Class 7 Civics

Markets Around Us

Market is a place where goods are offered by sellers in exchange for money from buyers. We go to the market to buy everyday essentials, comfort goods and luxury goods.

In other words, we purchase staples, apparels, footwear, housekeeping items, home appliances, stationery, artefacts, etc. from the market. The kinds of markets we visit for our basic needs and comfortable living include:

Types of Markets

Weekly Market

A weekly market is held on a specific day of the week. Permanent shops are not there in weekly markets. Traders set up a shop for the day and in the evening they close it. They set up the shops at another location the next day. In India, there are thousands of such shops. These cater to the everyday requirements of people. These have following salient features:

Cheaper Rates

Many items are available in weekly markets at cheaper rates. This is because these shops are not permanent, they save on expenses such as rent, electricity and fees to the government.

Family run

The shop owners store the items they sell at home. Mostly, they are helped by the family members and do not employ outside people and hence also save the money spent on wages to workers.

High Competition

Since these markets have a large number of shops selling similar item, there is high competition among them. Hence if a seller charges a higher amount for an item, buyers will buy from another seller who either charges a lower rate or allows the buyer to bargain to some extent.

Advantages of weekly markets

One stop shop

All the items are available under one roof. Buyers do not have to go to different places for different goods. This saves their time and money. Whether they want groceries, vegetables, clothes or footwear- all are available at one place.

More choice for buyers

Since there are many sellers selling the same product, the buyer has a choice regarding who to buy from.

Convenience

Since a high variety of goods is available, it is very convenient for the buyer.

Shops in the neighbourhood

Many shops sell goods and services in our neighbourhood. For example:

These are a mix of permanent shops and roadside stalls. Roadside stalls are that of eateries, vegetable hawkers, mechanics, etc.

Advantages of shops in the neighbourhood

Proximity

As the name suggests these shops are in our neighbourhood and hence close to our homes.

Open all days

These shops, unlike weekly markets, operate on all days. Hence we can go for our purchases on any day of the week at our convenience.

Flexibility

Since the buyer and seller know each other these shops give goods on credit also. Hence payment can be made later also. In other words, there is flexibility regarding payment.

Personal touch

Since the buyer and seller know each other, the transaction has a personal touch to it. It is not a purely commercial transaction.

Shopping complexes and malls

Shopping complexes are the markets in the urban areas that have many shops. Malls are large multi-storeyed air-conditioned buildings with shops on different floors. We get both branded and non-branded goods. As mentioned in the chapter on advertising, branded goods are more expensive than non-branded goods. The branded goods are sold by the companies through shops in large urban markets and at times, through special showrooms also. Because of the high costs of these due to packaging, advertising, etc. many people cannot afford to buy them.