I found my self shopping for personal items today, nothing much, just a little attempt to indulge myself. While this was going on, it then occurred to me its been over a year ago I actually went out into the "Lagos wild" shopping – for myself! The last time I did was before my last shopping which took place in Europe early 2006.
I am not someone who particularly enjoys going to the market, to be frank with you, shopping scares the "he-earth" out of me, for no other reason than not being able to give a name to what I want. I only know what I want when I get to see it. Interestingly, I found this problem to be same whether in a European country or in my own obodo country Naija. Whether it is walking into (or past) a Prada, Gucci or Louis Vuitton store in Paris or our very own Okoro & Sons Int’l (flanked on all sides by Iya Bisi and Mallam Sule sheds), I just never get to know what I want until something really tickles my fancy.
To be fair though I had a good experience shopping today. With exception to the hot weather condition and the numerous throng of people hurrying you out of their clustered paths, it was such homemade-fun shopping in “eko” today. Its amazing seeing how much enthusiasm is displayed by everyone trying so hard to make sure you empty your pockets on their wares. It may not be far from the truth that some of these guys have mystic charms that tells them how much you have in your wallet (pocket for some of us!) and makes them set their prices so spot on that you have just a little left to do “baba ke” for the private social security (popularly called area boyz!)-unless of course you don’t intend to go home with all your valued purchase.
Though bargaining is a common feature of our market here in Nigeria (I used to complain about this a lot until I benefited from such latent but honed skills when I visited East Africa last year, was quite easy for me to get good deals!). However, I noticed some slight improvement today as opposed to what I have noticed in previous years. In Europe I never had any reason to worry about the prices I saw on display, and after much of my purchase, I always found out that I got a good deal without haggling on prices. That was never the case here, you get to haggle for like 15-20 minutes and sometimes you actually still feel or get to find out you were ripped off by the seller (he or she obviously enjoyed the show…they do that everyday anyway with no specific intention of mischief, simply "catching" fun!).
I am not someone who particularly enjoys going to the market, to be frank with you, shopping scares the "he-earth" out of me, for no other reason than not being able to give a name to what I want. I only know what I want when I get to see it. Interestingly, I found this problem to be same whether in a European country or in my own obodo country Naija. Whether it is walking into (or past) a Prada, Gucci or Louis Vuitton store in Paris or our very own Okoro & Sons Int’l (flanked on all sides by Iya Bisi and Mallam Sule sheds), I just never get to know what I want until something really tickles my fancy.
To be fair though I had a good experience shopping today. With exception to the hot weather condition and the numerous throng of people hurrying you out of their clustered paths, it was such homemade-fun shopping in “eko” today. Its amazing seeing how much enthusiasm is displayed by everyone trying so hard to make sure you empty your pockets on their wares. It may not be far from the truth that some of these guys have mystic charms that tells them how much you have in your wallet (pocket for some of us!) and makes them set their prices so spot on that you have just a little left to do “baba ke” for the private social security (popularly called area boyz!)-unless of course you don’t intend to go home with all your valued purchase.
Though bargaining is a common feature of our market here in Nigeria (I used to complain about this a lot until I benefited from such latent but honed skills when I visited East Africa last year, was quite easy for me to get good deals!). However, I noticed some slight improvement today as opposed to what I have noticed in previous years. In Europe I never had any reason to worry about the prices I saw on display, and after much of my purchase, I always found out that I got a good deal without haggling on prices. That was never the case here, you get to haggle for like 15-20 minutes and sometimes you actually still feel or get to find out you were ripped off by the seller (he or she obviously enjoyed the show…they do that everyday anyway with no specific intention of mischief, simply "catching" fun!).
But my experience today was a bit on the pleasant side. Of course, the haggling was still there (one of us would have become sick if it didn’t happen..you'll appreciate haggling when you enter some of our so-called "large stores" in the country now,and you meet with some robotic attendant who can't make a cut on the price simply because "we don't price here!"), but I must say the time spent haggling was much shorter and precise. Interestingly too, the seller was much firmer on his offer price. There was little shifting on price levels – after a while I had to put a check on myself, have I become soft in price haggling or is it that these guys have truly improved and are now more realistic in the margins they hope to earn? Abi is the power of the internet helping us to quickly decide as we are more able to easily identify the price range of goods thereby enabling us to come to quick concurrence when we hear a realistic price form the sellers. It’s not in impossible that in these days of Yahoo-Yahoo boys (please, I’m not saying our traders are yahoo-yahoo!), our traders may have taken advantage of the internet to gauge prices and that has probably soften their price pitching tone.
With seemingly booming confidence in the country and the fact that "spending" by you and I will be the only basis for increasing economic activity, getting good value for every penny(kobos!) spent , maybe someone out there can actually come up with an idea where adequate price knowledge for every day items will be readily available, and hopefully we can leave the "haggling" theatre for Nollywood to put on our screens.
I have to visit the place again next month...the thought of a possible haggling session... freaks me out!
