the selling of merchandise and certain services to the consumer. It ordinarily involves the selling of individual units or small lots to large numbers of customers by a business set up for that specific purpose. In the broadest sense, retailing can be said to have begun the first time one item of value was bartered for another. In the more restricted sense of a specialized, full-time commercial activity, retailing began several thousand years ago when peddlers first began hawking their wares and when the first marketplaces were formed.

As with most other business activities, retailing is extremely competitive, and the mortality rate of retail establishments is relatively high. The basic competition is price competition, but this is moderated somewhat by such non-price forms of competition as convenience of location, selection and display of merchandise, attractiveness of the retail establishment itself, and intangible factors such as reputation in the community. Competition for sales has led to a blurring of traditional product lines in retailing, and many establishments offer a much wider variety of merchandise than their basic classification would indicate (e.g., drugstores may carry food, clothing, office supplies, hardware, etc.).

The diversity of retailing is evident in the many forms this commercial activity now takes, including vending machines, door-to-door sales, telephone sales, mail-order houses, specialty stores, department stores, supermarkets, discount houses, and consumer cooperatives. Whatever form it takes, however, the essence of good retailing remains the same: attractive, appropriate merchandise offered for sale in an attractive, eye-catching manner at a reasonable price at a convenient location. See also marketing.