The common differences between wholesalers and retailers include

• Wholesalers sell goods in bulk or large quantities. On the other hand, retailers sell commodities in relatively small quantities. It means that retailers purchase merchandise on wholesale in order to sell in small profitable quantities.
• Wholesalers link producers and retailers while retailers act as the link between wholesalers and consumers.
• Wholesalers often deal with limited range of products while retailers deal with diversified products capable of meeting varied needs of consumers.
• Wholesalers require a lot of capital to start the business due to bulk purchases. On the contrary, retailers require low capital to start the business as they make purchases in small quantities.

Wholesalers offer various services which include

• Distribution. Wholesalers distribute on behalf of the producers to different retailers.
• Warehousing. Wholesalers ease manufacturers the burden storage as they provide warehousing services.

The name changed from Sam's Wholesale Club to Sam's Club due to provision of beer and wide array of liquors directly to customers in small quantities which means that it is not a wholesale company.