Miscellaneous Definitions — accessories, trims, tools and general fashion terms from Apparel Search
Commerce is the exchange of something of value between two entities. That something may be goods, services, information, money, or anything else the two entities consider to have value. Commerce is the central mechanism from which capitalism is derived, and the process of transforming something into a commercial activity is called commercialization. It has its origins at the very start of communication in prehistoric times, when trading was the main facility of prehistoric people, who bartered what they had for goods and services from each other.
Commerce is the exchange of something of value between two entities. That "something" may be goods, services, information, money, or anything else the two entities consider to have value. Commerce is the central mechanism from which capitalism is derived. The process of transforming something into a commercial activity is called commercialization.
History of Commerce
Commerce has its origins from the very start of communication in prehistoric times. Trading was the main facility of prehistoric people, who bartered what they had for goods and services from each other. Later currency was invented to represent these goods and services. The basic need for currency is obvious. For example, if a man who makes pots for a living needs a new house, he must hire someone to build it for him. But he cannot make an equivalent number of pots to equal this service done to him, and even if he could the house builder might not want the pots. Currency solved this problem by allowing values to be assigned to things so that goods and services can in a way be effectively collected and stored for later use, or split among several providers.
Today commerce involves a complex system of companies that try to maximize their profits by offering products and services to the market, which consists both of individuals and other companies.
Learn about online fashion retailers.
| The above article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/commerce). Some of the links have been modified. 6/5/05 |
|
|
Commerce is defined by exchange. Two entities, people, companies or a person and a company, pass something of value between them, and that something is deliberately broad: goods, services, information, money, or anything else the two entities consider to have value. A sale of cloth is commerce, but so is paying for a repair, licensing a design or selling information, because in each case value moves in both directions by agreement. Commerce is the central mechanism from which capitalism is derived, since a market economy is built from these exchanges repeated at scale, and the process of transforming something into a commercial activity is called commercialization, the step that brings a new product or service into the exchange system.
The definition matters to fashion because the apparel business is commerce at every level. Fiber, fabric and finished garments are goods exchanged between growers, mills, manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers; design, logistics and marketing are services exchanged alongside them; and the final retail sale is the exchange shoppers see. Today commerce involves a complex system of companies that try to maximize their profits by offering products and services to the market, which consists both of individuals and other companies. A clothing brand selling to a department store and the same store selling to a shopper are both commerce, at different points in one chain of exchanges.
Commerce has its origins from the very start of communication in prehistoric times. Trading was the main facility of prehistoric people, who bartered what they had for goods and services from each other. Barter works only when each side has what the other wants, in quantities that match, at the same moment. Later currency was invented to represent these goods and services, and the basic need for currency is obvious once exchange grows beyond simple swaps.
The classic example makes the problem concrete. If a man who makes pots for a living needs a new house, he must hire someone to build it for him. But he cannot make an equivalent number of pots to equal this service done to him, and even if he could, the house builder might not want the pots. Currency solved this problem by allowing values to be assigned to things, so that goods and services can in a way be effectively collected and stored for later use, or split among several providers. The pot maker sells pots for currency, stores that value, and pays the builder from it. Every later development in commerce, from chain stores to online fashion retailers, is built on that same device: value made portable, divisible and storable, so exchanges no longer need a double coincidence of wants.
Commerce is the exchange of something of value between two entities. That something may be goods, services, information, money, or anything else the two entities consider to have value.
Commercialization is the process of transforming something into a commercial activity. It is the step by which a product, service or idea is brought into commerce and exchanged for value.
Currency represents goods and services so their value can be collected, stored and split. A pot maker who needs a house cannot pay in an equivalent number of pots, and the builder might not want pots, so currency allows values to be assigned and exchanged.