Author - Michael Mbhekeni SHAZI

Trading in the informal sector has seen a rapid growth in the developing as well as the developed economies in the last few decades. Consequently, the concept ‘flea market’ has gained renewed attention. The study aimed at identifying the preferred advertising and promotional strategies used by traders and how these strategies influence buying decisions in a flea market context. The study adopted a quantitative method using a non-probability convenience sample of 105 consumers attending the Car Boot Flea Market in the City of Durban, South Africa. Results indicated that as there is a need to save money, pricing of items was found to have a strong influence on the buying decision but consumers also look for a good offer, a clean attractive display of the products, an opportunity to test the product before buying and finding a product that the consumer has been seeking for a long time. Traditional marketing activities like calling out prices, issuing pamphlets and using other tactics to...