GWholesale and Retail Trade

to-business, such as industrial, commercial, institutional or professional users, or resale to other wholesalers, or acting as agents or brokers in the purchase or sale of merchandise, whether individuals or companies. The main forms of this activity include wholesalers or merchants who own the title to the goods they sell, such as wholesalers, jobbers, distributors, exporters, importers, joint purchasing groups, sales offices and sales branch offices (but not retail stores) maintained by units of industrial or mining companies, separate from the industrial or mining site for the purpose of marketing the product, provided they do not simply accept orders for direct delivery from the factory or mine. It also includes intermediary services, such as the activities of merchandise and commodity brokers, commission traders and agents as well as wholesalers, buyers and associations who primarily market agricultural products. If wholesalers do not own the title to the goods they trade, they should be classified in group 461. If wholesalers do own the title to the goods, even if acting on behalf of third parties, they should be classified in groups 462-469. Wholesalers often physically assemble, sort, and grade goods in bulk, unpack them, and repackage them into smaller quantities, such as pharmaceuticals; store, refrigerate, deliver, and assemble goods; conduct sales promotions for customers; and design labels. Retailing is the resale of both new and used goods to the general public for personal or household consumption or use, through stores, department stores, kiosks, mail-order companies, door-to-door salespeople, traveling salespeople, consumer cooperatives, auction houses, and others. Retailing also includes the sale of goods through showrooms (where displayed goods can be purchased), temporary points of sale (e.g., pop-up stores), and automated retail stores. Retailers generally retain title to the goods they sell, but some act as agents and sell on consignment or commission. Retailing through mail-order or the internet is classified by the type of goods sold. The distinction between wholesaling and retailing is not based on the quantity of goods sold, since wholesaling can be done individually, just as retailing can be done in bulk. However, the main difference between wholesale and retail trade is the type of customer. Wholesale trade usually serves business entities as customers, while retail trade usually serves individual consumers or households. If a trader sells to both business entities and households, and it is not practically possible to determine the dominant type of customer, it is advisable to classify the trader as a retailer. This category also includes: | transit trade, which is the activity of purchasing commodities, moving them from one customs territory to another or from one point to another within the same customs territory, and then selling them; transit trade refers to triangular transactions where transit traders carry out exports and imports between two or more different countries, without involving their own economic territory; transit traders have rights to the commodities during transportation, in contrast to intermediaries who only arrange transactions without having rights to the commodities | intermediary services specialized and not specialized in retail trade | trade in food and/or beverages through vending machines or automated points of sale.