Trade and commerce

Trade is the buying and selling of items produced elsewhere, for profit. All the services in retail and wholesale trading are carried out for this purpose. The towns and cities where trade happens are trading centres.

Rural marketing centres serve nearby villages. They are quasi-urban (part town, part village) centres, with personal and professional services, mandis (wholesale markets for farm produce) and retail areas.

Periodic markets are held where there is no regular market: on fixed days, weekly or twice a week. The traders move from one market to the next on fixed dates, so the people of a whole area get the goods they need without a permanent shop in every village.

Urban marketing centres offer more specialised services, and both general and specialised goods.

Retail trading sells goods directly to consumers. Most of it happens in fixed shops and stores, from small corner shops to chain stores and department stores. Non-store retail includes street peddling, handcarts, trucks, door-to-door selling, mail order, telephone and internet shopping, and vending machines.

Wholesale trading is bulk business, through intermediary merchants and supply houses rather than directly to customers. Wholesalers often supply retailers with goods on credit (lending them capital), since a retailer cannot afford to pay for all its stock in advance.