In quantitative terms, the importance of wholesaling is already evident from the fact that German wholesaling companies had turnover of around EUR 1,266 billion in 2019.

In terms of quality, the importance of wholesaling for the economy as a whole lies primarily in the fact that it carries out

• Generation of competition

• Organization of (sales and procurement) markets,

• Assumption of (sales and procurement) risks and

contributes to a reduction in transaction costs within the entire value chain .

E-commerce can help to reduce costs, for example through shorter and cost-saving ordering channels. By integrating the business functions along the value chain, more efficient business transactions are to be achieved.

The advantages for industrial companies as well as for trading companies can be:

• New ways to communicate with customers

• Development of new sales channels

• acquisition of new customers

• Increase in sales

• Efficiency increase

• automated business processes regardless of working hours

Logistics is an important competitive factor in both e-commerce and wholesale. Only those who manage price, quality and time as efficiently as possible can permanently overcome price wars.

TUL is a common abbreviation for the three core activities of transport, handling and storage in logistics :

• The first part of the TUL process is transportation. This includes all activities that have to do with the transport of the goods, i.e. transporting the goods from the sender to the recipient.

• The transshipment process, as the second main process, means changing the goods, i.e. loading and unloading.

• The final core activity is the storage of goods.

Identifying the right products is the foundation of any successful retail company. Even with bad marketing, a good product will usually sell better than a bad product with good marketing. Effective and thorough product research is therefore one of the most important steps in successfully building or expanding a trading company.

Good research consists of many processes such as:

• Product idea

• Product evaluation according to key figures

• Analysis of the competition

Investment is the conversion of capital into fixed and current assets. With the investment, there is thus a use of funds from the capital available through the financing. A requirement for the use of funds is the possession of capital. Then you are spoiled for choice as to which of the investment options offers secure, profitable and flexible conditions as possible. The decision becomes particularly challenging when the decision means deciding against other opportunities. Opportunity costs mean lost benefits and denotes the lost revenue that may arise because existing opportunities were not used.

Consumer protection no longer begins with the state. Thanks to the Internet, the consumer is networked with many other consumers and exchanges ideas with one another. This transparency makes it more difficult for companies with poor products and services to compete. The consumer is not just the person who evaluates the products and services, but ultimately the place of origin of those needs. As a company, we use every sensory perception to sense what the customer wants and how he wants it. Customer support is not just a complaint hotline, but actually a component of purchased products. However, customer is king does not necessarily mean a hierarchical gradient in favor of the consumer. Customer is King ultimately means offering customers both the product and the service they can expect.