CASH AND CARRY

  Cash & Carry is a form of trade in which goods are sold from a wholesale warehouse
operated either on a self service basis or on the basis of samples (with customer selecting
from the specimen samples) or a combination of the two. Customers (retailers, professional
users, caterers, institutional buyers, etc) settle the invoices on the spot and in cash, and
carry the goods away themselves.
  Though wholesalers buy primarily from the manufacturers and sell mostly to the retailers,
industrial users and other wholesalers, they also perform many value added functions
including selling and promoting, buying and assortment building, bulk breaking, warehousing,
transporting, financing, risk bearing, supplying market information and providing
management services.
  The main difference between the classic wholesalers and the cash and carry wholesaler
is that the customer of the cash & carry wholesaler arranges the transport of the goods
themselves and pay for the goods in cash and not on credit.
The Cash & Carry concept was established by Metro which was first started in the year
1964 in Germany. It offers up to 50,000 different products from a single source. The
success of Metro cash & carry in its markets is reflected not only by its millions of
satisfied customers, but also in the sales . Metro had a turnover of more than 29.9 billion
euros in the 2006 (From company's website)

The main advantage of cash & carry is :
  • Compromising on the quality of the product is reduced
  • Better bargaining power and freedom in pricing strategy
  • Positive control on stock keeping strategy.
The main advantages to manufacturer are :
  • It reduces the promotional costs
  • Ensures stability of sales volume (at least while the contract is operative)


Government of India allows FDI in Cash & Carry format. Metro was the first retailer
under this format to enter India with operations in Bangalore. Now it is spreading across
the country