Innovative way to woo customers. But is it worth the effort ?

This happened during the first weekend of February, when I was shopping for a camera. As usual, the first place to visit is 'Yodobashi Camera' in Shinjuku, one of the big electronic stores

in the area. Another option is 'Bic Camera', also in the vicinity of Shinjuku station.

Yodobashi Camera can be best described as a cross between BestBuy (or CircuitCity) and the pavement shops in Indian cities. :-) The similarity to BestBuy is because of the huge range of products that both stores stock. And the connection with pavement shops in India is due to

the noise in and around the shop. It is so noisy with the hundreds of Yodobashi sales people welcoming you in or just shouting out deals of the day and what not.

Anyday, I would take the calm shopping experience of a BestBuy or CircuitCity. As I have mentioned here before, one of the best things about the US is the incredible shopping

experience it provides. Anyway, I check out all the digicam options at Yodobashi, note down

the ones that suit my need best and decide to get back to the hotel to get more info about

these shorlisted models online.

As I walk out of the store, I feel like I heard a language alien to the place. It sounded like

Hindi and it was playing over the microphone. Naah, thats not possible. Why would there

be Hindi in Japan, of all places ?

But no. The lines are repeated and this time I catch them clearly. It says, "Yodobashi camera mein aapka swaagat hai", which translates as "Yodobashi Camera welcomes you". And then, it goes on to say more about the store, the products it stocks etc etc.

Nice marketing gimmick to attract some Indian customers, though not all of them. Because

even though Hindi is the national language of India, not all Indians know/use it. At last count,

we had some 29 states in India and most of them have their own language, with its own script.

Also, unlike the US, where you could practically be tripping over Indians, I have not seen

many Indians in Japan. In the more than 2 months I spent there (over 3 visits), I would have maybe seen some 20 Indian faces. Not much of a customer base to spend such effort on.

And if I know Indians, more than being wooed in their language, they would prefer a nice deal anyday. No wonder I saw most of the 20 Indians at Akhihabara Electric Town, which is an

area full of electronic stores with the lowest pricing you can get anywhere in Japan.

For those familiar with Chennai, just imagine Ritchie Street, but like some 10 times more

bigger and infinite times cleaner and orderly. That's Akhihabara for you.