Why Mechmart?

Nostalgia?

I grew up in Southern India in the 90s where Supermarkets were just getting established. There were mom-and-pop stores scattered across the neighborhood. The neighborhood stores sold pretty much everything a typical family needs - from local vegetables, groceries, toiletries to school supplies, yet they were so small in foot-print (at least the store-front). You can see most of these stores have one or two workers manning the entire store-front. Most of these stores are walkable distance from homes in a neighborhood and most customers reach there on foot. It's a small but a busy operation, one that any neighborhood needs. 

Roll the clock forward a decade and most of these neighborhood stores have disappeared. Their businesses forced to close as more and more people decide to shop in supermarkets. Wider selection, larger quantities, larger facilities, bright lights, membership/reward/loyalty system drove traffic to the large supermarkets. The industry saw the inefficiencies and deficiencies of the "neighborhood stores" and created a new and appealing segment to the ever-demanding populace.

Roll the clock forward another decade and these supermarkets are under enormous pressure from online platforms that sell from A to Z of what anyone could possibly conceive that they may ever need. The appeal of sitting in front of the computer and making all your purchases is irresistible to the general population. These online platforms has made is easier for a seller from across the world sell his products to a completely different place in the world where the seller may have never seen or visited or even heard of. It is truly amazing that this revolution has brought in.

Lose anything?

The world is a lot closer than ever before; the people are more connected now than ever before; we have more choices than we ever had before. It is only fair to look back and see where we started from. Of course, the start is even further back from my memory here. Did we lose anything along the way? Did we compromise on anything along the way? Did we forget anything along the way? Should we look at everything from an efficiency point-of-view? Should we always have the lowest cost for an item we are buying? Can we do anything to make things better?

What?

Mechmart is a short for Merchant Mart. It is exclusively created only for brick-and-mortar and mom-and-pop stores from across the country. It is seeking to provide a platform for these stores to compete against the super large operations from multi-national corporations. Mechmart platform encourages shoppers to visit their local stores while still allowing shoppers interested in buying from across the country thereby giving a nation-wide visibility for small operations. The platform will not be perfect, but it will evolve and provide the best opportunity for small operations by bring them the same efficiencies that drove modernization that marginalized these operations to begin with. Best wishes and thank you for joining the Mechmart family !!!

JSD