First, an explanation is in order.

For those of you who were waiting for the continuation of Abbas and the Souk, I'm sorry to say, its never going to come. With my busy schedule and everything else I have to do, I just don't have as much time to blog anymore. So, instead of having to wait weeks and weeks, its just going to be taken away and replaced with this, a more straightforward entry.

Abbas and the souk was supposed to be a critique of the modern retailer. More specifically, Carrefour. We all know how it is, we've all been there to shop and marvel at the cheap prices they charge us. Needless to say, the French retailer is now the number one retailer in Indonesia. Sure, being number one is cool and all, but how did it become number one?

To those of you who lived abroad, like the U.S. for example, you should be pretty familiar with Walmart. Yes, Walmart, the place where, in one stop, you could pick up something as mundane as your groceries, as nifty as a foot-rest equipped, multi-cup-holder lawn chair, and as interesting, if deadly, as a HK USP .45. However, you might also notice that you ain't gonna find no Walmart in the middle of a city. Nope, y'all gonna have to go out to the boondocks to get them goodies. Simply put, Walmart does not build their outlets within urban centers.

Now the reason for that is that Walmart is a major retailer. It sells huge amount of goods, thus being able to sell at lower prices. Alot of its customers are either people who live in really small towns with no supermarkets of its own, thus they're willing to travel a bit to get everything they need in one go, or people who buy wholesale for their own little bodegas or small supermarket.

Four years I spent in the U.S. and the largest supermarket I've been to in a city was the local Tops. About the size of your local Hero. Not so here in good ol' Indonesia. Ethics dictate that such wholesaler or major retailer should open far away from the city. The reason is that the government forbids these stores to open, to prevent the death of the small retailers. See, in major urban centers, cities, space is sparse. It is precious. Most importantly, it is expensive. The pace of the city's occupants usually prevents them from browsing leisurely at shelf after shelf of goods. They want to go in, pick up what they need, and leave. Considering these two factors, well, retailers tend to be small and efficient. Your local warungs for instance. They stock only the goods that are most popular, with some retailers giving you the option of ordering unsual goods. So, they stock less, with less variety.

Because of that, small retailers could not give the ridiculous discounts Carrefour gives out. Nor could they afford to engage in partnerships with large banks like Citibank. We will get to this later. So, their prices are good, but not very cheap. In return they give you time. They have your specific needs, and you get to spend less time browsing, thus being able to use your time more efficiently.

Carrefour Indonesia, on the other hand, does it differently. My father is a supplier see, so he told me alot about these people. Carrefour charges suppliers, like my father, a ridiculous amount of money, called 'listing fee', just to have their goods displayed on their shelves. Other practices were mentioned in that last link too. If you study it carefuly, you could see the nature of the retailer.

Most recently, Carrefour, in cahoots with Citibank, were charged with dumping. They gave out discounts for consumer goods, more than any small retailer could provide. It seems that they were bent to kill the small retailers. Now of course, with the above mentioned reason, of course smaller retailers could not afford such discounts. Their businesses would be swept aside. Thus, Carrefour's conduct was unethical.