Definition of Wholesaling & Retailing

Wholesaling

Wholesaling includes all activities involved in selling goods and services to those buying for resale or business use.
Wholesalers add value by performing channel functions: selling and promoting, buying and assortment building, bulk breaking, warehousing, transportation, financing, risk bearing, market information, and management services and advice.

Merchant Wholesaler: Independently owned, takes title to merchandise.
Broker: Does not take title to goods, brings buyers and sellers together (e.g., real estate brokers).
Agent: Represents buyers or sellers on a relatively permanent basis, performs few functions, does not take title to goods (e.g., insurance, textiles).
Manufacturer's Branches and Offices: Wholesaling by manufacturers themselves.

Retailing includes all activities involved in selling goods or services directly to final consumers for their personal, non-business use.
A retailer is a business whose sales come primarily from retailing.
Shopper Marketing: Focusing the marketing process on turning shoppers into buyers as they move toward the point of sale, in-store or mobile.
- 'First moment of truth': Critical 3-7 seconds when a customer considers a product on the shelf.
- 'Zero moment of truth' & Micro-moments: Brief seconds when consumers decide online to search or buy.
- Omni-channel marketing: Creating a seamless cross-channel buying experience integrating in-store, online, and mobile shopping.

Self-service: Customers perform their own locate-compare-select process (e.g., discount stores, supermarkets).

Limited service: Provides more sales assistance for products needing information (e.g., home décor stores).

Full-service: High-end specialty stores assisting customers in every shopping phase (e.g., fine jewelry stores, automobile dealers). Results in higher operating costs and prices.

Specialty store: Carries a narrow product line with a deep variety.
- Department store: Carries a wide variety of product lines, each operated as a separate department.
- Supermarket: Large, low-cost, low-margin, high-volume, self-service store with a wide variety of grocery and household products.
- Convenience store: Small store, near a residential area, open long hours, carrying a limited line of high-turnover convenience goods.
- Superstore: Much larger than a regular supermarket, offering a large assortment of routinely purchased food products, non-food items, and services.
- Service Retailer: Retailer whose product line is a service (e.g., hotels, airlines, banks).

Discount stores: Sell standard and own-branded merchandise at lower prices by accepting lower margins and selling at higher volume (e.g., D-Mart). Off-price retailer: Buys at less than regular wholesale prices and sells at low retail prices (e.g., factory outlets).

Corporate chains: Two or more outlets commonly owned and controlled.
- Franchise: Contractual association between a manufacturer, wholesaler, or service organization (franchisor) and independent business people (franchisees) who buy the right to own and operate one or more units in the franchise system.

[Image of Non-Store Direct Retailing]

Direct-Mail Marketing: Sending an offer, announcement, reminder, or other item directly to a person at a particular address.
Catalog Marketing: Direct marketing through print, video, or digital catalogs mailed to select customers, available in stores, or presented online.
Telemarketing: Using telephone marketing to sell directly to customers. Includes inbound (customers calling) and outbound (marketers calling) telemarketing.
Direct-Response Television Marketing: Using television advertising campaigns and infomercials, including through social media.
Vending Machines: Selling beverages and food items, and even gold bars through ATMs.