This chapter explores various types of markets, from weekly markets to shopping complexes and malls. It examines the participants in these markets, including buyers and sellers, and the challenges they face. It explains the “chain of markets,” detailing how goods move from producers to consumers. It also discusses how markets are not always visible and can exist online or through sales representatives. Finally, the chapter touches on the issue of equality in markets, noting the disparities between different market participants.
Weekly Markets
- Weekly markets take place on a specific day each week, where traders set up temporary shops and pack up by evening.
- Prices remain low because traders don’t pay rent or electricity bills and often use family members to help instead of hiring workers.
- Many traders sell the same items, like vegetables, clothes, and utensils, so buyers bargain hard to get the best prices.
- These markets make shopping easy by offering daily needs like groceries, fruits, and household goods all in one spot.
- Small traders like Sameer buy clothes from wholesale markets and travel to different weekly markets to sell them.
- Hawkers move around these markets with carts, selling snacks, fruits, and small items like bangles to attract buyers.
- People like Kavita visit weekly markets every Tuesday to buy fresh vegetables and save money for her family.
Shops in the Neighbourhood
- Neighbourhood shops stay close to people’s homes and open every day, making them very convenient for quick shopping.
- Shopkeepers and buyers often know each other well, which builds trust and makes shopping feel friendly and personal.
- Some shops let buyers pay later, like Sujata’s family, who settle their grocery bill at the start of the next month.
- These shops sell everyday things like milk, bread, medicines, and stationery that people need all the time.
- Roadside hawkers in these areas sell cheaper goods, such as repaired shoes or fresh fruits, from stalls or carts.
- Buyers enjoy the comfort of walking to these shops instead of traveling far for small items like soap or snacks.
- Shopkeepers sometimes order goods in bulk and store them, ensuring they always have what people want.
Shopping Complexes and Malls
- Shopping complexes are big areas with many shops, while malls are tall, air-conditioned buildings with shops on every floor.
- They sell branded goods like packaged snacks and clothes, which cost more because of advertising, quality claims, and fancy packing.
- Prices here are much higher, like a ₹3,000 dress in a mall that might cost only ₹600 in a weekly market.
- Malls offer extras like food courts, cinemas, and escalators, drawing people who have more money to spend.
- Security guards at malls sometimes check bags or make it seem like only certain people can enter easily.
- Buyers like teenagers enjoy malls for fun, while families may visit complexes for special purchases like festival clothes.
- Shops in these places pay high rents, which is why their goods are more expensive than in other markets.
Chain of Markets
- The chain of markets shows how goods travel from producers like farmers or factories to buyers through a series of traders.
- Wholesale traders like Aftab buy large amounts, such as 50 kilos of vegetables at auctions, and sell them to smaller traders.
- Retailers like Sameer or shop owners buy from wholesalers and sell goods directly to people in markets or shops.
- Goods start at places like farms for vegetables, factories for toys, or homes for handmade items, then move through this chain.
- For example, weavers make cloth and sell it to big traders in cloth markets, who then supply weekly market sellers.
- This chain helps goods reach faraway places, but small producers like weavers often earn very little from it.
- Buyers don’t see this chain and only get the final product, like a shirt in a shop or vegetables on a stall.
Markets Everywhere
- Markets are not just shops but any place where people buy and sell, including homes, offices, or even streets.
- People can order goods like books or groceries online or by phone, and delivery workers bring them to their doors.
- Farmers buy seeds and fertilizers from city shops that get them from factories, creating a market we don’t always notice.
- Sales agents visit clinics and homes to sell things like medicines or kitchen tools, showing markets can be hidden.
- Big companies buy parts like car engines from other factories, and buyers only see the finished car in a showroom.
- In villages, people trade goods like grains or tools directly with each other, forming small, local markets.
Markets and Equality
- Small traders in weekly markets earn less money than big shop owners in malls because they have less to invest.
- Some buyers struggle to afford even basic items like rice, while others can easily shop at expensive malls.
- How much money someone has decides whether they can buy or sell in certain markets, making opportunities unequal.
- The chain of markets moves goods to people everywhere, but small sellers and producers don’t always get a fair share.
- Rich buyers get more choices and better quality, while poor buyers stick to cheaper, simpler markets.
- Workers in markets, like hawkers or shop helpers, work hard but often earn very little compared to big traders.
Questions and Answers
- In what ways is a hawker different from a shop owner? The source text does not directly compare hawkers and shop owners in a list format; however, it does provide information to make a comparison:
- Hawkers typically have roadside stalls. Shop owners can have permanent shops in the neighbourhood, shopping complexes, or malls.
- Shop owners in permanent shops incur costs such as rent, electricity, and wages for workers, while hawkers do not have these expenses.
- Hawkers purchase goods from wholesale traders. Shop owners also procure goods through the chain of markets.
- Compare and contrast a weekly market and a shopping complex on the following: Market, Kind of goods sold, Prices of goods, Sellers, Buyers.
- Market:
- Weekly Market: Held on a specific day of the week at a particular place.
- Shopping Complex: An urban area that have many shops or a large multi-storyed air-conditioned buildings with shops on different floors.
- Kind of goods sold:
- Weekly Market: Sells everything that a household needs ranging from vegetables to clothes to utensils.
- Shopping Complex: Offers both branded and non-branded goods.
- Prices of goods:
- Weekly Market: Goods are available at cheaper rates.
- Shopping Complex: Branded goods are expensive.
- Sellers:
- Weekly Market: Small traders.
- Shopping Complex: Shop owners.
- Buyers:
- Weekly Market: Caters to people’s everyday requirements.
- Shopping Complex: Fewer people can afford to buy branded goods.
- Market:
- Explain how a chain of markets is formed. What purpose does it serve?
- A chain of markets is formed as goods pass from one market to another. Goods are produced in factories, on farms, and in homes.
- Wholesale traders buy goods in large quantities from these producers.
- Retailers, such as traders in weekly markets, hawkers, or shops in shopping complexes, then purchase goods from wholesale traders to sell to consumers.
- This chain enables goods produced in one place to reach people everywhere. It also encourages production and creates new opportunities for people to earn.
- ‘All persons have equal rights to visit any shop in a marketplace.’ Do you think this is true of shops with expensive products? Explain with examples.
- The source text suggests that this statement may not be entirely true, especially for shops with expensive products.
- The text mentions an instance where a security guard in a shop selling branded ready-made clothes seemed inclined to stop Kavita and Sujata from entering.
- The ability to be a buyer in different markets depends on the money available. Some people cannot afford even the cheapest goods, while others shop in malls.
- ‘Buying and selling can take place without going to a marketplace.’ Explain this statement with the help of examples.
- It is not always necessary to go to the market to purchase goods.
- Orders can be placed via phone or the Internet, and the goods are delivered at your home. People in urban areas can use the internet and credit cards to make online purchases without leaving their homes.
- Sales representatives also engage in selling goods in places like clinics and nursing homes.
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