Long before Quick Commerce was a thing, I was a delivery boy of our home:) The 90s kid of India well understand this.

Everytime we had guest at home or we ran out of things at home, my mom asked me to run to to the neighbourhood shop to get bread, milk, paneer, samosa, sometimes sweets or anything else that was needed.

My mom had not flown in the plane by then but she perfectly knew how to give me a Buying Checklist to her Pilot ( that was me). A typical checklist read like this :

1) Go and Get some milk, bread, paneer, some spices, daal etc

2) Here is the money.

3) Only goto Jain Provision Store and get all the stuff from there.

4) Take care of money.

5) Ride your bike slow.

6) Come back fast.

7) Tell Neeraj Bhaiya ( Of Jain provision store) who you are and where do you live. (meaning Dad’s name and name of the apartment)

I did not like Jain Provision Store at all I had my own reasons for it. Store was a bit far and he I had to pedal my bike for 5 mins longer to reach Jain Provision. In Delhi’s heat, riding the bike for an extra minute mattered a lot. The Q of buyers at his shop was always longer than the Q at the other shops.

The shopkeeper was very stingy with number of plastic bags that he gave to customers and always asked customers to get their own bag. I dont think Jain uncle cared about the plastic in environment, his intention was to save cost 😃 .

Moreover, I always felt the stuff is slightly expensive than the other stores.

I can say whatever but it was what it was.

Mom’s order cannot be disobeyed. Just like modern day delivery man who bring the food from far, I had no choice.

As I grew older, I understood that Jain Provision Store not sold Fast Moving Consumer Goods Milk, Paneer or bread but Jain Provision Store sold Trust Based Consumer goods.

Jain Provision Store had taken multiple steps to ensure he earned the trust of my Mom and all my neighbourhood Aunties and Uncles.

1) Jain uncle would maintain consistency in price. Regardless of who visited the store the pricing was consistent.

2) All pre-packed items were weighed again in front of customers to show the weight exactly was as mentioned on the pack.

3) Jain Uncle would refuse to sell paneer or any other item, if he ever felt that the quality was even slightly deteriorated.

4) If ever Jain Provision Store got a call from the customer for complaint, Jain Uncle ensured he was extremely polite and empathetic. He would issue refund, replace the goods and scolded his team for any carelessness on their part.

5) Jain uncle and his team delivered on what they told us and we trusted them.

Jain Provision Store may not be a muti -million store but Jain Family were fairly rich financially and were extremely rich as far as the trust quotient is concerned.

I am sure a lot of us have experiences and have witnessed some version of this story in their own family.

But why bring this up now ??

All this came in my head when I read back to back stories of how lot of FMCG are “hiding” behind labels, scientific names and take consumers for a ride.

Take this for an example.

MDH Masala has chemicala.

Nestle products have higher level of Sugars than what is written on the pack.

Unilver and other companies blatantly misusing loose Label Guidelines and maximising their profits at the cost of health of consumers.

In a nutshell, these MNC have broken my trust and they have lost me as a customer. I am fast replacing my consumption pattern:

1) By reducing the number of packets I buy.

2) HomeCooking as much as I can

3) Preparing spices and sauces at home vis-a-vis buying from outside.

4) And moving to Brands that I have earned my Trust like The Whole Truth, Hale N Hearty, Go Desi and others.

The brands have few important thing that are important to me..

1) Clear purpose : what does the brand stand for.

2) Identity and Voice of the Founder. It is so important to me that I can talk to and listen to and reach out to a founder rather than a faceless customercare email id at any of the these MNC FMCGs.

Here is what the future looks like to me :

1) Consumers like me will move to consuming Trust Based Goods rather than any fast moving brand.

2) Big MNC IN FMCG will lose to much smaller locally available brands who have earned the trust of the customers.

3) You will have more Jain Provision Store in future who will have enormous trust from their customers.

4) Billion Dollars of Food Business will get re-organised in favor of smaller, End to end Suppliers