Among the most salient phenomena that a person visiting parts of Asia notices, is the variety of options for transportation. In my view, Asia remains the continent of bicycles and rickshaws by a huge margin. From India to China and Vietnam, one gets the distinct impression that bicycles or rickshaws are an important way for people to move around and to transport goods as well. Rarely does one see transportation by cycles adopted to that degree in the African and Latin American world.
In this interesting article, Esmer Golluoglu of the Guardian covers a story of the place of cycles of different kinds in Vietnam. Indeed, it is not just a story of mobility and furious economic growth but also an unimaginable anthropological study about ownership, status and utility of cycles of various kinds. Significant is the view that ownership is hierarchical starting with the conventional cycle, to the e-bike, motorbike and the automobile as marking the apex of status. To my mind therefore, it is possible to accurately deduce a person's status by the kind of cycle that she owns in Vietnam. It is certain that some marketers have noted it but this is quite an important issue for study about markets and the segments within them.
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