12 Best Highest Paying URL Shortener Sites to Make Money Online

1. Clk.sh

   Clk.sh is a newly launched trusted link shortener network, it is a sister site of shrinkearn.com. I like ClkSh because it accepts multiple views from same visitors. If any one searching for Top and best url shortener service then i recommend this url shortener to our users. Clk.sh accepts advertisers and publishers from all over the world. It offers an opportunity to all its publishers to earn money and advertisers will get their targeted audience for cheapest rate. While writing ClkSh was offering up to $8 per 1000 visits and its minimum cpm rate is $1.4. Like Shrinkearn, Shorte.st url shorteners Clk.sh also offers some best features to all its users, including Good customer support, multiple views counting, decent cpm rates, good referral rate, multiple tools, quick payments etc. ClkSh offers 30% referral commission to its publishers. It uses 6 payment methods to all its users.
   • Payout for 1000 Views: Upto $8
   • Minimum Withdrawal: $5
   • Referral Commission: 30%
   • Payment Methods: PayPal, Payza, Skrill etc.
   • Payment Time: Daily
   
   

2. LINK.TL

   LINK.TL is one of the best and highest URL shortener website.It pays up to $16 for every 1000 views.You just have to sign up for free.You can earn by shortening your long URL into short and you can paste that URL into your website, blogs or social media networking sites, like facebook, twitter, and google plus etc.
   One of the best thing about this site is its referral system.They offer 10% referral commission.You can withdraw your amount when it reaches $5.
   
   • Payout for 1000 views-$16
   • Minimum payout-$5
   • Referral commission-10%
   • Payout methods-Paypal, Payza, and Skrill
   • Payment time-daily basis
   
   

3. Wi.cr

   Wi.cr is also one of the 30 highest paying URL sites.You can earn through shortening links.When someone will click on your link.You will be paid.They offer $7 for 1000 views.Minimum payout is $5.
   You can earn through its referral program.When someone will open the account through your link you will get 10% commission.Payment option is PayPal.
   
   • Payout for 1000 views-$7
   • Minimum payout-$5
   • Referral commission-10%
   • Payout method-Paypal
   • Payout time-daily
   
   

4. CPMlink

   CPMlink is one of the most legit URL shortener sites.You can sign up for free.It works like other shortener sites.You just have to shorten your link and paste that link into the internet.When someone will click on your link.
   You will get some amount of that click.It pays around $5 for every 1000 views.They offer 10% commission as the referral program.You can withdraw your amount when it reaches $5.The payment is then sent to your PayPal, Payza or Skrill account daily after requesting it.
   
   • The payout for 1000 views-$5
   • Minimum payout-$5
   • Referral commission-10%
   • Payment methods-Paypal, Payza, and Skrill
   • Payment time-daily
   
   

5. Linkrex.net

   Linkrex.net is one of the new URL shortener sites.You can trust it.It is paying and is a legit site.It offers high CPM rate.You can earn money by sing up to linkrex and shorten your URL link and paste it anywhere.You can paste it in your website or blog.You can paste it into social media networking sites like facebook, twitter or google plus etc.
   You will be paid whenever anyone will click on that shorten a link.You can earn more than $15 for 1000 views.You can withdraw your amount when it reaches $5.Another way of earning from this site is to refer other people.You can earn 25% as a referral commission.
   
   • The payout for 1000 views-$14
   • Minimum payout-$5
   • Referral commission-25%
   • Payment Options-Paypal,Bitcoin,Skrill and Paytm,etc
   • Payment time-daily
   
   

6. Adf.ly

   Adf.ly is the oldest and one of the most trusted URL Shortener Service for making money by shrinking your links. Adf.ly provides you an opportunity to earn up to $5 per 1000 views. However, the earnings depend upon the demographics of users who go on to click the shortened link by Adf.ly.
   It offers a very comprehensive reporting system for tracking the performance of your each shortened URL. The minimum payout is kept low, and it is $5. It pays on 10th of every month. You can receive your earnings via PayPal, Payza, or AlertPay. Adf.ly also runs a referral program wherein you can earn a flat 20% commission for each referral for a lifetime.
   

7. Cut-win

   Cut-win is a new URL shortener website.It is paying at the time and you can trust it.You just have to sign up for an account and then you can shorten your URL and put that URL anywhere.You can paste it into your site, blog or even social media networking sites.It pays high CPM rate.
   You can earn $10 for 1000 views.You can earn 22% commission through the referral system.The most important thing is that you can withdraw your amount when it reaches $1.
   
   • The payout for 1000 views-$10
   • Minimum payout-$1
   • Referral commission-22%
   • Payment methods-PayPal, Payza, Bitcoin, Skrill, Western Union and Moneygram etc.
   • Payment time-daily
   
   

8. Ouo.io

   Ouo.io is one of the fastest growing URL Shortener Service. Its pretty domain name is helpful in generating more clicks than other URL Shortener Services, and so you get a good opportunity for earning more money out of your shortened link. Ouo.io comes with several advanced features as well as customization options.
   With Ouo.io you can earn up to $8 per 1000 views. It also counts multiple views from same IP or person. With Ouo.io is becomes easy to earn money using its URL Shortener Service. The minimum payout is $5. Your earnings are automatically credited to your PayPal or Payoneer account on 1st or 15th of the month.
   
   • Payout for every 1000 views-$5
   • Minimum payout-$5
   • Referral commission-20%
   • Payout time-1st and 15th date of the month
   • Payout options-PayPal and Payza
   
   

9. Short.pe

   Short.pe is one of the most trusted sites from our top 30 highest paying URL shorteners.It pays on time.intrusting thing is that same visitor can click on your shorten link multiple times.You can earn by sign up and shorten your long URL.You just have to paste that URL to somewhere.
   You can paste it into your website, blog, or social media networking sites.They offer $5 for every 1000 views.You can also earn 20% referral commission from this site.Their minimum payout amount is only $1.You can withdraw from Paypal, Payza, and Payoneer.
   
   • The payout for 1000 views-$5
   • Minimum payout-$1
   • Referral commission-20% for lifetime
   • Payment methods-Paypal, Payza, and Payoneer
   • Payment time-on daily basis
   
   

10. Linkbucks

    Linkbucks is another best and one of the most popular sites for shortening URLs and earning money. It boasts of high Google Page Rank as well as very high Alexa rankings. Linkbucks is paying $0.5 to $7 per 1000 views, and it depends on country to country.
    The minimum payout is $10, and payment method is PayPal. It also provides the opportunity of referral earnings wherein you can earn 20% commission for a lifetime. Linkbucks runs advertising programs as well.
    
    • The payout for 1000 views-$3-9
    • Minimum payout-$10
    • Referral commission-20%
    • Payment options-PayPal,Payza,and Payoneer
    • Payment-on the daily basis
    
    

11. Short.am

    Short.am provides a big opportunity for earning money by shortening links. It is a rapidly growing URL Shortening Service. You simply need to sign up and start shrinking links. You can share the shortened links across the web, on your webpage, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Short.am provides detailed statistics and easy-to-use API.
    It even provides add-ons and plugins so that you can monetize your WordPress site. The minimum payout is $5 before you will be paid. It pays users via PayPal or Payoneer. It has the best market payout rates, offering unparalleled revenue. Short.am also run a referral program wherein you can earn 20% extra commission for life.
    

12. BIT-URL

    It is a new URL shortener website.Its CPM rate is good.You can sign up for free and shorten your URL and that shortener URL can be paste on your websites, blogs or social media networking sites.bit-url.com pays $8.10 for 1000 views.
    You can withdraw your amount when it reaches $3.bit-url.com offers 20% commission for your referral link.Payment methods are PayPal, Payza, Payeer, and Flexy etc.
    
    • The payout for 1000 views-$8.10
    • Minimum payout-$3
    • Referral commission-20%
    • Payment methods- Paypal, Payza, and Payeer
    • Payment time-daily
    
    

30 Thrilling Instagram Shots That Conquered National Geographic

Nature is always spectacular but in the photos selected by National Geographic, we see nature from another level. Launching the #natgeo100contest hashtag, the famous magazine with 100 million subscribers collected Instagram's most beautiful photos from its followers around the world.

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Review - CAVEBLAZERS - Spelunky With Better Combat?

  Caveblazers look like your average platformer-roguelite, which doesn't really seem different from every other roguelite released in the last 10 20 years. 
Ripping shamelessly its entire content from its more successful peers, it tries to be different by adding some mildly advanced fighting mechanics.

Unfortunately, you're going to find out very early that it's extremely badly executed.

©Good Morning Gamers. All rights reserved.
Support us on Patreon!

Priest As Sacrifice. Inspired By I Am Setsuna/ FFX.

The world is soaked in sin, and sin is adding to sin, evil upon evil, every day. The peoples of our world are seduced by the evil one, and he gains more slaves every day. Gripped in the slavery to the evil one many souls are falling into hell like snowflakes in winter, like the leaves in autumn.

See the people living lives of despair! Under fear of the unknown, fear from the meaninglessness of their existence, and fear of death, the great enemy of humanity.

Is there an escape from this misery? Is there a pathway from the great plague of our time?

It is said that many ages ago a perfect sacrifice was offered, a sacrifice to do away with sin, an oblation to release souls from the grip of the evil one, an immaculate offering that compensated for all the outrages of our peoples.

This holy sacrifice, this wondrous oblation has been taken into eternity, into another dimension, into a perfect domain, here is the answer to humanity's woes! Here is our hope! Here is the desire of the nations!

The Almighty wishes this perfect sacrifice to intersect with time, to touch each age of the world, to encounter the sins and peoples and needs of every day of history.

He calls forth men, chosen men, to enter the domain of the perfect sacrifice, He sets men apart to pass through the veil into the fiery realm of the eternal perfect sacrifice,

These men are to encounter the Holy of Holies and to be the conduit for allowing that perfect Holiness to intersect with our daily realities- to dissipate sin, to snatch souls from the evil one, and to offer a glimpse of hope to the broken world.

O noble priest! O Catholic priest! You are that man set apart, that man summoned from a country village, from a city tower block, from an anonymous suburb- you are that man who perpetuates the sacred incarnation of the sacrifice, who allows us mean folk to meet the all holy God, and brings the absolution of the Most High to the dead and the damaged.

O God, how you whisper into ears of that young man, how you speak in the silences of his prayer, how you lure him with the scent of your beauty. You set before him a holy pilgrimage, a mountain of trials, a way of self denial, in order for him to become a man worthy of victimhood, worthy of entering the Holy Place and encountering the All Holy.

Know this young man, at the end of your journey lies death. You will die when you pass through that sacred veil, your pathway ends in complete oblation, the loss of all the things that you would desire in this life.

And yet your oblation is needed if the world is to find peace! To have any hope of salvation! Any respite from the evils of sin and the damnation which poison the great multitude of our race.

Hear His voice and follow Him.

Bring the calm that the nations yearn for,

allow your life to become His Life, to be the perpetuation of His Sacrifice, the perfect eternal sacrifice,

become Christ, bring Christ.

The Amazing Spiderman Apk + Data Highly Compressed In 456MB!

The Amazing Spiderman is one of the best action open world game I've ever played. So, I decided to upload it. Here is The Amazing Spiderman Compressed in 456MB For Android Apk + Data Free Download! (Latest version)

Compression Info:

Original Size: 1.4GB
Compressed Size: 456MB

SCREENSHOTS FOR YOU:

NOTE: All files here are For Education Purposes only. File Links shared here are total responsibility of their hosted site.

Amazing Spiderman DOWNLOAD LINK (Google Drive Link)

HOW TO INSTALL:

1. Download the file from the link above.
2. Extract the file using zArchiver

• DOWNLOAD zArchiver (if you don't have)

3. Install Apk (do not open after installing)
4. Copy & paste "gameloft" File to your SD Card or Internal Memory (NOT IN ANDROID OBB FOLDER)

Google Mobile Developer Day At Game Developers Conference 2019

Posted by Kacey Fahey, Developer Marketing, Google Play & Android

We're excited to host the Google Mobile Developer Day at Game Developers Conference 2019. We are taking this opportunity to share best practices and our plans to help your games businesses, which are fuelling incredible growth in the global mobile games market. According to Newzoo, mobile games revenue is projected to account for nearly 60% of global games revenue by 2021. The drivers of this growth come in many forms, including more developers building great games, new game styles blurring the lines of traditional genres, and the explosion of gaming in emerging markets - most notably in India.

Image Source: GamesIndustry.biz

To support your growth, Google is focused on improving the game development experience on Android. We are investing in tools to give you better insights into what is happening on devices, as well as in people and teams to address your feedback about the development process, graphics, multiplayer experiences, and more.

We have some great updates and new tools to improve game discovery and monetization on Google Play, which we also shared today during our Mobile Developer Day:

Pre-registration now in general availability

Starting today, we are launching pre-registration for general availability. Set up a pre-registration campaign in the Google Play Console and start marketing your games to build awareness before launch. Users who pre-register receive a notification at launch, which helps increase day one installs.

Google Play Instant gaining adoption

We have seen strong adoption of Google Play Instant with 3x growth in the number of instant games and 5x growth in the number of instant sessions over the last six months. Instant experiences allow players to tap the 'Try Now' button on your store listing page and go straight to a demo experience in a matter of seconds, without installing. Now, they're even easier to build with Cocos and Unity plug-ins and an expanded implementation partner program. Discover the latest updates on Google Play Instant.

Android App Bundles momentum and new large download size threshold

Over 60K apps and games on Google Play are now using the Android App Bundle publishing format, which is supported in Android Studio, Unity, and Cocos Creator. The app bundle uses Google Play's Dynamic Delivery to deliver a smaller, optimized APK containing only the resources needed for a specific device.

To better support high quality game experiences and reflect improved devices, we've also increased the size limit for APKs generated from app bundles to 150MB and raised the threshold for large download user warnings on the Google Play Store to 150MB, from 100MB.

Improved tools in the Google Play Console

Store listing experiments let you A/B test changes to your store listing on actual Play Store visitors. We recently rolled out improvements, introducing two new metrics - first time installers and D1 retained users - to more accurately reflect the performance of your store listings. These two new metrics are now reported with hourly intervals and are available via email notifications, letting you see results faster and track performance better.

Country targeted store listings allow you to tailor your app's store listing to appeal to users in different countries. You can customize the app title, icon, descriptions and graphic assets, allowing you to better appeal to users in specific target markets. For example, you can now tailor your store listing with different versions of the English language for users in India versus the United States.

Rewarded ads give players the choice to watch an advertisement in exchange for in-app items. With rewarded ads in Google Play, you can now create and manage rewarded ads through the Google Play Console. No additional SDK integrations are required.

We hope you try some of these new tools and keep sharing ideas so we can make Android and Google Play a better place to grow your business. We are committed to continue improving the platform and building tools that better serve the gaming community.

Get started today by visiting two new resources, a hub for developers interested in creating games on Android and games.withgoogle.com, for developers looking to connect and scale their business across Google. Many of these updates and resources come from community suggestions, so sign up for our monthly newsletter to stay informed.

Watch the session recordings and product updates shared during Google Mobile Developer Day.

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Wet Market

Abstract: Wet markets (濕貨市場) in virtual and real Hong Kong, which are often referred to as "street markets" (街市), are not just unique and eye-catching, but also reflecting the eating preference, pragmatism and ethnic origins of the people living in the city. This article will go through these distinctive features one by one.

In a few virtual Hong Kong in video games, you may come cross wet markets. The markets are where Hong Kong people buy fresh meat and produce, named "wet" because they require frequent washing to maintain good hygiene. These virtual markets altogether share a few unique and eye-catching characteristics just like the real counterparts. This is not a coincidence, but a result of the local people who buy or sell food there. In this article, we will go through these distinctive characteristics one by one, and more importantly the historical and cultural origins behind them. 

Characteristics of Hong Kong wet markets

Traditionally located on streets

The wet markets of Hong Kong dated back to 1842 when British colonized Hong Kong and set up Victoria City in the current Central district. Population then grew inside and around the city, making daily markets profitable. Since then we started seeing wet markets on the streets of residential areas: Individuals opened stores on the street level of the residential buildings, set up stalls on the sides of streets, or just laid down goods on the ground and start selling (爾東, 許嘉汶, & 陳國豪, 2014).

A variety of daily necessities are for sales, but the most significant of them all are the meat and produce, freshly slaughtered and harvested every day. They are exactly what the majority Chinese customers wanted. In Chinese culture, freshness is the key for best possible texture and taste.

Being convenience and selling products that customers wanted, these outdoor "street markets" (街市) was, for a time, how new wet markets got started and why they became popular.

Famous wet markets of this kind include:

• Graham Street (嘉咸街) of Central - one of the first wet markets established since Britain established the colony of Hong Kong in 1842
• Chun Yeung Street (春秧街) in North Point - a wet market featuring Fujian food (due to immigrants from Fujian province of China after World War II) and double-decker trams running through it (more details)
• Temple Street (廟街) in Yau Ma Tei - much more well-known for its night market with cooked food stalls, low-cost merchandises and fortune-telling (more details)
• Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market (油麻地果欄) in Yau Ma Tei - a wholesale fruit market with several blocks of one or two story brick-and-stone historic buildings

They are the basis of the wet markets in the following games:

• Art of Fighting 2 (SNK. Arcade et. al: 1994)
• Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Capcom. Arcade et. al: 1996)
• Real Bout Fatal Fury Special (SNK. Arcade et. al.: 1997)
• Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact (Capcom. Arcade et. al.: 1997)
• Shenmue II (Sega. Dreamcast: 2000, Xbox: 2001)
• Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon (Universal Interactive. Xbox: 2002)
• Stranglehold (Midway Games/Success. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2007)
• Sleeping Dogs (Square Enix. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012) 
• Resident Evil 6 (Capcom. Microsoft Windows/PlayStation 3/Xbox 360: 2012).

The street market in Graham Street. Source: Wikipedia

Green Market Quarter for meat and produce in Shenmue II

A tram moving inside the market in Chun Yeung Street. Source: Wikipedia

The Chinatown stage of Art of Fighting 2 featuring a tram running through a street market 

A stage of Real Bout Fatal Fury Special featuring a tram running through a street market

The Hong Kong stage of Street Fighter III: 2nd impact featuring a tram running through a street market

The street market in Temple Street. Credit: Rachel Moore

North Point Night Market in Sleeping Dogs

A butcher store in Temple Street. Credit: Robert S. Donovan

A fruit stall in Temple Street. Credit: Marcelo Druck

Temple Street in Street Fighter Alpha 2. From left to right, there are a fortune-telling stall, a butcher shop (back) and produce stall (front), and several clothing stalls.

Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market. Credit: Chong Fat

The market based on Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market in Resident Evil 6

Inside the real Yau Ma Tei Fruit Market. Credit: Chong Fat

Inside the street market in Resident Evil 6

The street market in Resident Evil 6

While the number and popularity of these street markets were growing, the government was also constructing standalone wet market halls (and later municipal services buildings which offer many other public services such as libraries and sports centers). The first few include Central Market (中環街市) and Wan Chai Market (灣仔街市) constructed in 1858 (爾東, 許嘉汶, & 陳國豪, 2014). One can find a market based on Wan Chai Market in Deus Ex (Eidos Interactive. Microsoft Windows/Mac OS/PlayStation 2: 2000).

The 2nd generation of Central Market hall, built in 1895. Source: Wikipedia

The current generation of Central Market hall, built in 1939. Now it is largely abandoned. Source: Wikipedia

The old Wan Chai Market hall in 2006. Source: Wikipedia

Wan Chai Market in Deus Ex

Another indoor market of this kind can be found in Resident Evil 6.

Inside the wet market hall of in Chris's campaign Chapter 1 of Resident Evil 6

The indoor market building in Resident Evil 6 (starting from 26:53)

For over a century, these indoor wet markets weren't that welcomed by many store owners. This was understandable as the separately-located market halls were never as convenient as the streets that citizens walked by every day, which means less customer traffic and hence poorer sales. It was until 1960s and 1970s when citizens finally got used to shop in these halls and store owners changed their mind (爾東, 許嘉汶, & 陳國豪, 2014).

Note that even though these wet markets aren't located along streets, many Hong Kong people and even the government are still referring them as "street markets" (街市) in Chinese, probably because the stores in these markets preserve a few features of the traditional street market stores.

Seas of red lampshades

Remember, fresh ingredients are why customers visit the wet markets. Shop owners are thus motivated to do whatever they can to highlight the freshness of their stocks. One impressive practice is perhaps the sea of red lampshades often found in nearly all wet markets. Used with high-power light bulbs, the lampshades create bright red light which shines on produce, fish and meat and makes them look fresher. The lampshades are so widely adopted that some designers even use them as an icon of the wet markets.  

A red lampshade. Credit: Star Industrial Co. 

Red lampshades in a real produce store

Red lampshades in a real seafood store

Red lampshades in a produce store of Shenmue II

Red lampshades in a seafood store of Shenmue II

Red lampshades in a butcher shop of Shenmue II

Red lampshades in a produce store of Sleeping Dogs

Red lampshades in a produce store of Resident Evil 6

Red lampshades in a seafood store of Resident Evil 6

Red lampshades in a butcher store of Resident Evil 6

Facebook profile picture of Sui Sai Wan Market

The art exhibition "The Street Market Symphony" (燈燈燈櫈 – 香港地道街市之旅) in 2012. See here for more images. The exhibition uses the red lampshade as the icon of the wet markets in Hong Kong.

Promotional video of the art exhibition "The Street Market Symphony"

Live seafood and chicken

To keep stocks as fresh as possible, some shop owners even keep live seafood and chicken in their stores and slaughter them as late as when customers make the purchase. Shopping a wet market is then like visiting a zoo and an aquarium combined!

Live chickens kept in cages in a real poultry shop. Credit: Rob Young

Live chickens left in cages, in the evacuated street market of Resident Evil 6

Live seafood in a real seafood store. Credit: Rob Chan

Live seafood in a seafood store of Shenmue II

Live seafood in a seafood store of Resident Evil 6

Stocks hung throughout the stores

For other kinds of stocks, shop owners often hang them up. This is a smart way to utilize every piece of limited store space to show off the variety and quality of goods.

Cooked meat hung in a real store in Hong Kong. Credit: Canadian Pacific 

Cooked meat hung in a store of Shenmue II

Chicken body hung in a store of the street market in Bruce Lee: Quest of the Dragon

Raw and cooked pigs hung in a store in Stranglehold

Cooked meat hung in a store of Sleeping Dogs

Raw pork hung in real butcher shop

Raw pork hung in a butcher shop of Sleeping Dogs 

Raw pork hung in a butcher shop of Resident Evil 6

Some shop owners even hang plastic bags and petty cash baskets/buckets over the air for their convenience.

Plastic bags and a bucket hung in a real seafood street market store

A pink petty cash bucket hung in a real produce store. Credit: Yu Hin Wong

A basket bung in a produce store of Shenmue II

Baskets hung in a produce store of Sleeping Dogs

A bucket hung in a butcher store of Resident Evil 6

Reuse of packaging materials

Packaging cardboard and polystyrene boards are often reused by shop owners to organize stocks and mark prices. This practice saves shop owners money and resource from making fancy ones. More importantly, the packaging materials are so abundant that the shop owners can pick up another one for replacement. Indeed, prices in the wet markets could fluctuate not only every day but also every hour of the day. In late evenings, shop owners often offer discounts in hope of selling all their stocks before the market closes for the day. You may even try to bargain for further cut-down.

Reuse of packaging materials (baskets, boxes) in a street market stall

Reuse of packaging materials (baskets, boxes) in a grocery store of Shenmue II

Reuse of packaging materials (polystyrene boxes) in a real produce store. Credit: inmediahk

The reuse of polystyrene boards to mark prices of seafood in a real seafood store

The reuse of polystyrene boards to mark prices of seafood in Resident Evil 6

Chinese traditions

The ethnic Chinese origin of the majority store owners affects how the stores look like in general. First, their store signs are in Chinese. Many of them are even in calligraphic style. Second, the fonts on the signs are usually in red which symbolizes fortune in traditional Chinese culture. What is more, inside the stores one may find posters with blessings written in Chinese. Sometimes, you may even see posters or altars of Chinese gods.

A wet market store sign in Sleeping Dogs 

A wet market store sign of Resident Evil 6

The use of regular computer fonts (the first two characters from the left) and Chinese calligraphic fonts (the remaining five characters) in a real butcher shop

A label with Chinese blessing on the top of a door in a store of Shenmue II

A poster of Chinese God for fortune in a store in Resident Evil 6

Label with Chinese blessing in a real wet market store of Hong Kong

Challenges

Recently, wet markets in Hong Kong are facing fierce competition from supermarkets. Instead of a collection of small, independent shop owners, each supermarket is operated by a single management. It is thus easier for supermarkets to maintain overall cleanliness, a criterion that more and more shoppers care as living standard improves. In 2014, the share of the wet market in fresh food dropped to 40% (香港消費者委員會, 2014, January 14).

To survive, wet markets are innovating.

A notable pioneer is Tai Yuen Market (大元街市) in Tai Po. It got renewed in 2010. Besides renovations on infrastructures such as floor, wall, illumination, drainage and ventilation, there are new gimmicks including on-site cooking classes using the fresh produce bought in the market, the use of multi-purpose stored value smart cards for payment, the establishment of a roof garden using the leftover food as organic fertilizer for growing produces which are later sold in the market, and the hiring of service ambassadors to provide customers with daily shopping tips (LINK, 2012 May).

Four major innovations in the renewed Tai Yuen Market in 2012. Source: LINK 

Later in 2015, the refreshed Siu Sai Wan Market (小西灣街市) introduced two other technological innovations: a vending machine for fruits, and the i-Chicken system which allows customers to examine and order live chicken located at another market remotely.

Demonstration of various technologies used in the refreshed Siu Sai Wan Market

These moves are driven by a profit-making private management firm LINK (領展) which have taken over the markets from the government. Mainly aiming for profit, the new management change has much more motivation to innovate.

The changes are reported to have brought customers back to the wet markets (東方日報, 2017, January 6). However, at the same time, management are alleged to have intervened how individual shops do their own business. While some traditional wet market features such as the red lampshades are not affected and even specially preserved, some others such as the calligraphic store signs are not with the same luck (周詠雯, 香港01, 2017, January 03). There are also complaints on the soaring rent: the average rent increased from 54.3 HKD per feet in 2007 to 70.0 HKD/feet in 2013 (爾東, 許嘉汶, & 陳國豪, 2014). Individuals which cannot afford the high rent have to leave. With fewer competitions from individuals, the provision of daily necessities and services are at risk of being monopolized by chain stores opened by large corporations. Those large corporations and lucky few surviving small individuals respond to the high rent by raising the price of their goods, which harms the customers.

The public has already noticed the problem and urged the government to do something. One proposal is to build new government-managed wet markets which can provide individuals with low-rent store locations.

Final Remarks

The local customers and shop owners of the wet markets have shaped the distinctive wet market features: With many Chinese customers who loves fresh meat and produces, the shop owners introduce a sea of lampshades, mini-aquariums and mini-zoos to the markets. To make best possible use of the limited store space and resource, the shop owners hang stocks and accessories here and there, and reuse wholesale packaging in their stores. The font and choice of color on the store signs reflect the ethnic root of the shop owners.

However, what we see today are subjected to change. With customers' increasing awareness on hygiene, traditional wet markets are losing their market share over supermarkets which are generally cleaner. In response, some wet markets have their management transferred to some profit-making corporation which are much more motivated to upgrade infrastructures and introduce new marketing gimmicks. While reported to have boosted customer traffic, the management switch appears to reduce the autonomy of individual small store owners. Sometimes it even becomes a matter of whether these owners could survive under soaring rent. The government is pressed to act to protect the interest of this portion of citizens.

Anyway, hope that next time when you visit a wet market, either real or virtual, you will have another level of appreciation.

References

東方日報. (2017, January 6). 青衣長發街市改名重開　檔口縮水租金加40%. Retrieved March 26, 2017, from http://hk.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/news/20170106/bkn-20170106151433985-0106_00822_001.html

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