Comercial establishment
Commercial establishment is the physical space where economic goods (services or merchandise) are offered for sale to the public. It is also known as commercial premises, point of sale, business, store or trade (these last terms have other meanings).
With some exceptions (such as certain bakeries and pastry shops), commercial establishments do not usually carry out the production phase of the products they distribute, limiting themselves to playing an intermediary role between the manufacturer and the consumer. As the final consumer is usually the one who goes to commercial establishments, and these are supplied by wholesalers, their intermediary role is called retail trade. The same occurs in the case of commercial premises intended for the provision of services (catering establishments, hairdressers, etc.)
Except in some cases in which the stalls are of public initiative, or of non-governmental organizations and similar institutions, commercial establishments are lucrative, that is, they are oriented towards obtaining benefits for the businessmen who run them. Such entrepreneurs can be the owners of the premises or manage it under a lease. Likewise, they can be large distribution chains, small businessmen or a mixed case that combines both: the franchise. In some cases, they operate under an administrative concession regime.
Other denominations
Commercial establishment
A commercial establishment is the set of physical or material and personal elements aimed at achieving a specific purpose, of a business or commercial nature. Thus, "commercial establishment" has a broader meaning than "commercial establishment".
The commercial establishment, for the law, is a private organization, the result of the intellectual creation of the entrepreneur. As a private organization, it is made up of different elements of a material and personal nature, elements that have their value, and that all of them, integrated, form synergies.
In the commercial establishment, the economic value has a capital importance because said value allows the establishment of legal businesses; You can buy or sell the establishment, rent it, give it in usufruct or mortgage it.
Point of sale
A "point of sale" is the place or premises where customers are served in person, either to sell products or to provide them with a service. This expression comes from the literal translation of point of sale or POS in English; although in that language, the expression refers to the physical point where the economic transaction is executed, that is, the box or line of boxes. Today there are software that work as: cash register, inventory control, vendors.
Evolution
The precedent of commercial establishments can be found in the fairs during the Middle Ages, where farmers, ranchers and artisans exchanged their products. Later, to avoid shortages between fairs, warehouses or small warehouses arose, where a merchant sold basic items. This is how retail appears.
Classification
Commercial establishment of goods
Retail commercial establishments can be classified according to various criteria, the most common being those referring to their individual or collective character (market, shopping center), their size (small, medium and large establishments), the type of products they sell (specialized in food, drugstore, clothing, toys, etc.) and, mainly, to the sales system (traditional, such as free service, such as supermarkets, or mixed, such as department stores).
In the case of selling products, these stores usually have one or more display areas for the items they sell, almost always an area open to the outside or window to attract the public and another internal area where customers can see the items more than close and usually touch them. In addition, it has the main area, the customer service area, where there is usually a cash register or a point of sale terminal. Finally, depending on the size of the establishment and the type of items it sells, they usually have a space reserved for storage.
Commercial service establishment
In addition, in the broadest sense, within commercial establishments are considered some premises not dedicated to commerce, per se, but to other recreational activities related to leisure, such as discos, bars, restaurants, hotels, car rentals, travel agencies, cinemas...
In the case of services, the premises have a larger waiting area where customers can see or read on displays, posters or screens the services provided by the business, and another main area, usually nearby, where they are served (office, office... in English frontoffice). Also, depending on the services they provide, they may have another separate area where they prepare or perform these services that are requested (back office, in English backoffice).
Benefits
- They allow to add a description, price and quantity of each product that comes to the store.
- Daily and periodic reports help company accounting.
- Easy for the creation of a point of sale as only a PC and peripheral components are needed as a cash box.
- Easy information that speeds up decision-making.
- Management of reports and personalized queries, customer relationship and accounts payable.
Situation in Spain
The establishment is defined in articles 3, 85 and 86 of the Commercial Code.
If the buyer is a final consumer, then we speak of retail trade (in Spain, code 52 of the National Classification of Economic Activities —CNAE—). If the products that are sold are motor vehicles and their accessories, in addition to fuel, then they are classified within the CNAE 50 code.
In Spain there are legal restrictions on the free opening of large retail commercial establishments, this definition varying according to the Autonomous Community in question, since this competence ceased to belong exclusively to the State since the mid-90s of the century XX. In general, a large commercial establishment is considered to be one that exceeds 2,500 square meters of sales area.