Pudu Wet Market

半山芭/富都早市

Community shapes the food ingredient

purchasing culture
01
Introduction

Pudu
Wet
Market

A Walk Through Pudu Wet Market

“60 years old market which is also the biggest market in Kuala Lumpur
with more than 1,500 in-door and open-air stalls selling every food
stuff you can name it in small plot of land.

Vibrant and lively place in the morning as early as 3am. Frantic

during the rush hour. Place where adventurous tourists explore Asian
Chinese authentic and chaotic market experiences .”
Chinese Food
Shopping Mall
Community

Location of Pud
 Located next to
busy highways in
Kuala Lumpur

du Wet Market
“Adventurous and full of surprises. Messy arrangement that made
the wet market interesting. You did not know what would show up next.
This satisfied a basic psychological need that the brain welcomes
variety, contrast and change. The ambient noise creates right
atmosphere & arousing emotion of customers.
“Partially covered market with
freshness and surprise”
02
Community

Community who shapes Pudu Market

“Market responds to the dominant community which are the locals
whereby wet market shapes their food purchasing culture in response
to the community’s ideal purchasing experience”
 Age Group

Senior Citizen – 54 %

Adult – 13 %

Teenager – 10 %

Children – 23 %

Locals are mostly senior citizens.

They are used to the purchasing
culture in Pudu Market

Race

Chinese – 37 %

Foreign Workers – 36 %

Indian – 14 %

Malay – 13 %

Multiracial market with Chinese

as majorities. Foreign workers
are brought in to help the
vendors.
 Gender

Male – 57 %

Female – 43 %

More male vendors can be

seen in Pudu Market. There is a
similar amount of customers in
both male and female.
 “ I came here with my wife every
Tan , 35 years old
weekend for groceries. Been visiting
Working Class
this market since young and the
Lives nearby
vendors are very friendly here”

Importance Friendliness

Location Interactions
 “ The price is cheaper and fresher
compared to other places. I can get Lee , 45 years old
a bigger amount of ingredients with Working Class
a cheaper price.” Works nearby

Comfortability Affordability

Freshness Convenient
“Social focal point of community
helping to feed the local
community”
03
Shopping
Experiences

The differences between shopping in Pudu Wet

Market & Supermarket
The Flow

Repetitive Form
 Qualitative Form

Photo Source: Nick’s Wandering

Vendors Working Space & Storage

Pudu Wet Market Layout

“Repeating process can create surprises for the participants when there
are slight changes in every loop. These loops of actions enrich the
shopping experience when strong characters of the shopkeepers largely
magnify the vital element of an experience, the emotions and ideas,
the human factors to speak.”
Supermarket Layout
“Careful planning of the shopping flow where the products are
categorized with precision. This qualitative progression form of
experience eventually becomes the conventional form of shopping in
supermarket as a whole.”
The Scene

“Crowded environment with a vibrant lighting

atmosphere. There’s noises of people talking,
promoting and negotiating throughout the market.”
“Clean and tidy arrangement in supermarket with
sufficient artificial light. There’s background light
music or occasional promotion jingles happening
here.”

Photo Source: Malay Mail

The Agent

“The people here gives a warm and friendly feeling to

their customers as they are enthusiastic in sharing
information with them.”
“The staff here are as cool as vending machine. They
are just the agent in facilitating the purchasing
process. No further interactions between staff and
customers.”

Photo Source: The Star

Facial Engagement
“Participation of facial engagement can be a sign of social closeness
and relatedness that are extremely important in creating customer
bonds and loyalty in this highly competitive environment.
Interactions
“Customers are free to watch, touch, smell and even taste the
ingredients. These largely enrich experiences with full utilization of
the 5 senses : visuals, sound, smell and textures.”
The Products

“Wet market & supermarket are having same products to be sold

difference betwee
 such as vegetables, pork, beef and seafood but what’s the
en them?”

Photo Source: Tesco IOI Mall

Visible Freshness
“The ingredients are served freshly as they are produced and
processed on the spot. Customers recognize the shop location and shop
owner in association with the product they wanted. Faces of the shop
owners become brands of their products.”
Expiry Date

Photo Source: Deposit Photos

“Products are mostly packed in boxes and plastic containers. Even
fresh vegetables are divided into equal quantity & weight, and are
packed in advance. Products are differentiated by the brand, the
graphic skin, and ultimately by the information embedded in the
barcode on the packaging.”
Comparisons
Pudu Wet Market

• Unhygienic environment with messy arrangement

• Complicated flow of shopping
• Natural light atmosphere
• Friendly Vendors
• Chaotic

Ingredients and ambiance of both

are equally important in shaping
 Supermarket

• Hygienic environment with planned arrangement

• Easy understand flow of shopping
• Artificial light atmosphere
• Working Staff

• Orderly

h wet market and supermarket

g the food purchasing culture

Photo Source: Sunway Putra Mall

“Food ingredient purchasing is an
experience comes with its
individualizing qualitiy”
04
Galleries

Happenings in Pudu Wet Market

“Selecting the fresh ingredients to be displayed”
“Customers able to choose their own ingredients by
examining through 5 senses”
“Customers telling the vendors on the selection part of
meat”
“Preparing the ingredients on the spot to ensure its
fresh”
“Friendly foreign workers along the market”
“Resting while there’s no customers”
“Chit-chatting in between vendors & customers”
“Everyone plays their own role in wet market makes the
market always busy”
“Freshness of ingredients and cries from vendors attract
customers”
“Selling without canopy, so what ?”
“Pudu Wet Market’s charm, hustle
and bustle becomes a great
appeal for the visitors”
05
Conclusion

Thoughts of studies on food purchasing culture

“The arrangement of Pudu Wet Market and supermarket much affects
the shopping experience and shapes the food ingredient purchasing
culture. People prefer to shop more at wet market although it is messy
and dirty. Gaver. In his discussion about emotion design claimed that
design can influence the emotion of users and stimulate an
interaction style in between users and environment. Pudu wet market’s
arrangement gives a warm and friendly environment for the users.
Hence, local community prefers to shop more here.”
References
1. Gaver, W. (1999, p.52 ) Retrieved from International Conference on
Design

2. Lumpur, K. (2014, April 21). Pudu market | Shopping in Pudu, Kuala

Lumpur. Retrieved from https://www.timeout.com/kuala-
lumpur/shops/pudu-market

3. Malay Mail. (2016, April 17). Eight traditional wet markets in KL you
should visit before they close down | Malay Mail. Retrieved from
https://www.malaymail.com/s/1101663/8-traditional-wet-markets-in-kl-
you-should-visit-before-they-close-down

4. N. (2015, August 14). Difference between Supermarket and Wet

Market. Retrieved from http://www.differencebetween.info/difference-
between-supermarket-and-wet-market

5. Rumble box: Wet market or supermarket? (2014, January 16).

Retrieved from https://yp.scmp.com/article/4425/rumble-box-wet-
market-or-supermarket

6. Which is better? Supermarket v.s. Wet Market. (2018, February 02).

Retrieved from http://realsgmum.com/which-is-better-supermarket-v-s-
wet-market/
“More than just a market”