Internal trade

• Internal trade - Buying and selling of goods within the boundaries of a nation.
• Internal trade can be classified into 2 parts:

  1. Wholesale trade and,
  2. Retail trade
• Wholesale trade - Purchase and sale of goods and services in large quantities for the purpose of resale or intermediate use.
• Retail trade - Purchase and sale of goods and services in small quantities, generally to the final customers.
• Internal trade aims at equitable distribution of goods within a nation speedily at reasonable cost.
• Explain some services of wholesalers to the manufacturers?

  • Facilitating large scale production
  • Bearing risk
  • Financial assistance
  • Expert advice
  • Helps in marketing function
• Explain services of wholesalers to the retailers?

  • Availability of goods
  • Marketing support
  • Specialised knowledge
  • Risk sharing
• What is retail trade?

  • A retailer is a person or business that is engaged in sale of goods and services to the final consumers
  • They buy goods in large quantities and sell in small quantities to the consumers
  • Retailing is that branch of business which is concerned with the sale of goods and services to the ultimate consumers for their personal or non - business use
• What are the services provided by the retailers to the wholesalers and manufacturers?

  • Help in distribution of goods
  • Personal selling
  • Help in promotional activities
  • Collecting market information
• What are the services provided by retailers to the customers?

  • Regular availability of products
  • After sales service
  • Wide selection
• Retailers can be classified on the basis of whether they have a fixed place or not into?

  1. Itinerant retailers and,
  2. Fixed shop retailers
• Itinerant retailers - Those traders who do not have a fixed place of business to operate from. They move with their merchandise from place to place or street to street in search of customers.
• Characteristics of itinerant retailers:

  1. They are small traders operating with limited resources
  2. Deals in daily use items such as toiletries, fruits, vegetables etc
  3. Provides greater customer service by making these products avaliable at the very doorstep of the consumer
  4. They don’t have a business establishment therefore they have to store their merchandise at their place or somewhere else
• What are the types of itinerant retailers?

  1. Peddler and hawkers: carry products on a small vehicle or their head and sells them
  2. Market traders: opens at different locations on fixed days.
  3. Street traders: sells goods in public places
  4. Cheap jacks: changes their business from one locality to another, depending on the potentiality of the area. Not as frequent as hawkers or market traders
• Fixed shop retailers - Those retailers who do not move from one place to another to sell their goods and they maintain a permanent establishment to sell them.
• Characteristics of fixed shop retailers:

  1. They normally have greater resources than itinerant retailers so they operate on a larger scale
  2. Engages in sale of different products including consumer durables and non durables
  3. Since they have more credibility, they provide extra customer service in the form of home delivery, repairs etc
• Types of fixed shop retailers:

  1. Small scale retailer and,
  2. Large scale retailers
• small scale retailers - General stores:

  • Commonly found in residential areas
  • Provides a variety of products for day-to-day needs of the customer
  • Remains open for long hours with convenient timings
  • Provides credit facilities to regular customers
• small scale retailers - Speciality shops:

  • Popular in urban areas
  • Specialise in the sale of a specific product line
  • Commonly found in central areas to attract a large number of customers
  • Provide a wide variety of products in their selection of goods
• small scale retailer - Street stall holders/vendors:

  • Commonly found in places with heavy traffic
  • Sell items such as hosiery, soft drinks, etc
  • Get their supplies from local suppliers as well as wholesalers
• large scale retailers - departmental stores

  A large establishment offering wide variety of products classified into various units or departments satisfying every customers needs under one roof.
• small scale retailers - second - hand goods shop:

  • Deals in second hand goods or goods which are used such as books, cars etc
  • They sell these items at a lower price except antique ones
  • Mainly found in busy streets in the form of a small shop with little structure
• large scale retailers - chain stores/ multiple shops:

  Chain stores or multiple shops are a network of retail stores that are owned and operated by manufacturers or intermediaries.