Argentina Street Markets

I spent the past week in Buenos Aires, Argentina and examined the marketing principles applied by a variety of street vendors.  We spent much of the weekend at many artisan markets including La Recoleta, La Boca, and San Telmo.  These markets went on and on with hundreds of different vendors.  The products varied dramatically with everything from leather purses to steel crafted animals.  The majority of the stands that we looked at carried only home made products by the sellers themselves.  As I watched hundreds of artists try to make a living by receiving money for their hand crafted passions, I began to wonder what their pricing process was like.  How does one calculate a price that a consumer would pay when they believe that their work is priceless?  I started to put myself in the mind of one of these artisans, but tried to use my marketing knowledge to create the best results.  These street vendors must at some point consider the "Law of Demand".  This states that consumers purchase more products at a lower price than at a higher price.  They must also take into account their competitors, as I noticed that many of the products appeared similar throughout many different stands.  The artists should also consider their internal influences as they have the fixed costs of building rentals and staff, but have many variable costs as well, mainly raw materials.  Although the operations are small and may seem simple, the price that the vendor determines could make or break their career.  There is also a pricing battle with the consumer that comes into play.  One must know when to lower their price to make a sale  or when to stay put as to gain the largest profit.  When we tried to bargain with one purse salesman, he would barely decrease his price.  He ended up going down 10 Argentinian pesos, which was not enough for us to make a purchase.  Another tried to stay true to his price, as we attempted to get a 50 peso discount.  As we walked away, he conceded and ended up reducing the price and making a sale.  This complex method of pricing proves interesting, as I will never know which purse salesman made the better decision and ended up doing better.