Shopping In India
People love the range of crafts, textiles and jewellery on offer everywhere in India. In reality, what most visitors are looking for is souvenirs and gifts for people back home. Lets face it, India is incredible for this, the sheer choice can be overwhelming but I know people who come back loaded with sandalwood carvings, mirrored skirts, cheap silver jewellery and paintings and wonder why they bought so much when a lot of this kind of stuff is available in the UK.
One of things I've learnt in my trips to India is to limit what I buy and target specific things that I either cannot get at home or that would cost a lot more if they were available. My own focus is on a fairly narrow range of stuff, that's not to say that other items aren't good value or that you shouldn't buy them. The things that can be excellent value and keep their interest for are hand loom fabrics, painting, locally grown teas and coffees, metalwork and jewellery.
Scams
One of the first things to be aware of if you pick up an auto rickshaw to go shopping is the commission scam. Drivers can often pick up commissions for taking you to certain shops and will come up with every excuse in the world as to why your shop is closed today/burned down/not good etc. The shops involved in the scams are ususally private handicrafts emporiums and this kind of problem tends to be realtively limited to touristy areas. Its always useful to look up the phone number of the Tourist Police and have it in your phone. Often even just the threat of this is enough to get you where you want to go.
Another issue is the widespread credit card fraud perpetrated by some shops. Its often best to avoid using your credit card for shop purchases and if you do, don't let the card out of your sight. I've made a point of paying hotel bills in cash too on the basis that some of the lower end establishments can also have this kind of history.
Haggling
The experience of buying anything can be either rewarding or traumatic. In fairness, few prices are going to leave you gasping and unless you're on a really tight budget excessive haggling can look mean and greedy.
You will normally come across haggling in markets and bazaars as most 'shops' have some system of labelled pricing. Buying at source will also often require haggling and if you can see the sometimes laborious process required to make the items it changes your perspective on their real value. An artisan may earn anything between 250 and 800 rupees a day (£5-10 GBP) dependent on their skill and the nature of work. Weavers tend to be at the lower end of this scale with jewellers at the upper end.
A key rule is never to start haggling unless you really want the item. If a seemingly high price is given offer a third to a half of this and take it from there. If the initial price seems reasonable, use your judgement, the process should be friendly and enjoyable and can often be a good way to get information on the local culture or temples or other sites not in the guide. If you really feel you're being fleeced, end the negotiation, thank the seller and walk away.
Fixed price shops & Government Handicraft Emporiums
Lots of shops will have fixed prices but if you're brave enough you can ask for discount, particularly when buying several items. I often tackle this by looking at three or four items that I like and asking how much if I buy all four. This works well with shops in the chowks and bazaars of less touristy towns, but use your common sense you're not likely to get much or even anything from shops in the bigger destinations.
State (government) handicraft emporiums are a great way to see what reasonable prices should be and they offer a great introduction to the range of things that will be on offer locally. Beware though that not all emporiums purporting to be state government controlled really are.
Most government emporiums are now a bit like department stores with tightly controlled concessions all in one place. Effectively, prices at the government emporiums fall between the more expensive private handicraft emporiums and what you'd expect to achieve with some hard bargaining in the markets or local shops. Government emporiums also tend to be free from pressure selling although there has been a rise in this at stores like Rajasthali where higher volumes of tourists are like a licence to print money for the less scrupulous concessionaires. I've been caught out more than once by this and I'm now a bit warier in emporiums than I might once have been. Particularly aggressive sales pitches come from jewellery concessions.
I've included a list below of those government emporiums that I've had experience of and have rated them with stars which represent value/service and range. ***** equates to a great emporium with a wide range of good value items and spot on service. Bear in mind though that there are likely to be branches of government emporiums in several town within the state. The list also includes
Rajasthan Rajasthali http://www.rajasthali.gov.in/ *****
Karnataka -Cauvery http://www.cauverycrafts.com/aboutus.php ****
Andhra Pradesh - Lepakshi http://www.lepakshihandicrafts.gov.in/ ***
Madhya Pradesh - Mriganyani http://www.mrignayani.com/aboutus.asp ***
Whatever you do, don't let the wide range goods available in government emporiums put you off a bit of real shopping. Local shops, particularly when you can find English speaking assistants, are really rewarding. Most shopkeepers will offer you a cool drink (I have to say that I'm often cheeky enough to ask for coke but bottled mineral water is the usual).
Dependent on the type of shop, you may be asked to remove shoes before entering although this is more common in the shops in Bazaars and Chowks where there are mattresses on the floor. There won't normally be a pile of stuff you can rummage through either as many shops still work on the idea that you tell the shopkeeper what you're looking for or interested in and they bring a range of stock to show you. Sometimes you have to be quite firm and on more than one occasion I've had shopkeepers trying to sell me things I don't want or stock that looked to me like it had seen better days.
Don't be afraid to leave a shop empty handed if you don't see what you want or if you think the prices are too high. Locals do this all the time and it doesn't matter how hard the shop assistant has worked, if its not what you want or you don't want to pay whats being asked you're not obliged to buy.
As a courtesy, its always worth doing a bit of research in Government shops before hand to understand what you might pay at the mid to higher end for any item. Try and have some idea of what it is you want before going into the shop and fix a budget so you know quickly if the goods are within your price bracket. Its OK to digress if you spot something you really want but avoid doing this out of idle curiosity because that can be frustrating for the shop assistant.
Shopping Malls
Bigger cities have seen a boom in big shopping malls with a range of fashion, lifestyle and food stores and they really are worth a visit if you really can't cope with smaller shops and the way they work. Fixed prices will be slightly higher but you can do lots of hands on browsing and the goods do tend to be more exotically Indian. Here's a list of Malls in India which will feature a range of shops from houshold and clothing giants to Indian clothes chains like Pantaloons which stock classic Indian casual clothes and accessories; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shopping_malls_in_India
In addition to malls, there are a range of western style shops in bigger cities like Anokhi ( http://www.anokhi.com/ ) and FabIndia ( http://www.fabindia.com ) which sell traditional clothing, textiles, and jewellery in a more relaxed way.
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