MARKET ON THE MOVE
Mobile shops have long offered customers convenience, but today they struggle to catch up with the appeal of supermarkets
Here in Thailand, food can be found just about anywhere. Living in an area with no fresh market or grocery store? For Thais, that proves no problem. A mobile market, or rod pum puang, will find you. These shops on wheels, named in part after the Thai word for brunch puang, delivers fresh ingredients straight to your doorstep. In these markets, fresh fruit and vegetables are sold in plastic bags tied to a box structure at the back of the vendor’s pick-up truck. There is also often a shelf for canned goods and seasoning, dried ingredients, and eggs. Some vehicles sell fresh meat stored in an ice container.
Rod pum puang are typically run by two people — most commonly couples. The husband does the driving and the wife takes care of the sales part. They tend to operate in the suburbs of Bangkok and housing estates, which let the mobile markets roam the streets freely.
Not long ago, one large Thai supermarket chain introduced a similar business model, sending pick-up trucks to the streets filled with fresh and dried goods to reach out to customers.
However, these trucks have raised concern among those loyal to the traditional mom-and-pop rod pum puang.
To add further distress, the Ministry of Commerce recently announced that the old rod pum puang must be subjected to inspection as legitimate businesses.
A TV programme recently covered the issue by inviting a panel of scholars to debate if the rod pum puang and ran sho huay (small shops selling daily items) will go out of business. The speakers expressed their opposition to having large supermarket chains’ trucks replace the classic rod pum puang for fear of driving out a valuable tradition.
Cornucopia agrees with these scholars. However, bigbrand supermarkets and hypermarkets have many advantages over independent vendors to be noted. Supermarkets usually secure prime locations in the large residential areas of Bangkok. They offer a variety of shops, restaurants and parking areas. Other goods and services, such as fresh markets, are often added on to attract more shoppers. For example, you can now buy freshly squeezed coconut milk and readymade curry paste like in traditional markets. Fresh fish comes cleaned, scaled, filleted — sometimes even fried or steamed. These supermarkets strive to meet all their customers’ needs and more.
With all that capital, combined with the advantage of more staff, and the ability to pay more cheaply and with credit card — an outcome of an economy of scale — supermarkets pull out all the stops to keep their competitive edge over smaller operators.
Let’s see how rod pum puang have changed over time to survive on the streets. The earliest form of these mobile markets emerged around one decade ago. The owners would start their rounds as early as 2am, heading to wholesale markets like Talad Thai, Talad Si Moom Muang, or Talad Tan Petch in Pathum Thani. Vegetables were collected and placed in plastic bags to hang on the vehicle. Iced containers (sometimes meaning a run-down refrigerator) were also filled with fresh meat and placed in the back.
Before dawn, vendors would arrive at their first stop and finish their rounds before noon. They would then return to the wholesale market and repeat the cycle. Back then, most rod pum puang did two daily rounds.
Convenience is at the core of what made these businesses thrive. Customers who lack the time and means to make it to the fresh market can do still their daily shopping with these mobile markets.
Now, some sellers come only once a day and stick to strict schedules, meaning customers must know precisely when to look out for them. Custom relations strategies involve vendors keeping a close relationship with their regulars, collecting special items on request and offering credit.
Product display also matters, with leafy greens and root vegetables neatly arranged to catch customers’ eyes.
In addition to the supermarket, these vehicles have other up-andcoming competitors. The Ministry of Commerce have their own version of a rod pum puang called rod tong fah, which translates to “mobile market with blue flags”.
Motorcycles can also function as rod pum puang when equipped with a rack for hanging goods. These have the advantage of reaching narrow alleys and faraway farms with no paved roads. However, their size means that less variety will be available, while it is also unlikely that they will carry fresh meat.
Business for rod pum puang varies depending on the time of month. On the 1st and 16th of every month, people are not likely to be in the mood to shop as those days are when lottery results are announced.
The same goes with paydays when people tend to avoid cooking, and take their families to shop and dine at the mall instead. As the school semester starts, people are also less likely to shop. Vendors will thus stock less goods than they usually would. The same goes for holidays like the New Year and Songkran.
As we have explained, rod pum puang are struggling to survive. Supermarket-run versions of these markets have been put on pause for now, but business development departments are moving to come up with new projects to lure in customers.
For now, these mobile markets just do their best to stay on the move.