Nehru Place, Karol Bagh, and Chandni Chowk are great places to shop if you know how to. You can get great deals if you know the way around their streets and shopkeepers there. And, most importantly, if you have got time for it.

Let’s talk about Nehru Place. This is where our Tech-AD India Network Solution’s office is, and the business here is our lifeblood. The crunch here doesn’t spare anyone, and it took us some time to learn ways to hustle here. 

How do you prepare:

First, online research or prices may not be very helpful. It is possible that vendors here may not be familiar with many terms and technologies that are commonly found in online stores or tech journals. Or they may have a different term for it entirely. E.g., you will have a very hard time finding an Active HDMI cable, also referred to as AOC (Active Optical Cable), which is what is recommended for most new-age display and conferencing devices. Many vendors who sell everything may not know what Active means. Some may have it in stock but will simply know it as Fibre HDMI Cable and will not acknowledge any other term for it.

Prices and Price Match:

At Nehru Place, you are very likely to get great deals, but please don’t expect a price match from online stores. Customers should understand that the online stores and brick-and-mortar stores are two separate systems of distribution used by manufacturers. These two overlap at many points but are not the same. There are a number of reasons why it is not possible to price match for brick and mortar stores, including those at places like Nehru Place and Karol Bagh, such as manufacturers using separate supply chains and marketing strategies for these, differences in cost structure elements, etc.  However, they are very willing to price match with other shops in the same market. So it is recommended to ask around before finalising a purchase.  

Competitors or Partners:

Note, most of the shops here are not just competitors but also partners. It is a very common experience here that when you enquire about an item, the shopkeeper will promise that it’s available, but then you will have to wait 5 -10 minutes before they bring it to you. They often procure items from each other to sell to the end customer. You will come across shops here that appear to sell everything, but in reality, these shops can’t be stockists of everything. There are often just a few key stockists in the entire market. These stockists themselves may or may not have a walk-in store.  All in all, stores here thrive on a very strong internal network and still have competitors. This interconnectedness helps in keeping the operation cost low, and so the cost of items they sell.

That’s great, but there are also some cons for the customers.

You need time, a lot of time

The time you need for shopping is much higher than you may plan for. Shops may not have a sample available to show you, so you just have to trust them when they say they have understood your requirement.  Which may not always be true.  

Even when they have understood your requirement, what comes through may not be the same brand or model. Shopkeepers will change their commitment frequently.  

If you have a list of items, you may not find all of them in one place or all items at the best price in one place. So to get the best deals, it is recommended to get the cost of each item from multiple vendors.

Also, if you have something specific in mind, do not trust your vendor when they say ‘you won’t find it in Nehru Place. You may if you ask at enough shops (or the right one).

All these mean you need a lot of time in hand to shop here. This is true for almost all such markets, like Karol Bagh for Bike or Car accessories or Chandni Chowk for everything else.

More Later…

I will stop here in this post. I will write another post sharing tips to shop at Nehru Place. Do keep an eye out for it and comment below if you like a subscription option for our posts.