A merchandising company, or merchandiser, differs in several basic ways from a company that provides services. First, a merchandiser purchases and then sells goods whereas a service company sells services. For example, a car dealership is a merchandiser that sells cars while an airline is a service company that sells air travel. Because merchandising involves the purchase and then the resale of goods, an expense called cost of goods sold results. Cost of goods sold is the cost of the actual goods sold. For example, the cost of goods sold for a car dealership would be the cost of the cars purchased from manufacturers and then resold to customers. A service company does not have an expense called cost of goods sold since it does not sell goods. Because a merchandiser has cost of goods sold expense and a service business does not, the income statement for a merchandiser includes different details. A merchandising income statement highlights cost of goods sold by showing the difference between sales revenue and cost of goods sold called gross profit or gross margin. The basic income statement differences between a service business and a merchandiser are illustrated in Figure 5.1.