Customers Annonymous

The rise in online shopping is attributed to the pandemic because we were on lockdown, but it started long before then.

Shoppers like it because there is no preparation: no taking showers, fixing bland features with make-up and braving winter storms in the car or public transport. They also like it because there is no judge and jury when they enter the store.

It is common knowledge that business owners, including those that run a franchise operation, cannot afford what ordinary people enjoy: likes and dislikes. Dislikes include customers.

You might cringe when certain people enter your business premises because of what they are wearing or the way they look, but they are potential spenders, until they leave without buying a scarf or gloves.

As a business owner, you don’t know anything about the feet that step into your premises. Your perception or assumption is not what it is. Let me raise my hand and admit that I once thought I know it all.

I first saw women wearing black clothes from head to toe in Harrods, the London department store. What surprised me was that they were looking at mascara, lipstick and eye shadow samples. They were about ten around the cosmetics counter.

I was surprised because I wrongly assumed that they did not need make-up because their religion demands the face must be covered. As a business owner, you cannot afford to make my mistake.

That is why around here, students and most people born in Africa and Caribbean patronize two stores on the other side of town because they sell our food. One is Vietnamese. The other one is owned by Indians from India, the country.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.