Discovering a New Perspective:

The Daily Struggles of Street Vendors on

Selling, Low-balling, and Customer
Interactions

Ethnographic
Research
Ethnographic Research

Ethnographic research is a
qualitative method where researchers observe
and/or interact with a study's participants in
their real-life environment.
Thesis Statement:

Street vendors are hardworking people. They

go to different places to sell their products, compete
with other vendors, and come across various kinds of
people. Unfortunately, it’s inevitable for them to
encounter costumers who are rude, thus they have to be
patient and deal with them in a respectful manner.
 IMPORTANCE OF THE
TOPIC
The significance of our topic relies on seeing a new
perspective. Most of us are simply costumers and
have no grasp of what it’s like to being a street
vendor. We do not know their daily struggles
besides selling. Our topic hopefully encourages
people to be more approachable, patient, kind,
and considerate towards street vendors since they
are human as well; they deserve to be respected as
much as we, people who rely on them for
different things, do.
1. How do vendors talk or interact with
their costumers?

2. How do they interact with their

fellow vendors?

3. Does their (street vendors)

environment affect their work or
business?
 RRL: Rovers S. (2013) Her study on “Informal Economy Monitoring
Study Sector Report: Street Vendors”.It was based in 5 cities Accra in Ghana,
Ahmedabad in India, Durban in South Africa Lima in Peru and Nakuru in
Kenya. Her study revealed that for 68% of street vendors street selling is their
main source of income, Street vendors face different kinds of problems like
getting chase out by the police,
their products got confiscated, people harrases them. their lack of safety in
their workplace. About 70% reported that their supplies had become more
expensive. They were not able to fix the high price for their customers because
of hard competition.
 Scope and Delimitations:
• What we were supposed to do was to spend 6
or more hours in working on our study, but due
to heavy rainfall we couldn’t accomplish the
required 6 or more hours in undertaking our
study. The study does not cover the
information of their daily income and if their
income is sufficient for their daily needs. We
do wish we could’ve interviewed and observed
more just to see different situations happening,
such as customers who are rude.
 METHODOLOGY
Our plan was to not only observe, but also interview to gather
more data regarding our research. We originally wanted to
observe and interview at least three (3) street vendors;
luckily, we ended up observing and interviewing more than
what we hoped for.
Before we allowed ourselves to ask for their permission on an
interview, we made sure to buy their products first for two
reasons: 1. to see how they would interact with us as
customers and 2. To help them with their business. It is only
right for us to give them something in return since they are
helping us with our study.
 Presentation and Analysis of
Collected Data/Research Findings:
• Street vendors often go to places where their products suits the people in that area
the most.
• Despite the competition in selling, some street vendors are still very close with their
fellow vendors.
• Street vendors follow their customer’s schedule; an example for that is when the ice
cream vendor went to the elementary school before their dismissal time.
• It does not matter if the weather is good or bad, street vendors will still go around
and sell their products.
• Street vendors still have to deal with people who ask for discounts who are mostly
adults, despite the cheap prices of their products.
• Street vendors always have to be patient, even if customers are being unreasonably
rude.
• The type of customer can vary depending on what product is being sold.
• Street vendors do not only limit themselves in selling in the streets, they also go to
villages, subdivisions, schools, and universities.
• Street vendors have to deal with the authority as well, especially when they try to
make them move places or confiscate their products.
 Summary
This research opened a new perspective on how street
vendors use their space to their advantage on selling their
products. They are highly dependable on their location
because they must adjust to where the majority of the
people are in order for their products to be patronized. It is
also noticeable that they must be approachable and patient
when dealing with costumers because they come from
different places. Competition is also a factor that hinders
selling and they must pick a good place to sell where not a
lot can interfere or compete with their business.
Being a street vendor is not as easy as it looks. There are
various things to consider in order to successfully selling
your products, including: where to sell, who to cater to, and
when to sell.