The Department of Commerce and Management organised a field trip for the students of SY and TY B.Com on 28th October 2022, as a part of the learning process in the subjects of Rural Marketing and Retail Management Strategies respectively. The objective of the field trip was to provide students with practical exposure and experience of the process and techniques of retailing in rural markets and to understand how it is different from marketing in urban areas.
The students gathered in the College campus and Dr. Rodney D’Silva, teacher incharge of the activity welcomed the students and gave them details about the itinerary and timings. The bus left at 8.00 a.m. from the College premises. The first destination was Banastari local market. Since local markets are the essence of Indian economy, the students were given an exposure to the marketing activities in rural areas. They observed the marketing pattern and techniques keeping in mind pricing strategies, lot size, product quality, etc. The local market was flooded with Goan local products like spices, vegetables, groceries, handmade artifacts, pottery items, handmade jewellery, coconut and coconut products, etc. The students enthusiastically asked questions to the local vendors in order to learn more about their marketing patterns.
The next destination was Mapusa Friday Local Market. Mapusa Friday Local Market is well known for its speciality of the Goans to open up stalls to sell their local homemade products. The students went on a shopping trip in this market with a motive of understanding various concepts of rural marketing learnt in the theory classes on campus. Dr. Rodney D’Silva reminded the students about the various concepts they have been taught as a part of syllabus and guided them on how to relate the same in practice. Students were provided with an hour to explore the market and make observations on their own.
The third destination was Mall de Goa, Porvorim. The students were taken to the mall to understand the difference between rural and urban marketing. The TY B.Com students observed the retail stores at the mall pertaining to convincing power of the storekeepers towards the customers, pricing patterns, marketing strategies, branding, etc. The students actively took part in this learning process. The students were accompanied by Dr. Rodney D’Silva and Ms. Sushrusha Naik Khandekar. The trip ended with the students expressing positive feedback about the activity. 38 students participated in the field trip.
