Traditional markets have adhered closely to people's household spending and economic lives for long and they are being marginalized as the number of department stores and hypermarkets in the city expand. However, they still lure shoppers and the local...
Traditional markets have adhered closely to people's household spending and economic lives for long and they are being marginalized as the number of department stores and hypermarkets in the city expand. However, they still lure shoppers and the local residents still go to traditional markets so often. Distribution market in Korea was open in 1996, and since then domestic distribution industry has been undergoing the rapid changes. Some significant changes are found in consumers' demands and their purchase conducts due to the changes of various circumstances. The traditional market is declining owing to many problems such as lack of parking facilities and conveniences, aged facilities, the operation & management problems caused by conflicts among incompatible interests of shop owners, and its competitiveness weakening against competitors in every field of sales items.
However, the traditional market must be activated in order to protect the livelihood of small merchants who have held their position for several decades without any changes. This study aims to set up a systematic framework to activate Mal-ba-u Market by analyzing the present conditions and problems of Mal-ba-u Market and analyzing the opinions of market merchants and local consumers about the problems of traditional markets and the ways to activate them.
First of all, a survey conducted for Mal-ba-u Market merchants and consumers showed some problems in the aspect of facilities and environments. In terms of facility problems, the lack of parking facilities and conveniences were pointed out and, in terms of the market environmental aspect, the inconvenience of passing through the market streets owing to street market stalls and unorganized arrangement of stores were indicated as major reasons to make shoppers feel inconvenient to purchase goods in traditional markets.
In the aspect of traditional market operations & managements, lack of advertizing and marketing activities such as sales promotion events and public relation activities was indicated as the main problem. Shoppers are not satisfied with the fact that price and origin marking system is not implemented yet in traditional markets and they have difficulties in returning goods, getting refund and using credit cards. They are also not satisfied with low level service of merchants and low quality of goods.
Based on the actual condition investigations, the traditional market activation plans can be summarized as follows.
Mal-ba-u Market activation plans are largely divided into 3 aspects; the facility environmental aspect, the operation & management aspect, and the policy aspect.
First, for the improvement of facility and environments, the construction of parking facility inside of Mal-ba-u Market and the utilization of public & private parking facilities in the vicinity of the market are suggested as a way to solve parking problems. For the expansion of conveniences for customers, the new construction of toilets, convenience facilities, and information signs & maps, and arcade & floor repairing are suggested.
Second, in the aspect of operation & management for the activation of Mal-ba-u Market, the reform of consciousness of the market merchants who are absorbed in existing pre-modern business practices should be preceded. Merchants should comprehend the full scale of consumers' spending patterns and any changes, and should strengthen their competitiveness by developing and providing appropriate goods and services as requested. For the improvement, three different methods are suggested; the conversion of merchants' consciousness, the activation of market organization, and the modernization of business administration.
Finally, in the aspect of policy for the activation of Mal-ba-u Market, many solutions are suggested including trouble shooting and improvement methods for the project propulsion caused by the existing laws & regulations, street sales stalls in the vicinity of Mal-ba-u Market, business transaction order establishment, sanitation control and inspections, etc. Peoples' opinions about the amalgamation and integration of neighboring traditional markets are also suggested in this study.
These plans for traditional market activation should be carried out under a long-term strategy and they should be complemented and revised for the harmonized development of traditional markets with neighboring regions.