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Characteristics

(a) They are small traders operating with limited resources.

(b) They normally deal in consumer products of daily use such as toiletry products, fruits and

vegetables, and so on.

(c) The emphasis of such traders is on providing greater customer service by making the

products available at the very doorstep of the customers.
(d) As they do not have any fixed business establishment to operate from, these retailers have

to keep their limited inventory of merchandise either at home or at some other place.

Some of the most common types of itinerant retailers operating in India are as below:

(i) Peddlers and hawkers: Peddlers and hawkers are probably amongst the oldest form of

retailers in the market place who have not lost their utility even during the modern times. They

are small producers or petty traders who carry the products on a bicycle, a hand cart, a cycle-

rickshaw or on their heads, and move from place to place to sell their merchandise at the
doorstep of the customers. They generally deal in non-standardized and low-value products

such as toys, vegetables and fruits, fabrics, carpets, snacks and ice creams, etc. They are also

found in streets of residential areas, places of exhibitions or meals, and outside schools, during
a lunch break.

The main advantage of this form of retailing is the provision of convenient service to the

consumers. However, one should be careful in dealing with them, as the products they deal in

are not always reliable in terms of quality and price.

(ii) Market traders: Market traders are the small retailers who open their shops at different
places on fixed days or dates, such as every Saturday or alternate Saturdays, and so on. These

traders may be dealing in one particular line of merchandise, say fabrics or ready-made

garments, toys, or crockery, or alternatively, they may be general merchants. They are mainly
catering to lower-income group of customers and deal in low-priced consumer items of daily

use.

(iii) Street traders (pavement vendors): Street traders are the small retailers who are

commonly found at places where huge floating population gathers, for example, near railway