Who are Itinerant Retailers? 4 Types of Itinerant Retailers

Who are Itinerant retailers?

Itinerant means traveling from place to place. Itinerant retailers have no fixed place of business. They move from place to place for selling their goods to the consumers. Itinerant sell in small quantities. They invest a very small amount of capital. They deal in varieties of goods.

Itinerant Retailers - Meaning, Types
Itinerant Retailers – Meaning, Types

Types of Itinerant Retailers

Itinerant retailers may be of four types. They are Hawkers and peddlers, cheap jacks, market traders; and street traders.

1. Peddlers and Hawkers:

Peddlers are those retailers who carry goods in hand cart to sell them at the doors of consumers. To hawk means to sell goods in the streets or by knocking on people’s doors. A hawker means someone who hawks goods. Generally, hawkers carry goods on their heads. They persuade people to accept goods which may be of low quality. So, the price charged by hawkers is lower than the market price. They move from place to place with limited stock.

2. Cheap Jacks

Cheap jacks are different from hawkers and peddlers. They have an independent shop. But, the shop is not a permanent one. If business at one place is not profitable, cheap jacks will choose some other location. So, they frequently change their place of business in search of ‘greener pastures‘. Cheap jacks know the art of selling and are well versed with all tricks of the trade.

3. Market traders

Market traders, as the name itself implies, open their shops on market days. Market days vary from place to place, being conducted on weekly or monthly basis. Market traders perform business only when the market is open. They open their shops at different places, on different days whenever the market is open.

For example, ‘Sunday Market’ in Pondicherry is very popular among shoppers.

4. Street traders

As the name itself suggests street traders carry on their business in busy streets. Aiming at the floating population, they choose bus stops, railway stations, government and commercial offices and educational institutions to do business. They deal in one kind of goods at a time that are in high demand.