Discounts and coupons for the customers who come back
You already know your regulars by face. Now give them a reason you can write down.
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A discount you can explain and a coupon you can hand over
The flyer across the road lasts a week; the Monday reduction lasts as long as she comes
The new press across the road puts a flyer in every bundle, and the flyer is an offer for one week. Yours is a reduction she knows she will have every Monday, and the line on her bill is what she can show a neighbour who asks why she stays.
One offer for the whole family, not one for each mood
Make a coupon for the bride's family and let the aunt and the cousin use it. The rate is the same for every one of them, and you do not have to explain a favour. Another customer who asks can be told what the offer is and who it was made for. Another customer who asks can be told the rule as it was written, and does not take it as a favour.
A returning boy's reduction is a line, not a favour
The boy who had his screen changed comes back for a second crack. The reduction for a returning customer goes on his new bill as a line of its own, so he sees what was taken off and you see it in the day's sales. It is the shop's rule, not a favour given from memory.
The weekly ironing bundle, the bride's sisters and the phone that breaks again
The bundle that comes every Monday
An ironing shop has families who bring a bundle of shirts and saris every Monday. A new press has opened across the road and puts a flyer in every bundle. The owner takes a little off for the ones he remembers, but his boy at the iron does not remember them. The woman who expected it goes home annoyed, and next Monday her bundle goes across the road.
The bride's sisters, the cousins and the aunt
A family comes to the bangle store before the wedding. Weeks later an aunt comes, and then a cousin, each saying the bride's mother sent her. You give a kinder rate to the ones you like on the day, and a woman who watched it asks why hers was different.
The customer who came once for a cracked screen
A boy got his phone screen changed at your repair bench three months ago. Today he is at the counter at the other end of the lane, because his friend told him it was cheaper. You did a good job, and he forgot your name by the time the next crack came. He tells his friends where the screen was changed, and none of them are told to come back.
What goes with an offer for regulars at an ironing shop, a bangle store and a repair bench
Offers for regular customers
The family that brings its bundle every Monday gets a reduction that the boy at the iron and the owner give in the same way, written on the bill.
Bills on your phone
The line that takes something off the bill is on the family's copy too, so the bride's mother can show it to the aunt.
Credit book (khata)
A regular's page keeps the bills of earlier visits, so the owner sees at a glance how long she has been coming before offering anything.
Online orders
A family ordering ahead can have the same offer on its order.
Daily reports
Look at last wedding season's busiest days before deciding on which days the offer is worth giving.
Questions from shops where the same families return for the same occasions
Can the boy at the iron give a regular the discount, or only me?
Whoever makes the bill can put the discount on it. Tell him which families get it, so the same family gets the same offer whoever is at the iron.
Does a family collect points that it can spend later?
No. There are no points. Bharatrath gives you discounts and coupons: you decide what a regular customer gets, and you give it on the bill or hand it over as a coupon.
Can I make an offer only for a wedding family and not for everyone?
Yes. A coupon is made for the customers you choose. A customer who is not in the offer pays the usual rate, and the bill shows the difference.
What if a customer shows me a coupon I made last year?
It is your coupon, so you decide. You can honour it or tell the customer it has ended. When a coupon ends is your choice.
A regular brings her neighbour's bundle with her own on Monday. Whose reduction is it?
The reduction is for the families on your list. Put the neighbour's bundle on a bill of its own at the usual rate and hers on hers with the line taken off. A neighbour who comes every Monday can be put on your list too.
Why people still return to the shop round the corner
86% of Indians surveyed in November 2022 preferred shopping at the local kirana store, while only 2% used online grocery apps, Business Today reported. The customer who walks into your shop is, by this survey, the usual kind of Indian shopper. A discount for the regular is a way of saying the same thing back to him.
The same survey took 10,207 respondents, 70% of them from rural India, Business Today reported in 2022. Seven in ten of the people asked lived in rural India, where the shop owner often knows the whole family by name.