Nepali market has growing tremendously over the last few years. This has helped create a fertile ground for high-end and branded products. This shows that high-end consumers are increasing in the market. Likewise, it is also true that people now have more options to choose from -- depending upon their purchasing capacity. However, it is also a fact that the gap between the rich and poor is also widening. This in the market scenario implies that the people around and below the poverty line are kept away from the growing market. Living in the same society, the market that is close to rich people becomes a distant land for them. It is also because the marketers target rich people at the cost of poor ones. It is more difficult for the middle class who neither can downgrade their lifestyle nor can afford an upgrade. Living with limited resources amid soaring prices, customers are always anxious about the future. For the working class, it is even more difficult as their income growth does not match the soaring inflation. Eventually beneficiaries of a growing market are sellers rather than the buyers.
- Sahara Regmi, Pokhara