ABSTRACT
The distributive trades are commonly defined as those intermediary activities involved in the transfer of goods from producers to consumers, namely wholesaling and retailing. Although these activities are generally small in their scale of operations, collectively they constitute one of the largest industries. In Britain, they account for approximately eleven per cent of the Gross Domestic Product and a similar proportion of the total national employment. Retailing alone generated sales of more than £15,000 million in 1971 and provided about two and a half million jobs, making it the third greatest contributor to national output behind manufacturing industry and a miscellaneous office services group.
