The village also processes, through its own resident craftsmen, some imported raw materials to meet some of its needs for tools and utensils. These craftsmen are however far from able to supply all the needs, each serving not a single village but an area. Their services are supplemented by visiting craftsmen, and by the purchase of ready-made goods direct from the towns. Similarly, the village provides itself with shops for retail goods, but also purchases much of its needs direct from urban shops.
The factors which determine whether a consumer favours local shops or local craftsmen, or prefers to make use of outsiders, are complex, and special to each case. So too are those which determine what kind of enterprise a villager attempts, and at which he is successful. The purely economic factors are fairly obvious. A pedlar or itinerant craftsman, for example, has smaller overheads than a shopkeeper or resident craftsman, and a larger potential market. But he must transport his stock or the tools of his trade, and, seeking custom among strangers, he can rely less on kinship and neighbourhood ties. Again, the village consumer can buy village products more cheaply in the village, village imports more cheaply in the town. Personal services and crafts involving labour are cheaper in the village. But besides these economic factors, the network of social relationships plays an extremely important part in determining who uses whose services, and people may well prefer the use of familiar or friendly or traditional ways of satisfying their needs, even if these cost more.
Village imports nowadays are considerable. Essentials are all imported in increasing quantity - building for example has greatly expanded - and in addition, fruit and vegetables, especially cabbage and beet, which can be stored and eaten