I know this sounds stupid... but I can't seem to find some general information regarding DVD online shops (this is for school project which I almost completed but I am still confused about this).

When it comes to term vendor, I would think that retail shops order items from "vendor" and place them in their warehouses or on display shelves.
The vendor basically stacks bunch of items from the specific product line and then ships them out to stores etc.. (am I correct here?)

However, in internet "arena" does the term vendor = actual shop?

I found this article that lists vendors as actual shops and that's where I saw the vendor = shop.

http://german.about.com/library/blvideo2.htm#equip


If vendor is a separate entity from the online shops I would assume that they get DVDs from production houses or the Factories where dvd's are pressed and all together; shop vendor and factory have a specific contract that states how many DVDs to print / order etc. etc.

Moreover, another question comes to my mind is where does the distribution center come in. When we discussed amazon they have an outside contractor that does storing/shipping for them.

Thanks ahead for any help.