Small and medium retail enterprises; the lifeblood of global economy

 [source](http://www.econetwireless.com/strive_masiyiwa_blog/index.php/2018/06/) I walked past a very busy suburb just some miles away from the business capital of my state in what appears to be a traditional market day, the number of people engaging in buy and sale activities was overwhelming, this prompted me to ask further and to my greatest surprise, it was just a normal day and furthermore, similar population of people trades in here everyday, though on religious days, there is a reduction in the total number of buyers and seller, but on normal circumstances the figure is relatively the same. It was a normal African local market, made up of medium and small scale business settings and some kiosks at the entrance and also at strategic locations inside the market, at the entrance were delivery vans from very big producers coca-cola, Pepsi and some national food item production firms, the great turn over rate at the market makes it a favorite spot for producers as their products are sold up immediately, very much faster than the malls and other wholesale shops, many vans owned by wholesale shops also distribute the stores goods to the retailers at the market as this triggers the sell off these products three times the wholesale speed. The producers, the wholesalers and the retailers comes to aggrement in terms of the price of these goods sold in singles and this is influenced by the wholesale and producer price with add-ons which would yield acceptable interest for the retailers and the kiosk owners too. Many of these shops also purchases farm products from the substantial and commercial local farmers, hence bridging the gap between producers and the consumers. This market conceptualized the perfect world trade scheme and she clearly depicts the vital role played by small and medium scale enterprises in the growth of production and trade world wide, though this image was created in the African setting, a similar scenario exists worldwide though Africa holds the highest number. The idea of shopping malls and large scale trading centres aren’t widely accepted by everyone and with the current African and world economy, such settings are high Classed and only the average and rich class of the societal hierarchy can afford to buy from these places. The freedom felt in markets of this kind is also a very attractive factor and many people prefers to trade freely with the least possible restrictions as regards movement, choice and pricing. Many malls and trading centers are also medium scale and a hence not foreign to this concept. These businesses settings are the unsung heroes of world economy, the sustainability of world economy would unarguably find its solution at the heart of small and medium scale enterprises which are actually a development stage in the blue print of a perfect market and trade, the shady support given to these setting by every government worldwide also explains why world trade have diminished so much, the back slide of small and medium scale enterprises results in a higher loss in the overall national economy, this is due to the roles they play, such as:

Transaction chain initiation

Our everyday concept of distribution of goods and services have always been from producers to the consumers; this sketch is only quintessential and only applies at normal circumstances, which unfortunately doesn’t always apply, as a matter of fact, it rarely applies. The small and medium scale enterprises includes the kiosks and the retailers, and medium scale wholesalers, some producers are also on the medium and small scale class. However for easy comprehension, the small and medium scale retailers and wholesalers are considered here. Being the link between the producers and the consumers, retail shops influence the quality and quantity of a certain goods to be produced by the producers, not only do they relay the ideas of the producers to the consumers, they also sends the reactions of these consumers to the producers and are the most suitable source of marketing and performance survey for any product or producers. Small and medium scale enterprises holds the key to customer satisfaction surveys and modifications to suit the taste of consumers, hence they created the chain of distribution and exchange and also influence this process.

Influence on distribution and publicity

There’s a great difference in ration of small and medium scale enterprises when compared to larger businesses settings, hence they are more spread out and populated and as a result, they reach out to a larger number of the population, distributing a new product to a number of good retailers brings more publicity and sale to the company than a television broadcast over one week. This is due to the close seller-buyer contact which the retailers and the kiosks provide this is lacking in radio and television broadcasts and the customers are more secured and feels more pleased discussing about the new products which they are about to try out with the retailers rather that just watch television advertisements which are already known to *‘only show the good sides’* of the products.

Influence on price and value of currency

Even though a producer decides the sale price of his goods, the small and medium scale retailers have the highest influence on the price he sets for his goods, this is to enable affordability by the greater population and also make for gains by the producers and retailers too. Being the last stage of distribution most times, the retailers have the final decisions on the price of the goods, thus retailers could easily influence inflation and the final value of every goods is the decision of the small and medium scale enterprises, this influence spans across every goods being sold by the retailers and with such influence, they hold a special place in the Nation’s economy and also the value of the nations currency, most inflations have been traced down to unscrupulous thumping of the price of the products by the retailers even when the producers have set an affordable price for their goods, this is a perfect show of the power the *‘minors’* in world trade actually possess.

Speed-up of transactions

Small and medium scale enterprises speed up the rate of transactions while trimming the ambiguity in business transactions, wholesalers and producers are limited in transactions as they deliver a huge amount of good to a small population, while retailers who are mostly small and medium scale deliver little amounts of goods to a larger population, hence the speed of completion of business transactions are toppled by the fast actions of the small and medium scale retailers, the speed decrease as we move from small-medium-large scale enterprises. **These makes small and medium scale enterprises a major part of world trade and economy, development of this aspect of business will also lead to a general development of world economy and a rise in value of tradeable currencies.**