text: It’s common to see in certain urban areas, especially on the roads, sales people carrying merchandises about, selling to pedestrians and motorists. Sometimes they go by various local names, but commonly they are defined as hawkers and peddlers. Most times these sales people are confused as the same but in actual sense they are not. So what is the difference between these two groups and how do we identify them?
  According to Law Dictionary, a Hawker is someone who sells goods by carrying them down the street, addressing the public by utilizing placards, labels, signs, or garnering attention through other means. On the hand, a peddler is a retail dealer who moves items from one location to another with the aid of a cart or a vehicle and sometimes uses public addressing systems to attract potential customers.
  Both groups are retailers but the peddlers deal on a much larger scale than the hawkers. In many urban areas, operation of these two groups are considered illegal by the local authorities. The reason is because they cause obstruction of motor traffic and pedestrian traffic.
  In some urban areas, a permit is issued to them to operate within a given vicinity but such permits are commonly given only to Peddlers. Hawkers are often neglected or ignored because they carry their merchandises on themselves.
  Poverty and lack of amenities force sales people to come out on the streets to sell their merchandises, but such reasons are widely disregarded because it is a means for them to sell more effectively to the public. This will always remain a challenge to local authorities to curtailing or control and may last indefinitely in many urban areas around the world.