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Explore the Producer Price Index for Wholesale Trade in NAICS Sector 42, detailing utility creation, channeling functions, types of wholesalers, classification issues, and wholesale trade pricing mechanisms.
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Producer Price Index U.S. Wholesale Trade NAICS Sector 42 Author: James J. Gorko US Bureau of Labor Statistics
Wholesale Trade Definition • Efficient transfer of goods from manufacturer to another party for the strict intention of resale • The creation of utility (or efficiency) • Channeling function
Creation of Utility • Time and place utility • Making products available when and where customers are likely to find them • Possession utility • Allowing customers to take ownership of products as needed • Information utility • Providing details about the products sold
Channeling Function • Selling and promoting • Buying and assortment building • Bulk breaking • Warehousing • Transportation • Risk bearing • Market information • Management services and advice
Types of Wholesalers • Merchant Wholesalers • Generally take title to goods • Sales Branches and Offices of Manufacturing Operations • Title generally stays with manufacturer until sale is complete • Agents and Brokers • Generally do not take title to goods
Classification Issues • NAICS versus ISIC • Conceptual difference • ISIC uses class of customer definition • NAICS using method of selling • General concordance at sector level • Only two one-to-one industries (out of 17 4-digit ISIC and 71 6-digit NAICS) • Motor Vehicle – ISIC combines wholesale and retail
Classification Issues • Wholesale versus retail • NAICS classifies units as retail if they have any retail selling space • Majority of turnover could be wholesale but still in retail if they have retail selling space
Classification Issues • Wholesale versus manufacturing • Manufacturers transform materials into new products • Wholesalers generally engage in breaking bulk and redistribution producing a new version of same product • Contract manufacturers are not included in wholesale • Manufacturer sales offices are in wholesale even if prices are set by manufacturer and title held by manufacturer
Classification Issues • Wholesale versus Manufacturing • Examples: • Bottling – all bottling except soft drinks are in wholesale trade – soft drinks manufacturing • Metal service centers saw, shear, bend, level, clean, or edge on a custom basis and are considered wholesalers • Cheese grating – wholesale if they cut, grate and mix cheese. If aging or moisture reduction is included, then manufacturing
Classification Issues • Scrap/Recyclable material merchant wholesales
Wholesale Trade Pricing • No direct ‘fee for service’ price exist • Gross margin is used to quantify the value of the trade services provided to the consumer of those same services • Gross margin is defined in national accounts as the selling price of a good less the cost of replacing the good sold • Excludes clearance prices
Wholesale Trade Pricing • Margin prices are most prevalent prices for merchant wholesalers who generally take title to the goods (also used by manufacturers sales & branch offices) • Dollar value of commission prices are most prevalent prices for agents and brokers who do not take title to the goods (also used by manufacturers sales & branch offices)
Wholesale Trade Pricing • For merchant wholesalers, the margin price is calculated using the incoming acquisition price and the selling price • For agents and brokers, the dollar value of commission is calculated by multiplying sales dollars by the commission percentage
Wholesale Trade Pricing • Margin Pricing • 1. Average gross margin per unit for a comparable customer class and/or supplier class for all sales within a comparable product line. • 2. Average gross margin per unit for all customers and/or suppliers for a comparable product line. • 3. Average gross margin per unit for a particular customer class and/or supplier class for all sales of a particular product. • 4. Average gross margin per unit for all customers and/or suppliers for all sales of a particular product. • 5. Gross margin for a single specific product transaction
Wholesale Trade Pricing • Dollar Value of Commission Prices • 1. Average dollar value of commission per unit for a comparable customer class for all sales within a comparable product line. • 2. Average dollar value of commission per unit for all customers for a comparable product line. • 3. Average dollar value of commission per unit for a particular customer class for all sales of a particular product. • 4. Average dollar value of commission per unit for all customers for all sales of a particular product. • 5. Dollar value of commission for a single specific product transaction
Wholesale Trade Pricing • Prices as defined in SPPI Thesaurus • Margin Price • ??? Direct use of prices of repeated services ???? • Dollar Value of Commission • ???? Percentage fees ????
Wholesale Trade Pricing • Average Margin Pricing • Homogeneous groupings of products with same marketing strategy • 65% of wholesale trade respondents • Particularly useful for wholesalers with rapid product change/seasonal products • Caution: if product groups are not homogeneous enough or too broad, an unknown degree of error is introduced
Quality adjustment • Necessary when marketing characteristics change not when product features change • Marketing characteristics are difficult to quantify without hedonic model • Currently only able to quality adjust if respondent identifies a marketing change and provides a quality adjustment value for that change
Comparability to Turnover Data • Turnover data in greater detail than in PPI in 5-year economic census collections • Annual and monthly turnover data is not as comprehensive as 5-year data
National Accounts • Currently, U.S. national accounts publish at the three digit NAICS level only but deflate at lower levels • U.S. national accounts requesting PPIs at the 4-5 digit NAICS level to use as deflators • Without PPIs for wholesale, then PPI goods prices are used assuming that margin data will equate with gross sales price data (bad assumption)
Summary • Growing sector in U.S. economy • Manufacturing units are outsourcing production so former manufacturing unit becomes a wholesale trade unit • Important for national accounts to have accurate margin data for deflators