How a company classifies its inventory depends on whether the firm is a merchan- diser or a manufacturer. In a merchandising company. such as those described in Chapter 5, inventory consists of many different items. For example, in a grocery store, canned goods, dairy products, meats, and produce are just a few of the inven- tory items on hand. These items have two common characteristics: (1) They are owned by the company, and (2) they are in a form ready for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business. Thus, merchandisers need only one inventory classifi- cation, merchandise inventory, to describe the many different items that make up the total inventory.