The Analysis of Local Marketplace Business on the Selected Urban Case—Problems and Perspectives

Abstract

Local marketplaces and street vendors represent an important segment of trade in a community and one of the initiators of the rural and peri-urban development. Agricultural and other products available at marketplaces and street vendors very often originate from a wider urban surrounding or nearby villages, so both are also an important factor of the daily migrations, exchange of goods, services, and money on the relation suburb-downtown and village-town/city. This study aims to analyze the social segments of the organization and operation of marketplaces, to provide an insight into the contemporary market processes and decision-making, and also to illustrate the future tendencies of the market outcomes of this aspect of the business. Using qualitative data processing, the results of one of the first empirical research on this topic in Serbia and this part of Europe will be analyzed. The results will show the economic, social, and cultural impact that marketplaces have on people’s everyday life and the economy of Serbia, along with defining future development guidelines. Besides, the findings of this research may be used by local authorities, the economy, and communities for future strategic development planning of this market segment. The outcomes may have an impact on future research of other aspects of marketplaces depending on the difference of regions, on one side, and also alternative opportunities for local development in less-advantaged communities, on the other side. Moreover, this contributes to the identification of the differences in the marketplace business management and sheds light on future initiatives for the encouragement of this local/global process.

Lessons learned from historical development and modern practice of marketplaces – focus on the Serbian capital city

“…Progress continued, with slight changes, through the present day. Retail marketplaces or markets are the dominant form of the marketplace activity in Serbia and their role in the local economy remains significant (Petrović et al. , 2021).…”

“…Progress continued, with slight changes, through the present day. Retail marketplaces or markets are the dominant form of the marketplace activity in Serbia and their role in the local economy remains significant (Petrovi c et al, 2021). There are about 70,000 sales points (one sale point for one vendor) in marketplaces in Serbia that offer buyers fresh fruit, vegetables, meat products, milk and dairy products, to handicraft products and everyday consumer goods (Duvljak, 2013).…”

“…Moreover, Serbian society, as well as neighboring ones, are presently going through a fast and demanding period of modifying to the modern economic, political and social transformations in the labor market. In this regard, local marketplaces and street vendors have an important task in the contemporary development of the transition in the country (Petrovi c et al, 2021). This could be associated with the international tendency of supporting and encouraging entrepreneurs in small companies (e.g.…”

“…local trade) in Third World states (Roever and Skinner, 2016). Moreover, one of the most serious existing challenges for the observed marketplaces is facing COVID-19, which has caused numerous organizational shifting and adaptation, demanding business in a highly controlled fashion which has been articulated in several recent reports (Asante and Mills, 2020;Morales, 2020Morales, , 2021Petrovi c et al, 2021;van Eck et al, 2020).…”

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“…Потрошачи су своје задовољство оцењивали путем Ликерове скале, где је 1 потпуно незадовољан а 5 јако задовољан. На основу предмета и проблема истраживања дефинисана је и хипотеза.Пијаце се појављују пре око пет хиљада година са настанком робне размене(Petrović, et al, 2021). Посматрајући пијаце у историјском контексту од средњег века па до глобалног друштва оне су биле део светске трговине (Прдић и др., 2022).…”