Wholesaling simply means selling products to those persons or for use includes sale, of firms who buy them for resale to ultimate users of in their own businesses. Wholesaling or wholesale includes the sale, and all activities directly incident to the products or services to those who are buying for purposes of resale or for business use. If the products or services are sold to the consumers, it can not be called wholesaling. Wholesaling includes sales of any firm to any customer except an ultimate consumer who is buying for personal, non-business use.
The American Standard Industrial Classification Manual has defined wholesaling as including establishments or places of business primarily engaged in selling merchandise directly to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional, or professional users ; to other wholesalers; or acting as agents in buying merchandise for, or selling merchandise to, such persons or companies. Thus, individuals or business firms engage in wholesaling when primarily they sell to, or negotiate sales with, those who buy for purposes of resale or industrial use. The term wholesaling is used particularly to designate marketing goods in relatively large quantities to wholesale and retail middlemen and to business users, as distinguished from marketing to consumers. Wholesale is found in the marketing of practically all classes 0f goods, and all wholesale processes have much in common.
Who is a Wholesaler ?
The persons engaged in wholesale trade is known as wholesaler. A wholesaler is an individual or firm who sells products to be used primarily for resale. He is a merchant middlemen engaged in wholesaling activities. He usually takes title to the goods he handles.
Many products at the wholesale level move out of the channels for further processing and re-enter the channels of trade. Thus, we can say that a wholesaler is a trader who purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers and resells to retailers in small quantities. The true wholesaler is himself who is neither a manufacturer nor a retailer, but acts merely as a link between the manufacturer and retailers.