| Most retailers go to wholesalers every | | | | each product. Sellers display no prices and |
| morning or every second day to buy the goods | | | | transactions are always preceded by |
| they need for their customers. Fruit and | | | | negotiations. To get information, buyers can |
| vegetables are perishable and keeping them a | | | | visit several wholesale sellers, or |
| few days requires quite heavy infrastructure. | | | | alternatively ask some of their friends who |
| That's why retailers tend to come very | | | | has visited other sellers. Usually, retailers |
| regularly to have the freshest products they | | | | spend some time in the bar, discussing with |
| can. It is very important for them to provide | | | | others, or use their cell phones to ask |
| their customers with a range of products that | | | | prices to their friends. |
| is sufficiently diverse and where the goods | | | | |
| are present in a regular way, even though | | | | To achieve their goal of gathering the |
| there are sometimes unpredicted shortages. | | | | products, a retailer needs to go and visit |
| They can also profit of oversupply by getting | | | | wholesale sellers. The retailer has no |
| very cheap goods from wholesalers and sell | | | | representation of prices: it can compare the |
| them to attract clients. Their first interest | | | | values among wholesale sellers, but doesn't |
| is thus to find the wholesalers, from whom | | | | keep this knowledge from one time to another. |
| they could purchase the products they need at | | | | |
| a cheaper price. | | | | When a retailer decides who it wants to |
| | | | visit, it send a message to the wholesale |
| The constraint of continuity in products | | | | seller, proposing to buy a product. This |
| forces them to have habits on the market | | | | message queues among other retailers' and is |
| itself: either they go to certain wholesale | | | | answered to buy the wholesale seller. |
| sellers who always have a wide range of | | | | |
| products or they have relations with several | | | | A retailer is characterised by two |
| sellers who will help them fulfil their needs | | | | behavioural aspects: its degree of loyalty |
| as well as they can. In there case, having a | | | | and the time it stays on the market. It can |
| friendly relation with a seller can enable | | | | be either loyal or selfish, and the |
| them to order from one day to another, or to | | | | difference of behaviour, which is implied, |
| know about shortages to come a day in | | | | will be described in the next section. It can |
| advance. | | | | stay for a short or a long time. There are |
| | | | 4-negotiation period on the market. A |
| The other constraint for the buyers is time. | | | | short-time retailer can stay for 3 periods; a |
| Most of them have to go back to their shop as | | | | long-time retailer can stay for 4 periods. |
| early as possible to have their fruits ready | | | | |
| for the first customers. Hence, they need | | | | Retailers (mainly loyal ones) have a regular |
| some information on the market situation but | | | | wholesale seller on the market, which is |
| cannot go around indefinitely. In this | | | | initialised randomly. For the first model, |
| market, there is no global information for | | | | the regular wholesale seller is always the |
| the current day, but an estimation of the | | | | same along the simulation. |
| average price is officially displayed for | | | | |