Retail Vs Wholesale

Retail Vs Wholesale

The retail industry is a big part of the global economy. In North America alone, sales of electronics, music, toys, accessories, apparel, computer equipment, software, and holiday gifts total billions of dollars annually. In North America alone, nearly half of the gross domestic product comes from the retail sector. No other sector of the economy grows as fast as the retail sector, which accounts for almost two-thirds of the U.S. gross domestic product.

Retail is the retail sale of goods and items to customers, rather than wholesale, which is retail sale to other business or institutional clients. A retailer buys goods in large numbers from manufacturers, direct or indirectly, and then resells in smaller quantities directly to customers for a profit. Retailers often have cashiers who carry inventory and take payments for goods bought by customers. Retail stores can be found in public malls, small strip malls, independent stores, groceries, home improvement centers, gas stations, supercenters, franchises, international markets, discount stores, and car lots. In some cases, a mall will have multiple floors for retailing.

Brick-and-mortar retailers (also called retail stores) are actual physical locations where products are bought and sold. They are usually found in shopping centers, existing buildings, and other spaces that provide a convenient place for consumers to shop. Major types of brick-and-mortar retailers include grocery stores, specialty stores, drugstores, video game stores, hotels, motels, bars, banks, franchises, and private memberships. Private memberships tend to be very concentrated in certain industries such as the banking and insurance fields.

A retail merchandiser is a retailer who sells goods to the consumer. A retail merchandiser distributes the merchandise he or she sells through a distribution system that includes liquidators, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, andretail outlets. Retailers work to earn profit by selling products to the end users who pay the dealer for the items they have purchased. Retailers also make their profits by passing along the cost of the merchandise to the customer.

A wholesale retailer buys from a manufacturer, a supplier, or a wholesaler at a discount and sells the items directly to the end user. The prices of wholesale purchases are often lower than those of retail purchases. Wholesalers and suppliers sell goods directly to the end user without having to build a retail store. A wholesaler passes the cost of the goods directly to the consumer without the need to build a retail store.

In a retail establishment, the primary entity is the retailer, who is also known as the owner. The other entities associated with a retailer are the wholesaler or supplier, the distribution system, and the customer. The customer is the person that buys the goods or services directly from the retailer. The system involves a chain of command from the retailer to the wholesaler or supplier and to the customer.