Merchants sell goods they didn’t produce, providing a link between producers and consumers. They’ve existed for thousands of years, facilitating the exchange of goods and credits. Merchants were responsible for creating a middle class and gained power, leading to the collapse of feudalism and the birth of democracy. In modern times, merchants have expanded into chains and franchises, and many do business online. The role of the merchant in modern chain stores is nebulous.
Merchants are people who make a living by selling goods they didn’t produce themselves. Merchants can be distinguished from farmers, artisans and others who create items they could sell themselves but are more likely to license to a merchant, who has the facilities and experience to deal with consumers. Merchants thus provide a vital link between those who grow, create, or assemble goods and the buying public. Historically, the merchant class was responsible for creating a middle class among the peasants and nobility. In modern times, merchants often own establishments ranging in size from small shops to multinational chains, including commercial websites.
For thousands of years, people were limited to food, clothing, and practical or recreational items that they could create for themselves or trade with nearby neighbors. At the dawn of recorded history, primitive human societies created the means of exchanging items for credits that represented the value of items rather than bartering item for item. This was the advent of money as well as the first written records and writing itself, which was used to track these claims. Early traders focused on facilitating this exchange of goods and credits rather than producing the goods themselves.
Often these early traders were traders who traveled great distances to bring exotic goods to areas that otherwise could not afford to import them. Another type of merchant was the shopkeeper, who offered a large selection of general or specialty products in one central location, saving customers the trouble of searching for them. In medieval Europe, increased trade and population allowed the merchant class to flourish, creating a middle class of rich and poor. Over the centuries, this middle class gained power, leading to the collapse of the feudal system and the birth of the first democratic governments.
In modern times, the merchant who runs a single shop has been largely supplanted by new methods of doing business. Many successful merchant or merchant style stores have expanded into chains with multiple locations in a particular region or country, or even internationally. Some merchants operate franchises, which are offshoots of these large chain stores but are independently managed. In the 21st century, the success of Internet commerce has allowed merchants large and small to do business online, sometimes without a brick-and-mortar store.
In modern chain stores, the role of the merchant is nebulous. These stores are owned by executives and shareholders who are rarely found on the premises, instead they hire local managers who in turn hire staff members to manage the day-to-day operations of the store. In a general sense, all of these people are merchants, but they bear little resemblance to the classical merchant of ancient times.
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