In India, chaos sells 24 Aug 2007

When Kishore Biyani opened an American-style supermarket in India six years ago, he was alarmed to find that most of his customers walked down the wide, neatly-stocked aisles and out of the door without buying. So he decided to change it up. The Wall Street Journal takes up the story:

"So Mr. Biyani redesigned his stores to make them messier, noisier and more cramped. 'The shouting, the untidiness, the chaos is part of the design,' he says, as he surveys his Mumbai store where he just spent around $50,000 to replace long, wide aisles with narrow, crooked ones: 'Making it chaotic is not easy.' Even the dirty, black-spotted onions serve a function. For the average Indian, dusty and dirty produce means fresh from the farm, he says. Indian shoppers also love to bargain. Mr. Biyani doesn't allow haggling, but having damaged as well as good quality produce in the same box gives customers a chance to choose and think they are getting a better deal. 'They should get a sense of victory,' he says."