What does retailing mean?
Retailing is the activity of selling goods or services to individual consumers, usually for personal or household use. It includes everything from traditional shops and department stores to online marketplaces and direct-to-consumer businesses. The word is especially common in discussions of commerce, economics, employment, and changes in consumer behaviour. A business can be described as a retailer or as being engaged in retailing, while the broader activity or industry is called the retail trade. Retailing is distinguished from wholesaling because it is oriented toward final customers rather than businesses that buy goods in bulk for resale. The term also carries no necessary positive or negative evaluation: it simply identifies a form of commercial activity. In modern usage, online retailing and the decline of some traditional shops have made the word especially useful for discussing the transformation of the high street and the wider economy.
The business or activity of selling goods to individual consumers.
"Retailing remains an important part of the local economy."
Often used to refer to the retail trade or sector as a whole, especially in economic and business contexts.
The present participle of retail, meaning selling goods to individual consumers.
"The business is retailing handmade products online."
Usually used in the form 'is retailing' or in a phrase such as 'retailing its products', rather than as a standalone finite verb.
Retailing is normally an uncountable noun. The plural 'retailings' is uncommon and usually appears only when referring to separate instances or types of retail activity.
"The report compares different retailings across the region."
Retailing began with a simple idea: cutting larger quantities of goods into pieces that ordinary customers could afford to buy one at a time.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does retailing come from?
Retailing derives from the English word retail, which came through Old French retail, associated with the verb retaillier, originally meaning to cut back or cut into pieces. The original sense referred to selling pieces of cloth or other goods individually rather than in bulk. The development from cutting materials into saleable portions to the modern commercial activity of selling to consumers occurred gradually in English. Retail is also related to words such as retailer and, through older French vocabulary connected with cutting, to words including tailor and tail.
Related word forms
How retailing is actually used
Retailing is normally used in business, economic, and commercial contexts. It is often contrasted with wholesaling and may be modified by terms such as online, high-street, or specialised.
Easily confused with retailing
Retailing is the activity or business of selling to the public, whereas retail is commonly used as a noun or adjective referring to the goods, prices, or sales themselves.