Deepavali countdown: the packer as shopping services provider

A warren of shops off RK Mutt Road, opposite the MRTS station in Mylapore, offer packing and shipping services across borders and, of course, also within India. These service providers punch in and out every day of the year, with unboxed and unpackaged goods being set down on their tables. But they are hostages to the social-news cycle. They find themselves being subjects of lengthy living-room discussions during festive seasons. Friends and relatives sift through their track record, trotting out every service provider’s relative strengths and weaknesses. From the customers’ point of view, two considerations come to the fore. In fact, three, the third having to do with the zeitgeist of the times. One, are their packing methods leak-proof and break-resistant? Two, is their consignment tracking mechanism, which would involve effective communication with international couriers such as DHL and FedEx, effective? And three, can the packing and shipping services provider play the ‘shopping’ assistant?

As Deepavali approaches, shelves at these shops off RK Mutt Road, lined with colourful packing essentials, become the starting point for parcels bound for families abroad. And sometimes, these are not the only shelves there are to the work schedule. From time to time, the team would have to go shopping for the contents of the package and peer into items plonked on shelves behind glasses. 

K.M. Gani, owner of Queens Abroad Packers, one of the shops, explains this new trend, as he finds himself meeting this New Age requirement while retaining his enterprise’s brand proposition of leak-resistant packing. Queens Abroad Packers is renowned for their packing of food items high on liquid elements, such as pickles, particularly the one involving the vadu manga, through three-layer vacuum sealing and also, meticulous packing of fragile items such as Golu dolls with multiple layers of bubble wrap and cushioning.

Gani sees the brand proposition being extended by an increasing number of customers, expecting them to even buy the products to be shipped from specific shops. So, a section of his team is often called on to shop at lifestyle stores. Gani mentions an instance where, based on the customer’s instructions, his team had to make purchases at the outlet of a sweets major and follow it up with a visit to a major textile outlet for more purchases. His enterprise can carry out in-person shopping on behalf of the customer across Chennai. Care is measured by the time spent shopping for a gift, and on the fast lane, that time sometimes needs to be bought. 

“If the customer says they want sweets or dress or anything else from a particular shop, bought, packed and shipped, we do it,” says Gani. 

During Deepavali, one assumes there could be a preference for sweets made in a home-like environment for that taste of home, and these service providers might have to head to unfamiliar addresses, even home kitchens. And experience also comes in handy: Gani has learnt, through years of customer interactions, which shops specialise in particular food products. 

The way he talks about the ‘shopping’ component, Gani seems to understand that businesses have to evolve with the times and the new demands that go with them. He has seen his own enterprise evolve in a manner impacting its essence. 

Established in 1986, the shop began as a seller of disposable products such as food packing containers, and the idea of packaging-and-shipping services popped up in an unusual setting. Gani’s family was regularly sending food items to his brother, working in Qatar. Neighbours casually enquiring about sending similar packages, the workflow at the shop took a paradigm shift. Gani would join the business in 2002, bowing out of the IT industry after having experienced the heyday of Oracle in the 1990s. He would work alongside his father and brother. Having lost them to COVID, he now runs the enterprise alone. 

And in the time he has been in this business, Gani has noticed certain recurring features. One of them is that the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom lead the geographies where consignments have to be sent. And that consignments sent during festive seasons, those bearing not just goods but people’s emotions, are the most satisfying. Timely and safe delivery of the packages would almost always lead to a message of effusive praise from the customer. That is not surprising. Because, long after the wrapping is undone and sweets are shared, what reaches someone abroad is not merely a consignment but a reminder that distance has not made them any less part of home.