Intermediary
Sales intermediaries (or also intermediaries , English merchant intermediaries ) are independent companies within the distribution policy of marketing that operate in the sales chain from manufacturer to end customer and acquire ownership of the goods .
General
It is necessary that sales intermediaries, by owning the goods, bear their own financial risk , for example in the form of the storage risk . This is what distinguishes them from sales assistants (e.g. a sales representative , a commission agent , a traveler in the field or a forwarding agent ). Sales intermediaries are legally - and as a rule also economically - independent sales organs.
trade
Economic subjects who acquire goods (i.e. become owners) and then resell the goods in order to satisfy the needs of customers, i.e. who act between manufacturers and goods users, are dealers , exporters or importers . Do they sell to (end) consumers , do they retail . If they sell to commercial customers, they do wholesale business . The term “middleman” should be avoided, as dealers in the sales chain always work between two market participants (and for the market partners on the procurement and sales side). Thus, retail companies not only have to work in a customer-oriented manner, but also in a sales partner-oriented manner. In addition, the companies are also in competition with one another in the market for sales intermediaries.
Demarcation
Outer packaging , service packaging or retail packaging of the goods is still part of the sales mediation function. In contrast, people and companies who purchase products in order to process them and then sell them do not count as sales intermediaries.