merchant wholesalers

… Wholesalers whose main business is wholesale are called wholesale middlemen. Wholesalers are broadly divided into self-wholesalers or marginal wholesalers, who are the parties to the acquisition and transfer of ownership of goods or services during transactions, and agent wholesalers, who are not the parties to the acquisition and transfer of ownership, but only assist and support the transaction as agents of the buyer and seller. Wholesalers are also divided into general wholesalers, industry-specific general wholesalers, and specialized wholesalers (limited item wholesalers) according to the range of products they handle; collector wholesalers (production area wholesalers), intermediate wholesalers (collection and distribution area wholesalers), dispersed wholesalers (consumption area wholesalers), or primary wholesalers (large wholesalers), secondary wholesalers (medium-sized wholesalers), and tertiary wholesalers (small wholesalers) according to their role and position in the distribution channel; full-function wholesalers and limited-function wholesalers according to the range of functions they perform; and national wholesalers and local wholesalers according to the extent of their trade areas. …

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "merchant wholesalers" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…　卸売を主たる業務とする商業者を卸売業wholesaling middlemenという。卸売業は，取引に際して商品ないしはサービスに対する所有権の取得･譲渡の当事者となる自己卸売業ないしは差益卸売業merchant wholesalersと，所有権の取得･譲渡の当事者とはならず，売買当事者の代理人として取引遂行の補助･助成的活動のみを行う代理卸売業agent wholesalersに大別される。また取扱商品の範囲によって総合卸売業･業種別総合卸売業･専門卸売業(限定品目卸売業)に，流通経路上の役割や位置によって収集卸売業(産地卸売業)･仲継卸売業(集散地卸売業)･分散卸売業(消費地卸売業)，ないしは一次卸(大卸)･二次卸(中卸)･三次卸(小卸)に，発揮する機能の範囲によって全機能卸売業full‐function wholesalersと限定機能卸売業limited function wholesalersに，そして，それぞれの商圏の広がりによって全国卸売業･地方卸売業に分けられる。…

※「merchant wholesalers」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報