Be Fair to the Customer

A better way of doing business is for the retailer to avail of the lowest possible wholesale prices so that after selling his goods at a fair price, he is still able to make his profit.

In a certain locality of Delhi which I have been passing through for the last ten years, there are several hotels owned by Muslims. But out of this entire number, there is only one which has made continuous progress during this period, the others having suffered a decline in clientele. One day, I asked the proprietor of the successful hotel the secret of his success. “Very simple,” he replied. “What other hotels buy by the kilo, we buy by the quintal. For any purchase we make, we explore the entire market and buy only from where we find the prices are the most reasonable. By buying in bulk and paying cash, we acquire things quite cheaply.” Then he smiled and said, “If you want to make a profit, make it from the market and not from the customer.”

Usually, shopkeepers make their profits by selling their goods at inflated prices. But this is not good business. This is exploitation of the customer. When it becomes known that a shopkeeper exploits his customers, people start boycotting his shop. That is why such shopkeepers are ultimately unsuccessful. A better way of doing business is for the retailer to avail of the lowest possible wholesale prices so that after selling his goods at a fair price, he is still able to make his profit.

This principle holds true for all branches of commerce. In most businesses, whatever the businessman sells to his customers has been previously received from elsewhere. Often, shopkeepers opt for the easy way out, and buy goods from some nearby place for the sake of convenience, but if they were to devote a little more time and energy to this task, and go somewhat further afield in search of merchandise, they would be able to purchase the same goods at more favourable prices.

Usually, shopkeepers try to compensate for their own laziness by charging the customers more, but that is a way of doing business which is hardly calculated to lead to success. The immediate returns on money invested in this way may be high, but they cannot continue to be so, and in the long term are bound to dwindle. Steps should then at once be taken to ensure greater profit margins, not from the customer, but from the wholesale market.