Don’t be surprised if you can swipe a card to buy vegetables! Well we are talking about non-branded routine outlets here. Many of the vendors at Russell Market have decided to go cashless now. Afroze Ameer, a vegetable vendor, after taking this initiative has motivated many of his companions to go cashless.
Right after the announcement of demonetisation, many of the sales executives walked into the Russell market to sell POS machine. Afroze Ameer, a vegetable vendor, decided to buy it.
He wasn’t surprised to hear the comments like, “Who comes to buy vegetables with cards?” First day, second day and a week past, nobody came forward to swipe the card. By then Afroze slipped into the thoughts of demonetisation and associated disappointments. While many of the SMEs are struggling hard to make money, the profits of the vendors and restaurants have gone down.
But surprisingly, Afroze is making little extra than the ordinary days before the demonetisation move. He is making good profits with the help of gadgets during the crisis. After installing the POS machine, he records a sale of about Rs 3,000 everyday.
“Swiping machines are found only at the big shops. It’s of great help for consumers to pay this way but the only disadvantage is that a minimum purchase of Rs 200 is required to use the card. It is more convenient if we tend to buy the commodities in bulk”, says Bharathi, a customer.
It’s a huge hit for Aforze, during the weekends and festival seasons as many of the consumers tend to buy extra vegetables and preserve it for a weeks’ time. During the weekend many of the people make time to buy their daily needs.
Many of the vendors have now decided to go cashless after witnessing the hike in the Afroze’s business. “Going cashless and using POS is very effective and helpful to make business happen”, says a flower vendor adding, “But this is not possible for all the business sectors, especially, low income gainers like flower sellers and fancy shops.”
“In my opinion, going cashless is good for both the parties-sellers and buyers. The problem of accounting and change is solved and it saves lots of time too. When demonetisation happened, I was completely lost worrying about the business profits. I had many of the old notes with no takers for them and the very next day I decided to buy the POS machine. Now, many of my friends regret for not buying when the bank offered the machines on discount”, says Afroze.
After demonetisation many of the small businesses have decided to buy POS machines, which can help smooth conduction of business by getting rid of the currency crisis. A neighbour of Afroze expresses, “The crowd at Afroze’s shop is increased just because of the POS machine. Many of us have decided to follow suit amid scepticism if the demand and the importance of the card and machine is going to remain the same.”
