According to Homby (1995:227) commerce may be defined as trade; the buying and selling of goods. It is basically concerned with the transfer or movement of goods from the point of production to the point of consumption. Commerce therefore cover a host of activities that have grown around the actual exchange of goods such as collecting of the goods, their grading, warehousing, advertising, transportation, insurance, the financing of the transfer / exchange of the goods and trading.
Although sometimes, trading businesses are set part as a class but in a broad sense, they are also part of commerce. Trade may be classified as either home or foreign trade. Home trade can further be classified as either wholesaling or retailing while foreign trade can either be export or import.
Retailers are those who sell goods to the final consumers. They operate in the form of department stores like cash and carry, Kingsway, leventis, Eastern shop, Heritage supermarket and majority of traders in our markets and streets. They are mainly found in the area of:
(1) Food such as grocery, fast-food, restaurants and specialty shops.
(2) Appliances such as hardware and building materials.
(3) Clothing materials.
On the other hand, wholesalers buy and maintain stocks of merchandise for distribution to retailers, institutional, commercial or industrial users-but not in significant amounts to ultimate consumers.
They include jobbers, brokers, distributors, and manufactures representatives.
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