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Merchandise vs Inventory - What's the difference?

merchandise | inventory |

As nouns the difference between merchandise and inventory

is that merchandise is commodities offered for sale while inventory is the stock of an item on hand at a particular location or business.

As verbs the difference between merchandise and inventory

is that merchandise is to engage in trade; to carry on commerce while inventory is to take stock of the resources or items on hand; to produce an inventory.

merchandise

English

Alternative forms

* merchandize , merchaundise (obsolete),merchaundize (obsolete)

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (uncountable) Commodities offered for sale.
    • ''good business depends on having good merchandise
  • (countable) A commodity offered for sale; an article of commerce; a kind of merchandise.
  • (uncountable) The act or business of trading; trade; traffic.

    • Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "merchandise": returned, used, damaged, stolen, assorted, lost, promotional, industrial, cheap, expensive, imported, good, inferior.

    Synonyms

    * wares * product

    Verb

    (merchandis)
  • (archaic) To engage in trade; to carry on commerce.
    • (Francis Bacon)
  • To engage in in-store promotion of the sale of goods, as by display and arrangement of goods.
    • He started his career merchandising in a small clothing store chain.
  • (archaic) To engage in the trade of.
  • To engage in in-store promotion of the sale of.
    • He got hired to merchandise some new sporting goods lines.
  • To promote as if for sale.
    • The record companies don't get as good a return on merchandising artists under contract.

    Related terms

    * mercantile * merchant * merchantable

    References

    * * ----

    inventory

    English

    (wikipedia inventory)

    Noun

    (inventories)
  • (operations) The stock of an item on hand at a particular location or business
    • Due to an undersized inventory at the Boston outlet, customers had to travel to Providence to find the item.
  • (operations) a detailed list of all of the items on hand
    • The inventory included several items that one wouldn't normally think to find at a cheese shop.
  • (operations) the process of producing or updating such a list
    • This month's inventory took nearly three days.
  • (lb) A space containing the available to a character for immediate use.

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    Related terms

    * invent * invented * inventive * invention * inventor * reinvent

    Verb

    (en-verb)
  • (operations) To take stock of the resources or items on hand; to produce an inventory.
    • The main job of the night shift was to inventory the store, and restock when necessary.

    Synonyms

    * (take stock) index

    External links

    * *