Decisions on the quantity and quality of goods, location of production and manner of supplying and distributing goods are shifting from manufacturing and raw material companies to retailers. Some become directly involved in marketing, product mix, design, and production. Accurate, comparable information, though, is hard to gather. In transition economies, the sector is being developed almost from scratch. Distribution of goods was a residual function in planned economies, since the concepts of competition between producers for consumers or of consumers' feedback did not exist, and making profit through trading was deemed anti-social.
Commerce is highly heterogeneous.
The structure and functioning of the sector vary greatly between countries, according to living standards, consumption and purchasing habits of the population, and legal regulations dealing with the size of firms, shop-opening hours, consumers' protection, etc. In general, and particularly in retailing, small firms dominate. However, the past 20 years' trend has been towards consolidation and rationalization, entailing a growth of large companies, and a push of small firms towards survival strategies, including price-cutting, cost reduction, and narrowing product range. Great differences exist in employment policy and practice, working conditions and industrial relations, reflecting the sector's heterogeneity. Unionization is low and decreases with the size of firms.