Yes I Know It But.

[arthurwait]

usualy its one owner for the whole lot and they hire people for peanuts.

Or they rent their areas to non-savvy people, just like people renting bars to dumb farangs in pattaya and phuket.

In phuket, all the boots at central and tesco are owned by the same few people. they hire girls for 3-5k baht per month

This seems the most logical. It's the market right near Galaxy on Sukhumvit in Bang Saen Chonburi. Each stall is literally identical to the next one. I can understand the Law that people were quoting on Wikipedia. However I don't think it would be included in this type of venue. Yes if there were two stores next to each other logically they could compete with each other and have a lot of the market from the north and south. But I'm sure they would also have different shoes and have competitive pricing. All the pricing is the same. All the crap is the same.

I'm not cutting them down because obviously it's working out for them. There is a ton of stuff I see happen here that makes zero sense. I see this one almost every day so I had to see if any veteran expats knew. I've only been here for a year. LOVE IT.

Do you mean Nong Mon market selling snacks or Chat ju chak (sp?) market in the other side of the road towards Chonburi ?

If the first it's a big Thai tourist attraction (Chonburi being well known for it's food .That sweet sticky rice in bamboo being one of them I'm told ). One wifes friend from Bangkok will always drive down there to buy it if in Chonburi visiting.

The market regularly has coach loads of Thais there. It's also where so many of the snacks you see being sold around Thailand come from. Particurlary places in Bangkok and Pattaya. Stalls and shops in shopping malls. Pattaya floating market etc, etc, etc. As well as supplying many local businesses in Chonburi. Shops, petrol station shops etc.

[gregb]

usualy its one owner for the whole lot and they hire people for peanuts.

Or they rent their areas to non-savvy people, just like people renting bars to dumb farangs in pattaya and phuket.

In phuket, all the boots at central and tesco are owned by the same few people. they hire girls for 3-5k baht per month

This seems the most logical. It's the market right near Galaxy on Sukhumvit in Bang Saen Chonburi. Each stall is literally identical to the next one. I can understand the Law that people were quoting on Wikipedia. However I don't think it would be included in this type of venue. Yes if there were two stores next to each other logically they could compete with each other and have a lot of the market from the north and south. But I'm sure they would also have different shoes and have competitive pricing. All the pricing is the same. All the crap is the same.

This is basically the crux of the issue. In the West, you also see all the shops together. Ever wondered why when a McDonalds franchise opens up, suddenly there are 5 other fast food outlets on exactly the same corner? Your best option is always to open a shop right next to a successful shop already selling that product. That way, you get traffic that you know are interested buyers.

The problem is, in the West, you get diversification. The branding is done slightly different, the presentation is done slightly different, people compete to try and get customers, and they innovate on how to do it. Thus, you get a hammer market, with 10,000 different kinds of hammers catering to all manner of consumers. The result is basically successful.

In Thailand, instead of that competitive instinct, you get collusion. Usually the person who is renting the stalls, or in the case where there is no rent the individual with the most authority, decides to set the price and you aren't allowed to deviate from that, lest you be cast out or put in an uncomfortable situation...and Thais don't like uncomfortable situations. Thais also aren't generally very good at sourcing unique brands because traditionally the customs and import procedures were so painful, and they don't speak enough English to find new products anyway. So they all buy from the same place, and sell at the same price. It is a truly distorted version of what should happen in a market. But when you are poor, even this distorted market mechanism seems to provide enough to put rice in your bowl. And the market owners like it because they get more rent from 10 people selling the same things than they would from a single shop.

It is a cultural thing and one that everyone simply accepts. You can be sure that if you come up with a unique idea, it will be copied and there will be 10 people doing exactly the same thing right next to you, so it kind of kills any desire to innovate.

Just part of living in Thailand.

[pauljones]

Consider the workers at these stalls are content making 200 baht a day.

No real incentive to be innovative.

[DowntownAl]

One floor in a local shopping center has about 50 mobile telephone shops all selling the same thing, over and over and over. It's the same as walking along a street, pretty much anywhere, and seeing massage shop, travel shop, hair salon, Thai restaurant, massage shop, travel shop, hair salon, Thai restaurant,massage shop, travel shop, hair salon, Thai restaurant,massage shop, travel shop, hair salon, Thai restaurant and that's just one block.

[IMA_FARANG]

You're presuming the farang idea of fixed price goods.

Haggeling is the thing in Asia and Thailand is no exception.

So if the first stand is selling an item at 50 baht....and the next stand is will haggle down to 45 baht for that same item...the next stand gets the sale.

That kind of logic...haggeling about the price....keeps customers circulating around the stalls...and insures that eventually all the stalls get their share of customers purchases.

THais (and many Asians too) don't see the market simply as a place to go to only to buy something....it also has a social fundtion...a place where you meet other people and socialise.

Those two things are why Asian markets are together in one area. not spread about the city like markets in Europe or the U.S.

Asian markets are a place you stop for a social break, to meet peoplde, to relax a bit, and maybe buy something...but that purchase is secondary to the social interaction/mixing with others.

A century or two ago, that was what a "market" was considered to be in England too....before the concept of a market was changed.

[bina]

frankly thats how it works here also: one street is shoes, one is hats, one is food , all the kiosks have the same stuff; but most locals buy from the same place... its called customer loyalty. u tend to buy from one place because when u dont have money on you, you can bring it the next day, theyl give u a percent discount 5 + 1, whereas whenits a drive by customer the price stays the same... in any market u will find five stalls all selling kitchen plastics. i will often go thru all ot them and bargain, the one who gives me the best price, or more pleasant manner, or the stuff is s lightly better or they have the colour i want, they get my business. why is that hard to understand. ? obviously the mall mentality of westerners is not the same as middle east or asian shoppers (who are not tourists). also if u go to one stall and they are busy, u move on to the next one. i go to the market and buy from the same stalls for years, right next to stalls that have the same fish, or meat or chicken or cheeses, or socks, or ripped off dvds. i know their names, they know mine, i can ask them to save a special item for me on the side and pick it up next week....

tourists are fly-by-night buyers, but not the bulk of money for most places like food stalls. people going on the same route every day will tend to buy from the same bamboo sticky rice place or the same shwarma stand, most likely at the same time also.the stalls know their customers (extra peppers, no hummous, always wants a diet coke, always complains that is is cold or burnt.)

nothing wierd about that.

ah, jsut realized that others have pointed that stuff out already...

bina

israel