The Retail Trade

Retailing is carried on by those businesses which sell goods to the final consumer. The obvious example is provided by the shops we all know and deal with. The retailing stage, therefore, is the one where goods reach the end of their journey from the manufacturer. At the close of the previous chapter we saw that some goods are sold to the consumer by the manufacturers or the wholesalers. This does not mean that in those instances there is no retailing. The manufacturer or wholesaler who sells direct to the consumer is acting as a retailer; he adds retailing to his other activities. Whatever channel of distribution is used, the retailing function always exists.