CBSE Class 7 Social Science: Markets Around Us NCERT Solutions

Solution: A hawker and a shop owner differ in several key aspects related to their business operations and customer interaction.

A hawker typically provides a service that comes directly to the customer, often selling goods by moving from place to place. They might call out the names of their products to attract attention. Their 'shop' is usually a movable cart or a thela, which contains various everyday items. This mobility allows them to reach more people, and they generally operate with minimal profit margins.

A shop owner, on the other hand, runs their business from a fixed, permanent location. Customers must visit the shop to make purchases. While shops offer a wider variety of goods and a more stable shopping environment, the prices might be slightly higher compared to hawkers due to fixed overhead costs.

Solution: Here is a comparison between a weekly market and a shopping complex:

Aspect	Weekly Market	Shopping Complex
Kinds of goods sold	Various items for everyday use such as vegetables, groceries, cloth items, utensils, etc.	Branded items like readymade clothes, home appliances, footwear, leather items, etc. Also includes eatables like pizza and burgers.
Prices of goods	Prices are generally not very high, making them affordable for common people.	Prices are usually high, catering to a segment that can afford them.
Sellers	Small traders and hawkers, often belonging to lower-income groups.	Big businessmen and established traders, often dealing with branded products.
Buyers	Local people, especially those from low-income groups who seek affordable daily necessities.	Wealthy city people and businessmen who are looking for branded or specialized products.

Solution: A chain of markets is formed to connect the producers of goods with the final consumers, especially when producers cannot sell small quantities directly to individuals.

Formation of Market Chain: Goods are produced in factories, farms, or homes. However, producers are usually not interested in selling small quantities directly to consumers. This is where intermediaries, known as wholesale traders and retailers, come into play. Wholesale traders buy goods in large quantities directly from the producers. They then sell these bulk quantities to retailers. Retailers, in turn, sell these goods in smaller quantities to the final consumers. This creates a chain: Producers → Wholesale Traders → Retailers → Consumers.

Purpose Served: This chain of markets serves several important purposes:

Availability of Goods: It ensures that various items of daily use are easily available to consumers, even if they are located far from the production centers.

Flow of Money: It facilitates the smooth flow of money through the economy as goods are bought and sold at each stage.

Coordination: It promotes coordination between different levels of trade and ensures that the supply meets the demand effectively.

Solution: Yes, the statement that all persons have equal rights to visit any shop in a marketplace is true, even for shops selling expensive products.

As consumers, everyone has the freedom to enter any shop and look at the products, regardless of whether they intend to buy or can afford them. The shop owner has a responsibility to show the articles to a customer who asks for them. They cannot force anyone to purchase an item. The decision to buy rests solely with the customer.

Example: Consider Kavita and Sujata, who visited a large shopping mall out of curiosity. While exploring, they entered a shop selling branded dresses. They had no intention of buying anything at that moment, but they were free to look at the dresses. The shop owner was expected to let them browse without any pressure to purchase. This illustrates that the right to visit and browse is universal, irrespective of the shop's price range.

Solution: The statement that buying and selling can occur without visiting a physical marketplace is very true, especially in the modern era.

Online Purchases: The internet has revolutionized commerce. With the rise of e-commerce, consumers can now make purchases from the comfort of their homes. They can browse through websites, view product details, place orders using online payment methods like credit cards, and have the goods delivered directly to their doorstep. This bypasses the need to physically go to a market or shop.

Other Examples: Buying and selling also happens in other contexts without traditional marketplaces. For instance, medical representatives visit clinics and hospitals to sell medicines and medical equipment to doctors. Similarly, door-to-door sales or direct selling by companies also represent transactions that do not require a customer to visit a market.

Solution: A weekly market is called so because it is organized and held only on a specific, designated day of the week. It does not operate daily.

Solution: Competition exists among shops in a weekly market because many sellers offer the same or similar types of goods. For example, multiple vendors might sell vegetables, fruits, or clothes. To attract customers, these sellers often compete by offering better quality, lower prices, or more variety.

Solution: Sameer is depicted as a small trader who operates in the weekly market. He buys clothes in bulk from a larger trader and then sells these clothes in different weekly markets across six days of the week, managing his business across various locations.

Solution: Examples of roadside stalls include vegetable hawkers selling fresh produce, fruit vendors offering seasonal fruits, and mechanics providing repair services for vehicles. These are typically small, often temporary setups found along roadsides.

Solution: Shops in the neighbourhood are useful for several reasons:

• Convenience: They are located close to our homes, making it easy and quick to visit them anytime we need something.
• Accessibility: We can go to these shops whenever we need items, without having to travel long distances.
• Credit Facility: Often, the buyer and seller know each other well, which allows for the facility of buying goods on credit (paying later).

Solution: Goods are produced in various places, including factories, farms, and homes. For example, manufactured items come from factories, agricultural products from farms, and handicrafts or processed foods might be made in homes.

Solution: We generally do not buy directly from the producer because producers are often not interested or equipped to sell goods in small quantities to individual consumers. They prefer to sell in bulk to wholesale traders, who then manage the distribution to retailers and finally to consumers.

Solution: A retailer is a trader who buys goods from wholesale traders and sells them in smaller quantities directly to the final consumers. They act as the link between the wholesale market and the end-user.