Asian Market-places Compete–S.African Perspective

Apart from the beautiful and unique tourist attractions and the amazing natural environment, tourists visiting Asia do not only enjoy the scenery, culture and food. Asia is also known as a shopping hub where tourists can stock up on beautiful items of clothing, shoes, jewelry and other crafts to take home, at a fraction of the cost they would pay back home. 

Granted, there are numerous malls that compete fiercely in terms of prices and quality of products with the best in the world. However, this article focuses on the tiny stores and tables stacked with goodies which, under one roof, constitute the informal Asian marketplace which offers goods to millions of consumers, driving entire economies forward and sustaining families on a large scale. 

On taking a deeper look beneath the surface of a smoothly run operation, one vital question arises in many a visitor’s mind: where is the competition if you have the same type of shops right next to one another? How can you compete with your neighbors if your stock is almost identical to his, and your prices nearly the same? These are two questions asked repeatedly by foreigners who visit Asia. I found this puzzling at first and thought it was only something that happened in South Korea, but I noticed the same thing in China, Thailand, Japan and Cambodia. 

At first sight, it doesn’t seem to make business sense from a South African perspective, particularly in a country that is characterized by a relatively large land mass and the presence of very large shopping malls. There are restrictions on the type of shop that can be opened in a mall. If your store offers similar goods or services to customers as another, it would be necessary to justify having two of the same kind under one roof. A few clothing stores, a few restaurants, a few mobile phone stores and a few banks are usually in one mall. These are rarely right next to each other and rarely offer the exact same product as their neighbors. In market places, the rules are very similar. Don’t offer the same product, keep things unique. That’s how you’re likely to draw customers to your place of business. 

In Korea and China, I wondered through different markets and saw the same pair of shoes and cameras, iPods and computers, pianos and violins sold at the same price in five different stores right next to each other and I ask myself who benefits under this type of structure, how does one compete? Or is there a structure offering some form of shared benefit to the vendors? 

It has been said that business competition creates gains for entire economies through promoting consumer sovereignty. However, it can also lead to futile efforts and to increased costs and prices, perhaps this is one of the secrets followed in Asian marketplaces? In East Asia, where states try to outdo the other in the search for economic supremacy, it is possible that competition faced by businesses is much tougher on the ‘small guy’ than initially anticipated. 

Either way, Asian markets are a must-see for any tourist heading over to the continent. The affordability of products is astounding and the exposure to different cultures, expressed through the creation of unique handicrafts is worthwhile and exciting!