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MARKETING 101
Markets Are Where I Go for Memories
Even when you purchase nothing, you walk away with something
I’ve lived in Western countries all my life. Their economies are built on efficiency of scale. Where people go to buy and sell things reflect this.
While there are old-style farmer’s and craft markets in all countries, bigger nations are dominated by a modern market experience provided by big chains and stores, and to me, much was lost.
Shopping outlets here are big. Crafted. Branded. Sales but never haggling.
In them, I walk through the capitalist perfection of tidy isles of strategically presented goods under bright lights in an air-conditioned, perpetual zone of 65℉. It is an anodyne commercial limbo.
Market groups like Aldi, Ikea, and the Schwarz Group are massive, and Walmart’s revenues would put it in the top 25 countries by gross national income.
But when I enter markets abroad, in countries not in the top 25, where I still feel the weather, the layout is labyrinthine, the languages are many, goods are arrayed whimsically, often without price tags? Now we’re talking. This is no limbo. This is life.
In contrast, I detest shopping in commercial outlets. I feel like I’m being…
