Substitutability of haats and retail store in rural markets: A study across the states in India

Abstract

The study examines the extent to which the fixed location retail stores and periodic markets substitute each other. The rational consumer assumptions used in central place theory & also the law of retail gravitation suggest that the consumer would minimise travel costs.The literature that examines the competition between retails store formats and also the spatial behaviour of consumers suggest the haats and fixed location shops can possibly co-exist. Cross-sectional data of number of haats and fixed location retail stores in villages by states is examined for testing the association of these variables.