[mappress mapi Tân Ðinh Market
My initial question was, “does the placement of the seller in the market effect the way they try to sell their product in the traditional markets?” My methodology plan was originally comparing two vendors with the same product. One vendor located on the street next to the traffic passing by, and one vendor located deep into the market that was closed off to the street traffic. Unfortunately, I found out that same products were placed adjacent to each other in the market. There was any area for fruit, an area for vegetables, an area for cloth, an area for spices and rice, and so on.
This forced me to remodel my methodology to better fit the circumstances. Rather than looking at two vendors with the same product, I began to compare vendors on the street with vendors in the market closed off from the street. The Tan Dinh market had plenty of vendors on the street and inside to market. Take note that I was dressed in the most touristy outfit I had. (I was dressed to stand out) My field research consisted of going up to a vendor and to look interested in a product and see if the seller: 1) made eye contact with me, 2) make eye contact and try to sell me the product, 3) did nothing, 4) or I found them sleeping. I wouldn’t buy anything, just looked interested in the product.
– I went to 30 vendors: 15 vendors on the street, 15 vendors buried inside the market
My quantitative research
Seller’s reaction | Vendors located on street | Vendors with no street access |
Eye contact | 4 | 1 |
Eye contact and call | 7 | 3 |
Nothing | 3 | 8 |
Sleeping | 1 | 3 |
Thoughts:
I thought that the sellers in the shops inside the market would be more active in promoting their product because they get less people coming by their stand: however, my research tells the exact opposite. Vendors on the street were a lot more active in trying to sell their product. An unforeseen impediment in my research had to do with the time of the day. We observed the market during a down time of the day, from approximately 2:10 p.m.- 2:40 p.m. Because we observed this market during a slower time of the day, more retailers felt comfortable taking a rest. There were more sleeping inside the market because they were more isolated from the many observers and potential customers on the street. Vendors on the street are socially forced to stay awake during the down time because they wouldn’t want to hinder their reputation to the public.
– The inside shops seem to be serving a certain population of middle to older age Vietnamese women, where the outside shops served a wider range of people: foreigners, Vietnamese adolescents, teenagers, middle age to older women.