Merchandisers are businesses that help move through a channel of distribution-that is, route goods take in reaching the . Merchandisers may be involved in wholesaling retailing, or sometimes both.
A wholesaler a merchandiser who purchases goods and sells them to buyers, typically retailers, the purpose of resale. A retailer a merchandiser who sells goods to . A wholesaler often purchases products in quantities and then sells smaller quantities each product to retailers who are to either buy or stock large of the product. Wholesalers operate somewhat large, end-product manufacturing firms, benefiting from of scale. For example, a wholesaler purchase 5000 pairs of work gloves then sell 100 pairs to 50 retailers. Some large American discount chains, as Kmart Corporation and Wal-Mart Stores, . serve as their own merchandisers. These go directly to factories and other outlets, buy in large amounts, and warehouse and ship the goods to stores.
The division between retailing and is now being blurred by new that allow retailing to become an of scale. Telephone and computer communications retail salespeople to serve far greater of customers in a given span time than is possible in face-to-face . Computer interfaces, because they do not any physical communication between salespeople and , can allow close to an unlimited for sales interactions. For example, a transaction to purchase a pair of at a shoe store may take half-hour from browsing, to fitting, to transaction with a cashier. But a can purchase a pair of shoes a computer interface with a retailer a matter of seconds.