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.
Yet in the European Union, the commerce sector did better than any other, in recently establishing a regional-level social dialogue, tackling such issues as training, combating violence at work, and the sales of products made with child labour. Increasingly, American and European retailers are developing codes of conduct requiring manufacturers and other firms with which they do business to meet basic labour standards. Commerce is growing, but this does not automatically entail greater employment opportunities. Middlemen are disappearing, in the quest for leaner production-distribution chains and lower prices. The largest upheavals occur in retailing.