Open Markets – A Forgotten Shopping Concept

Umesh Agarwal is a Retail Industry Professional and Project Management specialist for more than two decades. He has served multiple large retailers and helped hundreds of retail brands in creating exceptional customer experience in their physical stores across the GCC region.

Humans have been consuming resources since their existence. It started in the form of sharing and later by bartering before the advent of “Open Markets” in the form of Roman - FORUM. Open markets, as the name suggests, were held in large, open, rectangular/square areas which were predominantly located in the city centre and surrounded by public buildings, temples, etc. Merchants and buyers from around the city gathered here to sell and buy fresh produce and locally manufactured products. The buyers bargained hard to buy their desired stuff and went home happy and satisfied. In later years, these markets also functioned as places of religious, political, judicial, social, and commercial activities.

However, with the growth of alternative shopping concepts, the new age shoppers are not very appreciative of them and thus the traditional way of open markets have vanished losing their objective, form, and glory. Now the open markets are held sporadically only in small towns and cities. However, the pandemic, which forced the people to remain indoors for longer period, has revived the need for open markets once more because the people’s shopping behavior has changed and their appetite to meet, socialize, eat, entertain, shop and breathe in an open air, has increased multifold during the pandemic years. The new age open markets have taken new shapes, sizes, location, and are named based on different categories: Day based - Friday/Sunday/National Day Product(s) based- Gold, Vegetables, Textile, Perfume, Arts, Spices, Souvenirs, Second-hand (Flea market) etc. Sourcing based - Direct from farm, Ripe Market Location based - Market at the beach, roadside, park etc. And many more…… These markets offer a large assortment of goods at throw away prices. They are effortlessly vibrant, always hustling and bustling with customers from all walks of life and the energy around there is infectious. They come with loads of entertainment activities and variety of local cuisines including popular street food joints thus making it a complete family affair and taking the whole customer experience to a level higher.

“Open markets have remained popular despite the buffet of shopping avenues available to the customers”

These modern open markets are also helping in keeping the retail industry abuzz which bodes well for the shopping malls and retailers. The mall owners must take advantage of this and repurpose their internal spaces and offerings to give it a feel of the open markets. And on the other hand, the retailers who always find themselves pushed to find newer & innovative ways of retailing, have a great opportunity to use this concept as another avenue to attract and sell to a variety of customers. I believe the strength of open market concept is their unique customer experience. Retailers can shun the competition amongst each other and collaborate to find customer focused ways to replicate the similar experience in their offerings.

“Open markets offer unique, authentic, and delightful shopping experience at affordable prices in a natural environment and are increasingly becoming popular amongst modern day customers”

In the post pandemic era, people deserve so much more when they are out of their homes and the modern open markets are certainly their go to place to shop for products made by the best local producers, enjoy meeting others, entertain themselves and dine their favorite street food, all under one roof. Therefore, I don’t have any hesitation in concluding that the open markets are here to stay and grow exponentially in size, offerings, categories, and popularity.

Roman Forum - World’s First Open Markets

UMESH AGARWAL

RETAIL INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL

Open Market at Bangkok

Ripe Market – Spring Souk, Dubai