A lot of that also comes down to labor costs. It's easy to forget how much of a chain there is in any product. That fruit you buy at the supermarket has people plant it, grow it, harvest it, clean it, 'package'/label it, transport it, stock it, sell it, bag it. And at each step along the line there are often numerous business to business, administrative, and other costs that need to be covered. And of course there tends to be a thousand different government rules, regulations, fees, and other costs involved along the line.
Cheap labor also makes it much easier for independent businesses to open, which helps increase competition and keep prices low. In the US the fees you have to pay just to try to start a business would be more than enough to pay for months for labor. In the US you'll rarely find a middle class neighbor owning a business with a retail front, whereas in many parts of Asia it's quite common: low costs, though low profit.
Something I love, and hate, about Asia in general is you can walk into a store and suddenly you'll have half a dozen employees circling about trying to help. Since labor costs don't kill companies, they tend to be much less concerned about running on the bare minimum skeleton crew to keep things chugging along, and I think that's good for everybody. On the other hand that also has the dark side of the out of sight conditions that plague the bottom tier of employees. There's a give and take to all decisions.
Cheap labor also makes it much easier for independent businesses to open, which helps increase competition and keep prices low. In the US the fees you have to pay just to try to start a business would be more than enough to pay for months for labor. In the US you'll rarely find a middle class neighbor owning a business with a retail front, whereas in many parts of Asia it's quite common: low costs, though low profit.
Something I love, and hate, about Asia in general is you can walk into a store and suddenly you'll have half a dozen employees circling about trying to help. Since labor costs don't kill companies, they tend to be much less concerned about running on the bare minimum skeleton crew to keep things chugging along, and I think that's good for everybody. On the other hand that also has the dark side of the out of sight conditions that plague the bottom tier of employees. There's a give and take to all decisions.