Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Consumer Scepticism


Consumer scepticism seems to be a big issue in India; consumers don’t seem to trust any product or service even with sufficient evidence and guarantee, they do double, triple checks and may be more. This is something which is ingrained into each one of us I think, right from our young age our parents tell us to check the change which the shop keepers are giving us, double check the bill when you leave the restaurant, check expiry dates when you visit a medical shop, don’t go by the printed rates, always bargain, cross check in multiple shops before you buy, check for original seal, don’t pay anything before delivery etc etc.

A large part of this scepticism stem from the fact that quality of services and products we consume  today are either poor or not consistent (by and large), false claims or assurance from sales / marketing people, poor control / management by food and drug governance body. There have been several instances of expired drug causing deaths; several times I have personally seen hoteliers making mistakes in restaurant bills; there seems to be a free market for illegal or counterfeit products. And topping the list is corruption across the board. 

Given the circumstances, consumer cannot help than to be sceptical about everything which comes across them. There is no silver bullet to change this but for better political leaders, better governance, better quality standards and good business ethics across the board.

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