Is commerce a word

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions which directly and indirectly contributes to the transfer of goods and services on a large scale and at the right time, place, quantity and price from the original producers to the final consumers within local, regional, national or international economies ^[1] More specifically, commerce is not business (i.e. an organization or activity whose goal is to sell manufactured goods and/or services for profit), but rather the part of business which is related to the movement and distribution of finished or intermediate (but valuable) goods and services from the primary manufacturers to the end customers on a large scale, as opposed to the sourcing of raw materials and manufacturing of those goods.

Commerce is different from trade as well. Trade is the transaction (buying and selling) of goods and services which makes a profit for the seller and satisfies the want or need of the buyer. When trade is carried out within a country, it is called home or domestic trade, which can be wholesale or retail. A wholesaler buys from the producer in bulk and sells to the retailer who then sells again to the final consumer in smaller quantities. Trade between a country and the rest of the world is called foreign or international trade, which consists of import trade and export trade, both being wholesale in general. Commerce not only includes trade as defined above, but also the auxiliary services and means which facilitate such trade. These auxiliary services include transportation, communication, warehousing, insurance, banking, financial markets, advertising, packaging, the services of commercial agents and agencies, etc. In other words, commerce encompasses a wide array of political, economical, technological, logistical, legal, regulatory, social and cultural aspects of trade on a large scale. From a marketing perspective, commerce creates time and place utility by making goods and services available to the customers at the right place and at the right time by changing their location or placement. Described in this manner, trade is a part of commerce and commerce is a part of business.

Commerce was a costly endeavor in the antiquities because of the risky nature of transportation, which restricted it to local markets. Commerce then expanded along with the improvement of transportation systems over time. In the middle ages, long-distance and large-scale commerce was still limited within continents. With the advent of the age of exploration and oceangoing ships, commerce took an international, trans-continental stature. Currently the reliability of international trans-oceanic shipping and mailing systems and the facility of the Internet has made commerce possible between cities, regions and countries situated anywhere in the world. In the 21st century, Internet-based electronic commerce (where financial information is transferred over Internet), and its subcategories such as wireless mobile commerce and social network-based social commerce have been and continue to get adopted widely.

Legislative bodies and ministries or ministerial departments of commerce regulate, promote and manage domestic and foreign commercial activities within a country. International commerce can be regulated by bilateral treaties between countries. However, after the second world war and the rise of free trade among nations, multilateral arrangements such as the GATT and later the World Trade Organization became the principal systems regulating global commerce. The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is another important organization which sets rules and resolves disputes in international commerce.

Etymology[edit]

The English-language word commerce has been derived from the Latin word commercium, from com («together») and merx («merchandise»).^[2]

History[edit]

Historian Peter Watson and Ramesh Manickam date the history of long-distance commerce from circa 150,000 years ago.^[4]

In historic times, the introduction of currency as a standardized money facilitated the exchange of goods and services.^[5]

Banking systems developed in medieval Europe, facilitating financial transactions across national boundaries.^[6] Markets became a feature of town life, and were regulated by town authorities.^[7]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Commerce is another word for trade or business, and can mean simply the buying and selling of goods and services.^[1] Some commerce involves high finance and big companies and organisations. Commercial real estate is a place for commerce, a place to do business. Interstate commerce is the movement of goods, money or transportation between two or more states.^[2] International trade is the exchange of goods and services between countries.^[3]

References[change | change source]

1. ↑ «Commerce». Investopedia, LL C. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
2. ↑ «interstate commerce». The Free Dictionary. Farley. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
3. ↑ «international trade». Web Finance, Inc. Archived from the original on 12 April 2016. Retrieved 31 March 2016.

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Middle French commerce, from Latin commercium.

Pronunciation[edit]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒm.əs/, (verb, dated) /kəˈmɜːs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑ.mɚs/, (verb, dated) /kəˈmɝs/
• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -ɒməs, (Received Pronunciation, dated) -ɜːs

Noun[edit]

commerce (countable and uncountable, plural commerces)

1. (business) The exchange or buying and selling of commodities; especially the exchange of merchandise, on a large scale, between different places or communities; extended trade or traffic.
2. Social intercourse; the dealings of one person or class in society with another; familiarity.
   • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:

     Suppose we held our converse not in words, but in music; those who have a bad ear would find themselves cut off from all near commerce, and no better than foreigners in this big world.

3. (obsolete) Sexual intercourse.
   • 1648, Walter Montagu Miscellanea Spiritualia, or Devout Essaies

     these perillous commerces of our love

4. An 18th-century French card game in which the cards are subject to exchange, barter, or trade.^[1]

Synonyms[edit]

• trade, traffic, dealings, intercourse, interchange, communion, communication
• See also Thesaurus:copulation

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

commerce (third-person singular simple present commerces, present participle commercing, simple past and past participle commerced)

1. (intransitive, archaic) To carry on trade; to traffic.

   • Beware you commerce not with bankrupts.

2. (intransitive, archaic) To hold conversation; to communicate.

   • 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Walking to the Mail”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 48:

     No, sir, he, / Vex’d with a morbid devil in his blood / That veil’d the world with jaundice, hid his face / From all men, and commercing with himself, / He lost the sense that handles daily life— […]

   • 1844, John Wilson, Essay on the Genius, and Character of Burns:

     Musicians […] taught the people in angelic harmonies to commerce with heaven.

Further reading[edit]

• commerce in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• “commerce”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle French commerce, borrowed from Latin commercium (“commerce, trade”), from com- (“together”) + merx (“good, wares, merchandise”); see merchant, mercenary.

Pronunciation[edit]

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.mɛʁs/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

Noun[edit]

commerce m (plural commerces)

1. commerce, trade
2. store, shop, trader

Derived terms[edit]

• commerce équitable
• commercial
• café du commerce
• fonds de commerce

See also[edit]

• négoce

Further reading[edit]

• “commerce”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Louisiana Creole[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From French commerce (“commerce”).

Noun[edit]

commerce

1. business, commerce

References[edit]

• Alcée Fortier, Louisiana Folktales

What Is Commerce?

Commerce is the exchange of goods or services among two or more parties. It is the subset of business that focuses on the sale of finished or unfinished products rather than their sourcing, manufacturing, transportation, or marketing.

Generally, commerce can refer to an exchange of goods or services for money or something of equal value.

From the broadest perspective, governments are tasked with managing the commerce of their nations in a way that meets the needs of their citizens by providing jobs and producing beneficial goods and services.

Understanding Commerce

Commerce has existed from the moment humans started exchanging goods and services with one another. From the early days of bartering to the creation of currencies and the establishment of trade routes, humans have sought ways to facilitate the exchange of goods and services by building a distribution process to bring together sellers and buyers.

Today, the term commerce normally refers to large-scale purchases and sales. The sale or purchase of a single item by a consumer is defined as a transaction, while commerce may refer to all transactions related to the purchase and sale of that item.

Most commerce in modern times is conducted internationally and represents the buying and selling of goods between nations.

Commerce is not synonymous with business but is a subset of it. Commerce does not relate to the sourcing, manufacturing, or production processes but only to the distribution of goods and services. That alone encompasses a number of roles, such as logistical, political, regulatory, legal, social, and economic.

Commerce vs. Business vs. Trade

These words are often used interchangeably but they are not the same.

Business

Business is any endeavor undertaken for the purpose of making a profit.

It includes selling goods and services, but everyone else involved in the process of creating the product and getting it to a consumer is engaged in business activity.

When you fill up your gas tank at a service station, you are completing a process that started with an oil exploration company locating an oil deposit, continued with a drilling company extracting crude oil, and then went through many stages of transportation, refining, and distribution before it got to your gas tank. A number of people conducted business to get it there.

Commerce

Commerce refers specifically to the exchange of products or services between two or more parties. In the above example, you engaged in commerce when you paid to fill up your gas tank.

Along the way, there were other examples of commercial activity. For example, the crude oil was sold in bulk to one or more oil companies. That was a commercial transaction as well.

Trade

The distinction between commerce and trade is pretty fine. Both are the direct exchange of goods and services for something of value between two parties. (In modern times, «something of value» means money.)

However, there are some differences in their usage:

• Commerce, as in the above example, implies a series of commercial transactions for the purpose of producing a product. The last stage of the commercial process is the sale of a finished product to its consumer.
• Trade suggests only the final transaction in which a seller provides a finished product and a consumer pays for it. In this sense, trade is a subset of commerce as commerce is a subset of business.

Regulating Commerce

When properly managed, commercial activity enhances the standard of living of a nation’s citizens and increases its standing in the world. However, when commerce is allowed to run unregulated, large businesses can become too powerful and impose negative externalities on citizens for the benefit of the business owners.

Most nations have established government agencies responsible for promoting and managing commerce, such as the Department of Commerce in the United States.

Large multinational organizations regulate commerce across borders. For example, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its predecessor, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), established rules for tariffs relating to the import and export of goods between countries. The rules are meant to facilitate commerce and establish a level playing field for member countries.

The Rise of E-commerce

The idea of commerce has expanded to include electronic commerce in the 21st century. Electronic commerce, or e-commerce, is defined as any business or commercial transaction that includes the transfer of financial information over the Internet.

E-commerce changed how commerce is conducted. In the past, imports and exports posed logistical hurdles for both the buyer and the seller. Only larger companies with scale in their favor could benefit from export customers.

With the rise of e-commerce, small business owners have a chance to market to international customers and fulfill their orders.

Export management companies help domestic small businesses with the logistics of selling internationally. Export trading companies help small businesses by identifying international buyers and domestic sourcing companies that can fulfill the demand. Import/export merchants purchase goods directly from a domestic or foreign manufacturer, and then they package the goods and resell them on their own as an individual entity, assuming the risk but taking higher profits.

существительное ↓

Словосочетания

articles of trade / commerce — потребительские товары  

Примеры с переводом

Примеры, ожидающие перевода

Возможные однокоренные слова

commercial  — коммерческий, торговый, доходный, реклама, коммивояжер