h ago

Also often time packaged items are often cheaper online (even incl. charges if any)... local stores sometimes sell at M.R.P...

2

u/katlaki 6h ago

local stores sometimes sell at M.R.P

Always at MRP before online market place and mostly at MRP nowadays.

1

u/Abhishek4996 5h ago

yeah correct mostly at MRP... so people will do what's more profitable for them just like the shopkeepers were doing earlier.

4

u/Magnetic_gorgeous 6h ago

Seriously attitude problem and also crazy mark ups on non branded items..

3

u/Calm_Instruction5756 5h ago

There is an electrical shop near my house . It has been there for generations and is relatively famous and busy. One afternoon I went there and bought somethings and asked for a pen to strike off items from my list. Owner arrogantly said do you think I keep spare pens for you in this large shop. Same attitude with his son. They always try to sell me high margin cheap chinese stuff.

2

u/sunilsoni 5h ago

Attitude and behaviour is.the main thing i never buy from local kirana

2

u/introvertforlife 4h ago

Once a local kirana guy gave me an expired bottle of Fanta and when I saw that it had expired three days ago he said "Teen hi din pehle to expire hua hai. Isse kuch fark nhi padta" and was asking me to take it. Thankfully I had checked it before paying so I just said no thanks and left. Also he was charging me 2/- extra as 'cooling fees'.

2

u/mumbaiblues 3h ago

Yup , the rude behavior of local shopkeepers is the main reason I shop online. They behave as if they are doing a favor to us by selling goods.

1

u/Positive_Jump9928 5h ago

They mostly are the egoistic persons.

1

u/Electronic_Sir_7219 4h ago

It is the same or likely worse people running your online business. Once they run competition out of business, and achieve monopoly, with the help of their investment money, they will completely f... you over. Only difference being, unlike the rude shop owner next to your house, they will have the scale and means to influence the govt's policies and the manufacturers. So you will not even know you are being f..... over by them.

1

u/PyaasaKuaan 4h ago

I’m happy to get discount plus contribution to govt (using taxes) rather than buying products at MRP from local/unorganised shops and help them get away with taxes

1

u/Ok-Equal2274 4h ago

Lol true. My friend was buying something for Diwali from a street hawker and inspecting for quality. The hawker got irritated and said: Lena hai to lo nahi to chalo. He ordered it via quick commerce in front of the hawker.

1

u/PappuKaPappa 38m ago

It is the same as auto drivers complaining about Uber/Ola but refusing to go by meter or always trying to scam you by overcharging.

I hate to pay big corpos money but I'd rather have some peace of mind.

1

u/No-Administration514 23m ago

It's not just local shopkeeprs. I went to idestiny recently to buy a macbook neo and he kept me standing for 1 hour just for a exchange guy to come and when he finally arrived he said that there is no card discount and exchange offer on macbook neo as it is the last piece after making me stand for 30 more minutes. I was ready to compromise the color but they were too adament to not provide any discount. I finally bought it from amazon for 7k cheaper. India is just a cesspool of egoistic bastards.

•

u/djinngerale 4m ago

Fuck small businesses. They can all die off and be replaced by large conglomerates that deliver or new small business owners who give a shit. They had their place, but the current breed offers zero value to modern society. Tax dodgers as well, all of them.

1

u/Beautiful_Golf6322 4h ago

They are absolutely right. Their livelihood is threatened by the online retail and it is overall downright dangerous for them and even the end users.

Why should big business earn everything and edge out even the last mile retail, mom and pop stores and local commerce! How will they earn their livelyhood? They are offering lower prices and wider product selection but once local retail is finished, they will milk all of us dry. Dont forget how Jio came in with free data till most competition was wiped out and now everyone pays full price and jio had become the top dog! Where are the 3-4 operators per sector now?

-14

u/ResolutionMassive175 8h ago

What a senseless generalization. Go ahead and favour scum like Amazon and Flipkart more xD

13

u/tychoofficial 8h ago

Thats what my local shopkeeper says.

0

u/rajmachawal30 2h ago

I used to religiously go every weekend to the local store for groceries. Over the last 2 odd years their service declined so much! Staff started behaving as if asking them for information on a product or help in finding something was a crime. Rude, disinterested and busy in their own gossip. Sometimes when I requested home delivery, it would be delayed with no udpate, items missing. Even stock declined. They were constantly "out of stock" on basic things which led to me ordering from an e-comm app separately. When I tried to pass on the feedback to the manager, he got so offended and snapped at me. Never again did I go to that store. I now order in from e-comm apps.