Types and Functions of Wholesalers in Marketing

The functions of wholesalers in marketing are summarized below; they are involved in:

• Buying
• Selling
• Product development and standardization
• Storage
• Financing
• Information processing
• Transportation
• Risk bearing.

Types of Wholesalers

Wholesalers can be classified into two, namely-
(a) full-function wholesalers and
(b) limited function wholesalers.

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1. Full-function Wholesalers

Full-function wholesalers perform all the marketing functions mentioned above. They carry a variety of products; although, some of them do carry specialized goods, examples are:

General merchandise wholesalers

Limited line wholesalers

Specialty-line wholesalers.

2. Limited function Wholesalers

They are merchant wholesalers; they take title to the goods sold. They, however, do not perform all wholesale functions on the goods they handle. They also tend to concentrate on the handling of a few product lines. The major ones are:

Cash and carry wholesalers

Desk jobbers or drop shippers

Truck wholesalers

Mail-order wholesalers.

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