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The concept of commercial activity and its meaning. Cheat Sheet: Commercial Activities

commercial activity- this is an activity in the market of factors of production, where the enterprise acts first as a buyer, and in the market of goods produced by the enterprise, where it acts as a seller.

All activities of the enterprise in the markets determine the area of commercial activity, the purpose of which is to make a profit. Commercial activity is an independent activity. This indicates a volitional source of commercial activity. Citizens and legal entities independently, i.e., carry out commercial activities with their own power and in their own interest.

Commercial activity is organized by a person at his own discretion. It is not controlled directly by any public authority, but this does not exclude its regulation by the state. Intervention of the state and its bodies in the activities of an entrepreneur not provided for by law is not allowed. The entrepreneur has the right to apply to the arbitration court with an application for invalidation (in whole or in part) of normative acts government agencies or local governments that do not comply with the law or other legal acts and violating the civil rights and legally protected interests of the entrepreneur.

The commercial activities of enterprises are differentiated:

1) according to the object of sale (factors of production necessary for the implementation production process; produced goods and created technologies; free production assets; free cash and paper assets);

2) according to the role played by the enterprise in the process of purchase and sale (in some cases it acts as a buyer, in others - as a seller);

3) by the nature of the change in ownership (the ownership right is transferred to another person - sale, purchase; the ownership right is not transferred to another person - rent, leasing);

4) by the nature of the benefits as a result of the transaction: direct profit (sale of manufactured goods and developed technologies, performance of work and provision of services), creation of conditions for profit in the future (acquisition of production factors), reduction of production costs (sale and leasing of free assets), capitalization of available funds (investment in securities).

The markets in which commercial activities are carried out are also diverse. They are divided into:

1) by type of goods (markets: consumer goods, factors of production, production assets, securities);

2) by nationality (domestic market, foreign market);

3) on the rights of market participants (free economic zones, free trade zones, offshore zones).

A wide variety of commercial activities determines an adequate variety of legal norms for regulating this activity.

However, the commercial activity of enterprises is only integral part production and economic activities. And its success depends on the potential of the enterprise. In turn, the potential of the enterprise depends on the results of commercial activity - profit, which is the main source of investment in the development of production. Because of this, there is a single production and commercial process, the relations of the subjects of which are regulated by economic and commercial law. The boundaries between economic law and commercial law are conditional.

There are four groups of legal relations between commercial entities and the legal norms governing these relations:

1) norms governing the methods of commercial activity of enterprises and the processes of their organization;

2) norms governing legal relations in the processes of commercial activity;

3) the rules governing legal relations with the authorities state power management;

4) the rules governing legal relations in the consideration of arbitration disputes.

In conditions market economy commodity-money relations are dominant. Therefore, almost every product of labor produced at enterprises is necessarily sold and bought, i.e. goes through the exchange phase. Sellers and buyers of goods conclude purchase and sale transactions, carry out sales and purchases of goods, provide intermediary and other services.

Commerce as a type of human activity most of us associate with trade. This is quite natural, since this term comes from the Latin COMMERCIUM (trade). However, such an interpretation of commerce as a term is too narrow and clearly insufficient to clarify the concept and essence of commercial activity.

commercial activity is part of entrepreneurial activity on the commodity market and differs from it by and large only in that it does not cover the process of manufacturing a product or providing a service. In a broad sense, any organization that offers the products of the labor of its employees to the market, and, therefore, participates in the exchange process, can be classified as a sale entity. It is important to take into account that if this entity assumes the receipt of income from the sale (marketing) of goods or the provision of services that exceed the cost of their creation, then its activity is usually classified as commercial. Similarly, an idea is formed about the activity of acquiring raw materials, materials and products for the production of goods and the provision of services.

The entrepreneur always seeks to acquire resources and use services in accordance with his own commercial interests. The task that the market puts before him comes down to the need to create a quality product and sell it profitably. Therefore, logistics (purchases, etc.), as one of the main conditions for the creation of goods, should be fully attributed to commercial activity and considered as its most important element.

The interpretation of the term “commercial” is primarily of practical importance, since the organization of the work of commercial services involves taking into account many specific features, from economic fundamentals to the structure of workflow. Professional training of commercial workers is carried out in a special way. In addition to traditional knowledge in the field of economics and management, a merchant must have a number of specific skills in the field of business communication and negotiations, be able to make non-standard decisions to identify highly profitable areas of labor application.

The professional activity of a merchant is carried out in the sphere of production and commodity circulation and is aimed at ensuring the functioning of enterprises of all organizational and legal forms in order to rationally organize commercial activities, taking into account the industry, regional and nomenclature specifics of the enterprise. The merchant must, on the basis of professional knowledge, ensure efficient commercial activity and thereby contribute to the solution of an important socio-economic task - the satisfaction of the needs of buyers.

Objects professional activity merchant are tangible goods and intangible goods and services subject to sale or exchange in the sphere of circulation.

The main types of professional activities of a merchant:

organizational and commercial;
commodity-expert;
marketing;
trade and economic;
analytical;
trade and purchasing;
foreign trade.

For science, it is very important to correctly define the essence of commercial activity. Many problems associated with the study of economic patterns in the sphere of production and commodity circulation are still awaiting their solution. Among them, the most relevant are:

system of criteria and methods for evaluating the results of work commercial service enterprises;
a system of payment and economic incentives for the work of employees of commercial services.

A significant problem is the clear definition of the boundaries of commercial activities for tax purposes. Yes, in accordance with the law Russian Federation the main criterion for attributing a particular type of activity to a certain category of taxation is the existence of a statutory goal for the corresponding enterprise or organization to make a profit. At the same time, the form of ownership and organizational and legal form of a business entity does not play a role. From the point of view of taxation, it is only important to clearly establish the ownership commercial enterprise to a specific type and field of activity: production and sale of any products (materials or raw materials), provision of production or non-production services, trade and intermediary operations, etc. Income tax rates in different cases differ from each other in size.

All enterprises, organizations and institutions operating in the commodity market can be conditionally divided into two main groups: commercial and non-commercial. Commercial enterprises include almost all enterprises in the sphere of material production (plants, factories), a significant part of enterprises production infrastructure(transport and trade-intermediary enterprises, communications enterprises, etc.) and non-production sphere ( domestic services, entertainment industry, etc.), almost all subjects of the securities market.

Non-profit activities have traditionally been concentrated in health and education, although in Lately and here the sprouts of entrepreneurship appeared. The activity of any non-profit (“non-profitable” in Western economic literature) entity is based on the principle of maintaining a balance of equality of income and expenses. The tax legislation of Russia clearly defines the directions in which expenses included in the cost price can be incurred. In addition, the sources of income generation for a non-profit organization are strictly defined. In the event of a profit, this organization must use it in strict accordance with the requirements of the law or perform a special procedure for calculating the state budget by revising the amount of funding or paying the appropriate taxes. To the number non-profit organizations include government agencies (federal and municipal).

The subject of commercial activity is the sale and purchase of goods. However, in the broadest sense of the word, not only produced material objects, but also services, and even objects of intellectual property should be considered as goods. A product as an object of commercial transactions (purchase and sale transactions) has potential and real utility.

Potential usefulness of the product (services, etc.) or the ability of any product of labor to satisfy individual specific needs, taking into account affordability, is determined by its two integral characteristics: quality and price. The ratio between them, which has developed in a particular market situation, makes it possible potential consumer solve the fundamental question whether he needs and whether this proposed product is available to him?

Real utility The product appears at the moment of its acquisition by the consumer (sales by the seller), i.e. as a result of the exchange.

The prerequisites for a potentially useful product to become really useful for the buyer are:

the presence of a given product of potential utility, its compliance with consumer properties existing requests, i.e. the presence of an internal factor influencing the preliminary choice of the buyer;
that the seller has a sufficient quantity of potentially useful product v right place and at the right time or external conditions to implement the choice.

Creating conditions for the realization of the potential usefulness of the product is the most important task of commercial activity. It is for these purposes that the relevant sales services are formed, inventories are accumulated, trading and intermediary firms are created.

The main varieties of commercial activity fully reflect its essence. First, it is about supply enterprises with the raw materials, materials and products necessary for it. The work associated with their procurement includes the following main operations:

material need planning;
organizing the acquisition of resources and their delivery to the enterprise;
size regulation inventories;
organization and control of resource consumption in the enterprise must be carried out by special units.

In typical situations, they (subdivisions) are assigned the following names:

department of material and technical supply (providing); department of production (industrial-technical and production-technological equipment);
service of acquisition by the equipment of objects under construction.

V modern conditions, when all new terms and concepts enter the professional lexicon of a merchant, subdivisions for material resource management and logistics. The procurement service of an enterprise is usually also involved in obtaining the necessary commercial information.

It is necessary to highlight sales finished products (services). The sales function is performed by a special service of the enterprise, which organizes the formation of shipment lots, promotes goods on the market, searches for and formalizes relations with buyers (clients). In modern conditions, the success of this activity to a large extent depends on the professionalism of the sales staff and therefore marketing becomes the main technology of the sales service.

In a separate category should be allocated trade and intermediary operations in the consumer and industrial (business) market, meaning, above all, wholesale and retail . The participation of an intermediary in the process of distribution in many cases is a necessary condition for concluding a sale and purchase transaction, as it provides consumers with wider access to the product. Moreover, in the consumer market, the buyer, almost always, can purchase goods only through an intermediary (retailer), since manufacturers almost never work with individuals.

Commercial activity is always associated with the performance of operations to bring material resources from suppliers to consumers. These operations include:

from manufacturers – preparation of products for shipment, shipment, release and its documenting;
in the warehouses of intermediaries and transport companies in the process of product movement - its acceptance, storage, formation of complete batches, shipment;
in the warehouses of consumer enterprises - acceptance of products in terms of quantity and quality, storage, bringing the purchased materials to a high degree of technological readiness for production consumption, issue and delivery of materials to workplaces.

In general, all these operations, depending on the specific situation, can be conditionally divided into two categories - marketing and supply. Sales operations and processes are related to the production and delivery of products. The production process ends with the sale of products. Supply operations are associated with the production consumption of material resources, obtaining material resources and providing them to enterprises in the production and non-production sectors.

Commerce, an important area of entrepreneurial activity and employment, began to develop rapidly in the 1990s. From trading operations, many entrepreneurs have moved to a higher level of commercial activity. Commerce began to be carried out by industrial enterprises, whose products were distributed centrally by state bodies until the end of the 1980s. Commercial operations are currently carried out by numerous supply chain, wholesale and distribution trading firms, companies and other organizations.

Modern businessmen have to face many problems every day, which in some cases they solve intuitively, by trial and error.

Competent commercial activity requires them to know the laws of the market, to identify cause-and-effect relationships in commercial processes. The effective solution of these problems is largely determined by the professionalism and qualifications of employees of commercial services and enterprises. Commercial activity requires theoretical and practical knowledge in various fields: in economics, finance, commercial law, management and other fields of activity.

Commercial relations are inherent in market, commodity-money relations.

Commodity-money relations are public relations arising between producers and consumers in the process of production and sale of goods. Commercial activity, including operations of the trade and operational process associated with the purchase and sale of goods, is part of commodity-money relations.

The term "commerce" comes from the Latin word "commercium" ("commercium"), which means "trade".

The term "trade" itself means in one case - an independent branch of the national economy (trade) and in another case - trading processes aimed at the implementation of the purchase and sale of goods. In this case, commercial activity is associated with the second concept of trade - trading processes on the implementation of acts of purchase and sale for the purpose of making a profit.

The concept of "commercial activity", as an object of study, was formulated by the Harvard School of Business Administration in 1958. This classic definition says: "Commercial activities exist in order to profitably satisfy consumer requirements."

The main purpose of commerce is to make a profit. However, the profits earned in commercial activities can be used to develop and expand entrepreneurship to better meet the needs of society.

Commercial activities in industrial enterprises are divided into:

1) procurement (material and technical support);

2) marketing.

In connection with the transition to market principles of activity, the content of the material and technical support of enterprises has changed significantly: instead of the so-called "realization of allocated funds", which is an integral part of the centralized distribution of material resources, enterprises freely purchase them from suppliers and other subjects of the commodity market. Under these conditions, when purchasing material resources, enterprises should be guided by freedom of pricing, maximum initiative and enterprise, equal rights of partners in commercial relations, take into account economic responsibility when purchasing raw materials and materials, take into account competition among suppliers and be able to choose an economically advantageous supplier.

When purchasing material resources, an enterprise must study the market for raw materials and materials, know the price dynamics in this market, delivery costs, and the possibility of effectively replacing one material with another.

Therefore, the procurement commercial activity at enterprises consists of the following stages:

Market research of raw materials and materials and organization commercial relations with suppliers;

Drawing up a plan for the procurement of material resources;

Organization of purchases of material resources;

Conducting settlements with suppliers for purchased products;

Cost analysis of the procurement sphere.

Marketing commercial work is an important aspect commercial activities of the enterprise.

Marketing is the process of selling manufactured products in order to turn goods into money and satisfy consumer needs. Only by selling the goods and making a profit, the enterprise reaches the final goal: the expended capital takes on a monetary form in which it can begin its circulation.

Marketing commercial activity in an industrial enterprise is multifaceted: it begins with the planning of the assortment and marketing of products, an integral part of it is the establishment of commercial relationships with buyers and end users, culminating in the conclusion of sales contracts. An equally significant part of marketing commercial activities is operational and marketing work, which includes:

Development of plans - schedules for the shipment of finished products to customers;

Acceptance of finished products from workshops - manufacturers and preparing them for shipment to customers;

Organization of shipment of products to customers and execution of documents related to the shipment;

Monitoring the fulfillment of customer orders and the solvency of customers.

The sale of goods manufactured at the enterprise must be preceded by marketing research involving market research, including consumers and competitors, segmentation and selection of the target market, development of product and communication policy. The orientation of the sales business on the concept of marketing has made significant changes in the organization of sales.

The manufacturer of goods should not only be a supplier, he is obliged in modern conditions to analyze the effectiveness of marketing, develop and implement new forms of marketing.

Any activity is justified in the event that it contributes to the achievement of the goal of the enterprise. Without a clearly defined goal, it is impossible to build a commercial activity, develop its strategy and evaluate its effectiveness.

The task of commercial activity is the realization of the goals of a trading enterprise, therefore it is important to correctly determine the concept of its functioning and development.

The basis of the concept of commercial activity is: the growing role of commerce, knowledge of its motivational attitudes, the ability to formulate and direct them in accordance with the tasks facing the trading enterprise. In doing so, it is necessary to be guided by commercial considerations regarding the market and external environment. The main thing in commercial activity - A complex approach, combining the principles of its design, targets and development strategy.

When designing the commercial activities of an enterprise, the following principles should be observed:

The inextricable link between commerce and marketing;

Flexibility of commerce, its focus on constantly changing market requirements;

Ability to anticipate commercial risks;

Prioritization;

The manifestation of personal initiative;

High responsibility for the fulfillment of obligations under purchase and sale transactions;

Focus on achieving the final result - profit.

The close connection of commerce with marketing is determined, first of all, by the essence of the modern concept of marketing, which prevails in most markets and is embodied in the slogan: "You only need to produce what will be bought." The content of this concept lies in the combination of market and commodity concepts, i.e. in creating the product and consumer needed by the market at the same time.

The flexibility of commerce should be manifested, first of all, in the timely consideration of market requirements, which requires the study and forecasting of product markets, the development and improvement of marketing advertising, the involvement of an innovative element in commercial activities, if necessary, a change in the profile of activity, changes in organizational structures commerce.

The ability to anticipate business risks is very important principle for a trade entrepreneur. Commercial risk is the potential loss in commercial work. It can be defined as the sum of the damages incurred as a result of an incorrect decision and the costs of its implementation. Commercial activity without risks is impossible; when planning it, it is important to foresee the impact of commercial risk. In order for the risk to be "weighted", it is necessary to use the maximum possible amount of information, a comprehensive analysis of commercial activities, financial results, effectiveness of partnerships, comprehensive market research, careful selection of personnel.

Prioritization in commercial activities is no less important than in production. The implementation of this principle involves constant study and knowledge of all the details of commercial activities.

Personal initiative depends directly on each person working in the field of commerce, and is determined not only by personal characteristics, but also by the culture of work. Personal characteristics form the basis business qualities businessman. Work culture refers to a certain level common organization labor, rejection of obsolete and susceptibility to new, more effective methods and techniques of communication with colleagues and subordinates, search for and involvement in the labor sphere of new scientific and technological achievements, which can have an impact on improving performance.

High responsibility for the fulfillment of the obligations assumed trade deals is a principle that creates a reputation for a merchant in the business world. The implementation of this principle is the key to effective commercial activity.

Market economic conditions contributed to the emergence of a new type of commercial relations between suppliers and buyers of goods, opened up wide scope for the initiative and independence of trade workers.

Only well-trained highly qualified personnel of commercial trade workers who have undergone deep training or advanced training in the field of modern organization and technologies of commercial work, marketing, management. At wholesale depots, in trade organizations and at enterprises, commercial services or departments should be created, headed by first deputy directors of enterprises or, as they are commonly called, commercial directors.

Raising the level of commercial work requires constant improvement of its technology, and especially the use new technology management, automated control systems, automated workplaces (AWS) of commercial workers, computerization of commercial process management.

Permanent accounting and control of wholesale purchases of goods, characterized by a large number of suppliers, tens of thousands of items of complex assortment of goods, is possible only with the help of a computer.

The computerization of commercial transactions will create information system processing and transmission of commercial information, which is technical basis market, marketing activities in the field of commodity circulation.

Commercial activity, like any other entrepreneurial activity, needs significant regulation by the state. The regulation of commercial relations is carried out mainly through the adoption of legal acts related to this field of activity, for example, the laws of the Russian Federation "On the Protection of Consumer Rights", "On state regulation production and circulation of ethyl alcohol and alcoholic products", "On the use of cash registers in trade enterprises and Catering" and etc.

The issues of improving the quality of products are the subject of special attention of state authorities. Enterprises that do not comply with the technological requirements for the production of goods, products, sanitary rules and regulations will be forced out of the consumer market.

Essence of commercial activity

Commercial activity is an essential condition for the functioning of the consumer market as a sphere commercial enterprise where money is exchanged for goods and vice versa.

Remark 1

Commercial activities include processes related to the sale of goods, meeting customer demand, developing target markets for goods, minimizing distribution costs and making a profit.

During the purchase and supply of products, market research, the establishment of economic relations with suppliers, the implementation of commercial operations that are aimed at commercial transactions, the conclusion of contracts and the exchange of goods and money take place.

Any commercial work is accompanied by commercial actions and decisions in accordance with the conditions of a certain external environment and market conditions. In the implementation of some commercial functions, the economic laws of the market, financial policy and commercial law are taken as a basis.

Definition 1

Commercial activity is any purchase of goods that is made for the purpose of their subsequent sale in the same form or after processing and bringing them to the required properties. Such activities can be carried out for the purpose of renting out products or goods.

A commercial organization is called an organization whose work is aimed both at the extraction (extraction) or production of goods, and simply at its acquisition and subsequent sale (in exchange for money or other goods) to generate income (benefits, profits).

Thus, almost all trade organizations are engaged in commercial activities. Commercial activity is an important area of human activity, which arises as a result of the division of labor.

Commercial activity is represented by the implementation of a number of trade and organizational operations that are focused on the processes of buying and selling products, providing trading services. The ultimate goal of such activities is always to obtain a certain amount of profit.

The subjects of commercial activity can be legal, individuals who have the right to do so.

Objects of commercial activity in the consumer market include goods and services.

Principles and objectives of trading commercial activities

The basic principles of commercial activity in trade include:

Comply with applicable laws;
Implement a high culture of customer service;
Make the best commercial decisions;
Be profitable and profitable business.

The objectives of commercial activity are determined by its content, among them are:

Establishment of economic and partnership relations between market entities;
To study and analyze the sources of purchase of products;
Agree on the relationship of production and consumption of products that are focused on consumer demand;
To carry out the purchase and sale of products, taking into account the market environment;
Expand existing and prospective target markets for goods;
Reduce product distribution costs.

Retail

The activity of a retail trade enterprise is related to the sale of goods to end customers, which is the final stage of its movement from the sphere of production.

The subject of retail trade includes not only the sale of goods, but also trade service, as well as providing additional services buyers.

For the consumer, trade service can be determined by the image of the company, convenience and minimal time spent on making a purchase. Thus, the retail process is determined by the purposeful sale of goods, customer service, trade and after-sales services.

In accordance with the essence of the functions of retail trade, they consist of:

Satisfy the needs of the population in goods;
Bring products to the consumer through the organization of its spatial movement and supply to the point of sale;
Maintain a balance between supply and demand;
Influence production to expand the range and increase sales;
Improve trade technology and improve customer service.

For retailers, commercial operations have certain specifics, which is especially true for operations following the bulk purchases of products, management inventory and product range management.

The retail network completes the process of bringing products from production to consumer, therefore, commercial activities related to retail goods, is the most responsible. At this stage, you have to deal with the end users of the products, so it is important to offer the retail customer a wide range of products. High Quality, using modern, consumer-friendly methods of sale, progressive payment systems for the purchase, etc.

Features of trading enterprises

Remark 2

A trading enterprise, when entering the consumer market, in a competitive struggle, sells goods, while it must comply with the established rules, the main of which is: the better the capabilities and wishes of the buyer are taken into account, the more products can be sold, accelerating its turnover.

After selling the goods and receiving a given profit, trade company reaches its goal. In accordance with the economic content, the spent capital attracted as working capital, can be compensated through the sale of goods. For this reason, a real assessment of the dynamics and adequacy of the return on monetary assets that are invested in inventory by retail trade enterprises is important.

The main task of a retail trade enterprise is to study consumer requests, their needs for goods with a focus on purchasing power. Each commercial enterprise should determine the assortment policy, forming and regulating the processes of supply, storage, preparation for the sale of products.

In a market economy, commodity-money relations are dominant. Therefore, almost every product of labor produced at enterprises is necessarily sold and bought, i.e. goes through the exchange phase. Sellers and buyers of goods conclude purchase and sale transactions, carry out sales and purchases of goods, provide intermediary and other services.

Commerce as a type of human activity most of us associate with trade. This is quite natural, since this term comes from the Latin COMMERCIUM (trade). However, such an interpretation of commerce as a term is too narrow and clearly insufficient to clarify the concept and essence of commercial activity.

commercial activity is a part of entrepreneurial activity in the commodity market and differs from it by and large only in that it does not cover the process of manufacturing a product or providing a service. In a broad sense, any organization that offers the products of the labor of its employees to the market, and, therefore, participates in the exchange process, can be classified as a sale entity. It is important to take into account that if this entity assumes the receipt of income from the sale (marketing) of goods or the provision of services that exceed the cost of their creation, then its activity is usually classified as commercial. Similarly, an idea is formed about the activity of acquiring raw materials, materials and products for the production of goods and the provision of services.

The objects of professional activity of a merchant are tangible goods and intangible goods and services subject to purchase and sale or exchange in the sphere of circulation.

The main types of professional activities of a merchant:

organizational and commercial;
commodity-expert;
marketing;
trade and economic;
analytical;
trade and purchasing;
foreign trade.

a system of criteria and methods for evaluating the results of the work of the commercial service of the enterprise;
a system of payment and economic incentives for the work of employees of commercial services.

A significant problem is the clear definition of the boundaries of commercial activities for tax purposes. Thus, in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation, the main criterion for classifying one or another type of activity as a certain category of taxation is whether the corresponding enterprise or organization has a statutory goal to make a profit. At the same time, the form of ownership and organizational and legal form of a business entity does not play a role. From the standpoint of taxation, it is only important to clearly establish the belonging of a commercial enterprise to a specific type and field of activity: the production and sale of any products (materials or raw materials), the provision of production or non-production services, trade and intermediary operations, etc. Income tax rates in different cases differ from each other in size.

All enterprises, organizations and institutions operating in the commodity market can be conditionally divided into two main groups: commercial and non-commercial. Commercial enterprises include almost all enterprises in the sphere of material production (factories, factories), a significant part of enterprises in the production infrastructure (transport and trade and intermediary enterprises, communications enterprises, etc.) and non-production spheres (household services, entertainment industry, etc.) , almost all subjects of the securities market.

Non-profit activity has traditionally been concentrated in health care and education, although in recent years there have been sprouts of entrepreneurship. The activity of any non-profit (“non-profitable” in Western economic literature) entity is based on the principle of maintaining a balance of equality of income and expenses. The tax legislation of Russia clearly defines the directions in which expenses included in the cost price can be incurred. In addition, the sources of income generation for a non-profit organization are strictly defined. In the event of a profit, this organization must use it in strict accordance with the requirements of the law or perform a special procedure for calculating the state budget by revising the amount of funding or paying the appropriate taxes. Non-profit organizations also include government agencies (federal and municipal).

Potential usefulness of the product(services, etc.) or the ability of any product of labor to satisfy individual specific needs, taking into account affordability, is determined by its two integral characteristics: quality and price. The ratio between them, which has developed in a particular market situation, makes it possible for a potential consumer to solve a fundamental issue - whether he needs and whether this proposed product is available to him ?

Real utility The product appears at the moment of its acquisition by the consumer (sales by the seller), i.e. as a result of the exchange.

The prerequisites for a potentially useful product to become really useful for the buyer are:

the presence of a given product of potential utility, the correspondence of its consumer properties to existing requests, i.e. the presence of an internal factor influencing the preliminary choice of the buyer;
the presence of a sufficient amount of a potentially useful product in the right place and at the right time for the seller, or external conditions for the implementation of the choice.

The main varieties of commercial activity fully reflect its essence. First, it is about supply enterprises with the raw materials, materials and products necessary for it. The work associated with their procurement includes the following main operations:

material need planning;
organizing the acquisition of resources and their delivery to the enterprise;
regulation of the size of inventories;
organization and control of resource consumption in the enterprise must be carried out by special units.

In typical situations, they (subdivisions) are assigned the following names:

department of material and technical supply (providing); department of production (industrial-technical and production-technological equipment);
service of acquisition by the equipment of objects under construction.

In modern conditions, when more and more new terms and concepts are included in the professional lexicon of a merchant, divisions for material resource management and logistics. The procurement service of an enterprise is usually also involved in obtaining the necessary commercial information.

It is necessary to highlight sales finished products (services). The sales function is performed by a special service of the enterprise, which organizes the formation of shipment lots, promotes goods on the market, searches for and formalizes relations with buyers (clients). In modern conditions, the success of this activity to a large extent depends on the professionalism of the sales staff and therefore marketing becomes the main technology of the sales service.

In a separate category should be allocated trade and intermediary operations in the consumer and industrial (business) market, meaning, above all, wholesale and retail trade. The participation of an intermediary in the process of distribution in many cases is a necessary condition for concluding a sale and purchase transaction, as it provides consumers with wider access to the product. Moreover, in the consumer market, the buyer, almost always, can purchase goods only through an intermediary (retailer), since manufacturers almost never work with individuals.

Commercial activity is always associated with the performance of operations to bring material resources from suppliers to consumers. These operations include:

from manufacturers – preparation of products for shipment, shipment, vacation and its documentation;
in the warehouses of intermediary and transport companies in the process of product movement - its acceptance, storage, formation of complete batches, shipment;
in the warehouses of consumer enterprises – acceptance of products in terms of quantity and quality, storage, bringing purchased materials to high degree technological readiness for production consumption, release and delivery of materials to workplaces.

“The sale of products is, first of all, the circulation of material resources. However, it does not cover the entire phase of circulation, but its initial stage, associated with the sale and resale of goods. Sales of products is directly related to the production and distribution of goods. The marketing activity of an industrial enterprise is naturally connected with finished products. A finished product is one that has passed technical control, has the appropriate marking, meets the requirements established in state standards, specifications, contracts, and prepared for delivery. Finished products entering the economic circulation take various forms. In the extractive industries, finished products are raw materials and fuel (ore, timber, fuel and energy resources, etc.). In the manufacturing industries, some types of finished products take the form of materials to be further processed (metals, Construction Materials, chemicals), others - take the form of finished products, semi-finished products and components.

So, at engineering enterprises that produce machine tools and equipment, finished products takes the form of finished products, as machines, equipment are not subject to further processing. Industrial enterprises also produce finished products in the form of semi-finished products, components and spare parts, which are either processed at other enterprises (stamping, forgings), or are included in other products without processing (functional units and parts of assemblies).

The essence of marketing predetermines the existence of two groups of operations with finished products: tangible and intangible. Production and technical operations in warehouses of finished products in industry, as well as in sales bases and warehouses, are a continuation of the production process and are called material. These include:

acceptance, sorting, labeling and warehousing of products;
operations with containers and packaging;
formation of complete batches;
dispatch, shipment, release, delivery and promotion of products to consumers;
implementation;
after-sales services.

Shipment- this is the sending of products by transport to the consumer or intermediary. In this case, the supplier, as the subject of shipment, usually organizes transportation.

Vacation- this is the delivery of finished products to the consignee, who independently organizes the delivery of products to their destination. Both consumer enterprises and intermediary firms that receive products for further resale can act as consignees.

The concept has an independent meaning supply , i.e. actual release or shipment of products to consumers in accordance with contracts. Delivery volumes include shipments of products, both with industrial enterprises, and from warehouses of intermediaries.

Products to be marketed must go through a stage implementation , since it must be not only sent by the seller, but also paid by the buyer. Under the implementation is understood mainly payment for the cost of products, receipt Money(revenue). We note two aspects of the implementation process: its natural-material and cost aspects. This means the obligatory receipt of products by the consumer in quantity and quality that are sufficient for its use and the creation of a production stock, and in accordance with the concluded agreements.

In order to carry out all operations and processes related to the dispatch, delivery and sale of products, it is necessary not only to organize the work of warehouse workers, but also to determine the scheme for promoting products.

In general, formulating an integral definition, it should be noted that product marketing is a complex of organizational, technical, financial and economic measures related to the supply and sale of finished products . The main requirement for sales from the standpoint of a market economy is the readiness of the enterprise to meet the identified assortment demand of consumers. It is important that this happens while minimizing sales stocks (finished products, goods in transit and goods in warehouses with intermediaries) and distribution costs.

Sales activities in industry are organized according to commodity groups– ferrous and non-ferrous metals, oil products, timber products, chemical products and many types of engineering products.

The concept of commercial activity and its meaning. Cheat Sheet: Commercial Activities

Principles and objectives of trading commercial activities

Retail

Features of trading enterprises

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