Question

Name and describe the three major groups of wholesalers. Provide an example of one that you have shopped at (or are familiar with if you do not have a personal experience) and explain what attracted you to their company (or what shoppers find appealing about the company).

Answer 1

The three major groups of wholesalers are

1)Retail wholesalers - Retail wholesalers are wholesalers who sell goods to other retailers and also directly to consumers. For example; reliance retail sells goods to small convenience stores and also directly to consumers with their stores in malls. Reliance Retail has lots of variety as they buy from lots of people.

2)Merchant Wholesalers- Merchant wholesalers buy from manufacturers and store the goods themselves and sell them to dealers and distributors or other retailers in the region. They buy and sell in large quantities. For example. a cooking oil merchant buying oil in large amounts from companies.

3) Brokers and agents- A broker and agents is a person who acts as a mediator between two parties. The job of a broker is to facilitate a deal between manufacturers and buyers in lieu of commission. For eg: a manufacturer of machinery might appoint an agent to find and deal with buyers such as companies. Fluke multimeter is one company which has agents who go to schools and colleges to sell products. Dell had agents for direct selling.