Food isn't an exception— it's just the example I used because I'm most familiar with it. Restaurant purveyors are particularly strict because a restaurant with a 1% or 2% profit margin is considered pretty successful, and that's why 60% of restaurants fail in the first year, and 80% fail by the fifth. But my non-restaurant experience suggests any retailer not required to own their inventory is the exception.
I personally have been a chef and a manager in retail food businesses from movie theaters to coffee shops. I have a friend who owns an upscale boutique that sells many types of products, another that sells products through her salon, several more that own vintage stores (admittedly entirely different supply chain,) a friend who discussed his well-researched, in-depth business plans to open a gun accessories retail shop, another who sells wood crafts and other products direct to customers, a couple full-time artists who sell their art either through galleries or from the walls of businesses, and several food purveyors that only sell to businesses for resale.
In that entire pool, only the artists selling their art through galleries and coffee shop walls, and one of the vintage shops that does consignment sales, differ from the norm of retailers owning their inventory. Some wholesalers or manufacturers will afford well-behaved businesses lines of credit— but that's not the same thing as not owning your inventory. You can't just return it if you don't sell it. Once you sign that delivery sheet, it's pretty much yours.
I've heard of retailers selling new products on manufacturer consignment. I wouldn't be surprised if some specific industries operate like that as a norm. Maybe phone vendors? Maybe software/computer game stores, possibly, because the content is license-based and the material cost is relatively small compared to the price? (Amusingly, as a long-time software developer and someone with a lot of experience in the retail end of business, I have no idea how retail software sales work.) But there's no way Nordstrom is going to order a skid of this spring's collection from major brands and designers and be like "sorry, we decided to give the floor space to other items, so either mark these down to bargain rack prices or we're not paying for them." If that were the way it worked, nobody would sell them anything.
I get the sense that the original commenter just extrapolated based their understanding of business practices that weren't as common as they thought.
I personally have been a chef and a manager in retail food businesses from movie theaters to coffee shops. I have a friend who owns an upscale boutique that sells many types of products, another that sells products through her salon, several more that own vintage stores (admittedly entirely different supply chain,) a friend who discussed his well-researched, in-depth business plans to open a gun accessories retail shop, another who sells wood crafts and other products direct to customers, a couple full-time artists who sell their art either through galleries or from the walls of businesses, and several food purveyors that only sell to businesses for resale.
In that entire pool, only the artists selling their art through galleries and coffee shop walls, and one of the vintage shops that does consignment sales, differ from the norm of retailers owning their inventory. Some wholesalers or manufacturers will afford well-behaved businesses lines of credit— but that's not the same thing as not owning your inventory. You can't just return it if you don't sell it. Once you sign that delivery sheet, it's pretty much yours.
I've heard of retailers selling new products on manufacturer consignment. I wouldn't be surprised if some specific industries operate like that as a norm. Maybe phone vendors? Maybe software/computer game stores, possibly, because the content is license-based and the material cost is relatively small compared to the price? (Amusingly, as a long-time software developer and someone with a lot of experience in the retail end of business, I have no idea how retail software sales work.) But there's no way Nordstrom is going to order a skid of this spring's collection from major brands and designers and be like "sorry, we decided to give the floor space to other items, so either mark these down to bargain rack prices or we're not paying for them." If that were the way it worked, nobody would sell them anything.
I get the sense that the original commenter just extrapolated based their understanding of business practices that weren't as common as they thought.