Retail trading
Also called: Retailing · Topic: Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary Activities · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 6 "Tertiary and Quaternary Activities"
Meaning
Retail trading means selling goods directly to consumers, the people who will use them. Most of it happens in fixed stores, which are shops set up only for selling. Some retail trade happens without a store: street peddling (selling while moving around), handcarts, trucks, door-to-door selling, mail-order, telephone orders, vending machines and the internet. Retailing is the last step that brings goods from makers and wholesalers to households.
Example
A kirana store in a Kolkata neighbourhood sells rice, oil and soap in small amounts to local families. A vegetable vendor with a handcart on the same street is also doing retail trade, but without a store.
Don't confuse with
- Wholesale trading: wholesalers sell in bulk, mostly to retailers. Retailers sell in small amounts to the final buyer.