What is General Merchandise?
There is a variety of general merchandise globally, most of which we frequently visit daily. The meaning of general merchandise refers to a retailer that sells various products for general public use except for grocery and food products. These are called general merchandise stores. They mainly focused on non-perishable items. Although general merchandise retailers previously sold all goods except for groceries, that has changed since one can buy products such as milk and bread from Walgreens, Walmart, and Target. However, the main characteristics of general merchandise stores include:
They sell their products or services from a single point location.
They are capable of retailing a variety of products in their stores.
They have the required staff and equipment to handle large sales.
Most general merchandise stores constitute a point of sale establishment run by various personnel such as cashiers, store attendants, managers, and accountants. They also use various equipment such as POS systems and display shelves to handle huge sales.
In years past, in pre-Walmart days, many towns had a general store.
Classification of Merchandise in Retail
The term retail is not entirely new to most people. It refers to a business that focuses on selling services or products at a small scale to consumers for personal benefit. It is the opposite of wholesale, which purchases and sells products on a large scale. A retailer’s main purpose is to sell products to consumers from a single direct point. There are two main types of retailers:
General merchandise stores: sell available products mainly for general use, some with the addition of food products and groceries.
Non-store retail formats: involve retailers that sell their products indirectly without a physical store but utilize online platforms.
Retailers are considered the final links of a distribution chain. General merchandise retailers make up the largest percentage of retailers. Specialty stores and discount stores are the main types of general merchandise retailers. However, it is becoming more challenging to categorize retail stores since grocery stores now have pharmacies, drug stores carry groceries, and full-line discount stores contain pharmacies. The distinction differentiating between the categories of stores has become blurred since consumers prefer one-stop shopping stores.
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