Retailing and Wholesaling - Marketing assignment Essay

Retailing and Wholesaling - Marketing assignment - Essay Example A wholesaler is a crucial part of the distribution channel for many products particularly consumer goods and business supplies. Wholesaling intermediaries may be classified on the basis of ownership; some are owned by manufacturers, some are owned by retailers, and others are independently owned. In some instances, some wholesalers sell directly to the consumers especially when the consumer wants to buy a certain product or products in bulk. Wholesalers frequently resale both new and used goods to retailers and other wholesalers and may at times act as a broker in buying or selling products to such people. In most cases, wholesalers physically assemble products, break the bulk products acquired from manufacturers, sort and grade them, and finally repackage them in smaller quantities to be redistributed to retailers. They are involved in the transportation of goods from the place of manufacture to their warehouses from where they can be redistributed to retailers. Since the wholesaler is closer to the manufacturer, they are often responsible for giving out more information to their customers (retailers) about the products which they are selling them. Furthermore, if a product is found to be faulty, then the retailer will take that product back to the wholesaler either for it to be fixed or for it to be replaced. Since most retailers cannot afford to buy directly from the manufacturer in bulk, the wholesaler takes this responsibility and bears the risk of buying in bulk for redistribution in smaller quantities. Cant, M (3) says that a retailer may be seen as a business that focuses its marketing efforts on the final consumers with the intention of selling goods and services to them and this means that any business that sells a product or service to a final consumer, whether it is to a consumer in a shop, by mail, over the phone, door to door, or by means of a vending machine is