A merchant is a business professional that buys and sells products or services for profit. There are two types of merchants:

  • Wholesale merchant or wholesaler – Transactions are conducted between the manufacturer/wholesaler and retailers.
    Wholesalers typically sell large quantities at a reduced price to online or offline merchants.
  • Retail merchant or retailer – Retailers sell goods to consumers and businesses on a small scale to consumers.

Merchants can also be divided by their presence. While some merchant have both physical and virtual presence, some merchants are called eMerchants or eRetailers because they only have an online presence.

Today, online merchants are operating businesses on a larger scale. They own and operate eCommerce stores or sell their products on an online marketplace, such as Ebay or Amazon. They use various tools such as direct emails, advertisement campaigns, banner ads, content marketing and affiliate marketing to promote and sell their products to consumers.

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