Saturday, October 24, 2015

South Africa Informal Trading

Keeping the wheels of the SA economy turning. Informal trade at a suburban market. TV remotes, counterfeit CDs, empty buckets, fruit, farm fresh chicken, cow heads and much more. With the high unemployment rate, people try to make a living and at times find this frustrating. 

It's called a "basement market." It is crowded, and offered product items and product lines are similar in character and thus forcing them to compete on price and hence, threatening scale of profitability.

Therefore, reducing income per individual to a below-the-bread-line point. They got here by circumstance and not entirely entrepreneurial spirit. 

Survivalist sector. The hawkers avoid direct competition. Prices are therefore set by agreement. They recognize they are selling to the lower end of the market. Therefore, prices are rock bottom. You can get a quarter or half of everything, be it cabbage, melon, pumpkin or cell phone.

At times, the police arrest the hawkers and confiscate their goods on the pavements, and this is traumatic for these poor people trying to earn enough money to survive. Confiscating goods from vendors is devastating for them because they add very slim markups.







With thanks to Gauta Komane







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