Manufacturers may use brokers and agents, who do not take title possession of the goods, in marketing their products. Brokers and agents typically perform only a few of the marketing flows, and their main function is to ease buying and selling—that is, to bring buyers and sellers together and negotiate between them. Brokers, most commonly found in the food, real estate, and insurance industries, may represent either a buyer or a seller and are paid by the party who hires them. Brokers often can represent several manufacturers of noncompeting products on a commission basis. They do not carry inventory or assume risk.

Unlike merchant wholesalers, agent middlemen do not take legal ownership of the goods they sell; nor do they generally take physical possession of them. The three principal types of agent middlemen are manufacturers’ agents, selling agents, and purchasing agents. Manufacturers’ agents, who represent two or more manufacturers’ complementary lines on a continuous basis, are usually compensated by commission. As a rule, they carry only part of a manufacturer’s output, perhaps in areas where the manufacturer cannot maintain full-time salespeople. Many manufacturers’ agents are businesses of only a few employees and are most commonly found in the furniture, electric, and apparel industries. Sales agents are given contractual authority to sell all of a manufacturer’s output and generally have considerable autonomy to set prices, terms, and conditions of sale. Sometimes they perform the duties of a manufacturer’s marketing department, although they work on a commission basis. Sales agents often provide market feedback and product information to the manufacturers and play an important role in product development. They are found in such product areas as chemicals, metals, and industrial machinery and equipment. Purchasing agents, who routinely have long-term relationships with buyers, typically receive, inspect, store, and ship goods to their buyers.

Wholesaling operations conducted by the sellers or buyers themselves rather than by independent wholesalers comprise the third major type of wholesaling. Manufacturers may engage in wholesaling through their sales branches and offices. This allows manufacturers to improve the inventory control, selling, and promotion flows. Numerous retailers also establish purchasing offices in major market centres such as Chicago and New York City that play a role similar to that of brokers and agents. The major difference is that they are part of the buyer’s own organization.

Retailing, the merchandising aspect of marketing, includes all activities required to sell directly to consumers for their personal, nonbusiness use. The firm that performs this consumer selling—whether it is a manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer—is engaged in retailing. Retailing can take many forms: goods or services may be sold in person, by mail, telephone, television, or the Internet, or even through vending machines. These products can be sold on the street, in a physical or online store, or in the consumer’s home. However, businesses that are classified as retailers secure the vast majority of their sales volume from store-based retailing, though the percentage of online sales was increasing in the early 21st century.

For centuries most merchandise was sold in marketplaces or by peddlers. In many countries, hawkers still sell their wares while traveling from one village to the next. Marketplaces are still the primary form of retail selling in these villages. This was also true in Europe until the Renaissance, when market stalls in certain localities became permanent and eventually grew into stores and business districts.

Retail chains are known to have existed in China several centuries before the Common Era and in some European cities in the 16th and 17th centuries. However, the birth of the modern chain store can be traced to 1859, with the inauguration of what became the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, Inc. (A&P), in New York City. During the 15th and 16th centuries the Fugger family of Germany was the first to carry out mercantile operations of a chain-store variety. In 1670 the Hudson’s Bay Company chartered its chain of outposts in Canada.

Department stores also were seen in Europe and Asia as early as the 17th century. The famous Bon Marché in Paris grew from a large specialty store into a full-fledged department store in the mid-1800s. By the middle of the 20th century, department stores existed in major U.S. cities, although small independent merchants still constitute the majority of retailers.

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Underground mall at the main railway station in Leipzig, Germany.

© DB/Press and Information Office of the Federal Government of Germany

Shopping malls, a late 20th-century development in retail practices, were created to provide for a consumer’s every need in a single, self-contained shopping area. Although they were first created for the convenience of suburban populations, they can now also be found on main city thoroughfares. A large branch of a well-known retail chain usually serves as a mall’s retail flagship, which is the primary attraction for customers. In fact, few malls can be financed and built without a flagship establishment already in place.

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Amusement park rides at the Mall of America, Bloomington, Minnesota.

© Jeff Coleman/Dreamstime.com

Other mall proprietors have used recreation and entertainment to attract customers. Movie theatres, holiday displays, and live musical performances are often found in shopping malls. In Asian countries, malls also have been known to house swimming pools, arcades, and amusement parks. Hong Kong’s City Plaza shopping mall includes one of the territory’s two ice rinks. Some malls, such as the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, U.S., may offer exhibitions, sideshows, and other diversions. However, in the early 21st century malls seemed to be falling from favour.

Although there is a great variety of retail enterprises, with new types constantly emerging, they can be classified into three main types: store retailers, nonstore retailers, and retail organizations.

Several different types of stores participate in retail merchandising. The following is a brief description of the most important store retailers.

A specialty store carries a deep assortment within a narrow line of goods. Furniture stores, florists, sporting-goods stores, and bookstores are all specialty stores. Stores such as The Athlete’s Foot (sports shoes only) and DXL Big + Tall (clothing for large and tall men) are considered superspecialty stores because they carry a very narrow product line.