Brand Retailers heading to a Pasar Malam near you
Looks like the economy is so bad that brand retailers are now looking to sell their products at the lowest common denominated locations. The Pasar Malams. While this is definitely good for the consumer as we no longer need to travel so far to purchase their goods, this might actually be a bad thing for the companies. Not only is the brand value of the product going to be diminished, in order to compete with the other pasar malam store vendors, these retailers have to reduce the prices of their goods, pushing it closer to being an inferior good (in economic terms) that will be subjected to higher price sensitivity in the long run.
BIG-NAME retailers Popular Holdings and John Little are stomping on new turf – night markets in the heartlands.
Several pasar malam are now hawking their merchandise – items ranging from children’s books from Popular’s distributor companies to toiletries, household items and other daily essentials from the department store giant.
These retailers began putting their goods within strolling distance of the suburban homes of their customers from about a year ago, expanding the variety of wares on sale. Many of these booths are open even in the day.
