Does your region have Hawkers? They are an important sales force involved in direct marketing and because of this, they have a good understanding of their customers. They sell goods at a bargain since they do research on cheap industries to acquire their merchandise. They also save the customers of the cost and hassle of travelling to acquire some goods which night not locally available.
I am not really sure what you mean by hawkers. We do have people who sell things at flea markets, stores that specilaize in second hand merchandise and things like that. Some people of course sell things like this on eBay. Give me an example of a hawker. I think of people on street corners selling goods..Sometimes they are at ball games, metro stops or carnivals outside.
From time to time, I buy knickknacks from street hawkers. Yes, most of the items they sell are low priced and not usually available at regular supermarkets. I know where they buy their stuff, though. There's a bargain center in my country where you can find daily sales on a wide range of items. Most of them are products from China. Some people in our area make a living by buying those stuff at wholesale at the bargain center and selling them at 100% profit in our area. In spite of the huge profit margin, the item still come out cheaper than their counterparts at the supermarket.
Though very rarely, yes. However, I always try to buy things with low values (usually something to do some repair... basic things), because I don't trust the guarantees that they usually give to customers.
I don't as a rule do that, but I think I have from time to time when I lived in the city. Usually the stuff they are selling are knock offs though. For a good price, I don't mind buying a knock off or two though. I could never voch for the quality of these items though. They may not be good quality.
It depends. I cannot buy from city hawkers. Majority of them sell substandard goods. Others are just conmen. They sell you faulty items since they know you will never trace them. They mostly target passengers at bus stations. There was a time a friend of mine was convinced by a hawker to buy a phone. Considering that it was very cheap, he went for it. Upon reaching his destination, he found that it was a dummy. However, there are those who usually bring their items to homes. I buy from these because they are cheap and honest. They mostly bring items like basins and other household items. They save me the hustle of visiting the store and still save me money.
We have regular hawkers mainly fish and vegetables. We know these guys very well and that helps with price and quality. By now both these hawkers know what is the level of quality I expect and they will only show me that matches with my needs. Buying from hawkers saves our time and transportation too.
I do buy stuff from hawkers. Some of the time stuff purchased through them is good enough. And as you can see it can add up the savings if the product is good enough. I have found that some hawkers can have the low cost for some good products. It is just that you may not always find good products. Some of the time Chinese products in such places can be bad. I'd not recommend it for sure.
