Getting Supplies and services online is becoming commonplace.
During Dussehra and diwali amazon, flipkart and others came out with enticing offers on mobile,electronics, clothes ,fashion accessories,household goods.
Then there were the furniture makers pepperfry,urban ladder and Paint suppliers and services like asian paints ,berger,dulux offers on line.
Finally the food and gift suppliers offering their exotic offerings
I decided I shall put some to test and find out .
As sample, I doled out contracts for supplies and services to two paint fellows online for painting my flat .
Some gyan I got from the experiences.
It is less expensive to get supplies online.
It is costlier to get services online.
The cost of standard paints were upto 20% cheaper.
Services costs got jacked up as there were more middle men starting from call centres of sites, service provider of painting contractor, paint contractor, paint
supervisor .The actual painters were only three or four but others were living off them . The charges were Rs 33 per sqft as against rs 16 or so per sqft if one directly
hired 3 or4 painters for the same. So one ends up paying almost double of what is warranted. The festival demand and supply also jacks up cost.To get even the
job started I had to tackle all these entities one after the other to get the painters to begin their job. Moral of the story ,go straight to painter in neighbourhood
, pay his daily wages of 600 rs per day and get the job done. Ultimately even the big paint companies hire only these fellows to do the job. So cutting out
middlemen is wisdom
It took me 10 days to finish the painting job which could have been done in five or six days if I had directly hired the labour.
For supplies it is really worth it to buy online. I tried kitchen woodwork and almirahs at competitive prices. Very economical but supplies and customisation take
time. At least three weeks for delivery and couple of weeks of customisation.One has to be computer and mobile savvy to get it done.Also it requires a
stronger heart as we pay 100% money for supplies upfront and hope and pray that the fellow delivers.
During Dussehra and diwali amazon, flipkart and others came out with enticing offers on mobile,electronics, clothes ,fashion accessories,household goods.
Then there were the furniture makers pepperfry,urban ladder and Paint suppliers and services like asian paints ,berger,dulux offers on line.
Finally the food and gift suppliers offering their exotic offerings
I decided I shall put some to test and find out .
As sample, I doled out contracts for supplies and services to two paint fellows online for painting my flat .
Some gyan I got from the experiences.
It is less expensive to get supplies online.
It is costlier to get services online.
The cost of standard paints were upto 20% cheaper.
Services costs got jacked up as there were more middle men starting from call centres of sites, service provider of painting contractor, paint contractor, paint
supervisor .The actual painters were only three or four but others were living off them . The charges were Rs 33 per sqft as against rs 16 or so per sqft if one directly
hired 3 or4 painters for the same. So one ends up paying almost double of what is warranted. The festival demand and supply also jacks up cost.To get even the
job started I had to tackle all these entities one after the other to get the painters to begin their job. Moral of the story ,go straight to painter in neighbourhood
, pay his daily wages of 600 rs per day and get the job done. Ultimately even the big paint companies hire only these fellows to do the job. So cutting out
middlemen is wisdom
It took me 10 days to finish the painting job which could have been done in five or six days if I had directly hired the labour.
For supplies it is really worth it to buy online. I tried kitchen woodwork and almirahs at competitive prices. Very economical but supplies and customisation take
time. At least three weeks for delivery and couple of weeks of customisation.One has to be computer and mobile savvy to get it done.Also it requires a
stronger heart as we pay 100% money for supplies upfront and hope and pray that the fellow delivers.
