The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Merchandise \Mer"chan*dise\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Merchandised;
   p. pr. & vb. n. Merchandising.]
   To trade; to carry on commerce. --Bacon.
   [1913 Webster]

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

merchandising \mer"chan*dis`ing\, n. (Commerce)
   The activities associated with selling products, such as
   identification of the market[7], advertising at the right
   time in the right media[7], and creating attractive packaging
   and displays; also, the study of the best methods to
   accomplish such goals.
   [PJC]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

merchandising
    n 1: the exchange of goods for an agreed sum of money [syn:
         selling, merchandising, marketing]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

44 Moby Thesaurus words for "merchandising":
   agency, barter, bartering, brokerage, buying and selling,
   consumer preference study, consumer research, consumer survey,
   dealing, direct-mail selling, doing business, exchange,
   give-and-take, hard sell, hawking, high-pressure salesmanship,
   horse trading, huckstering, interchange, jobbing,
   low-pressure salesmanship, mail-order selling, market,
   market research, marketing, marketing research, peddling,
   promotion, retail, retailing, sales, sales campaign,
   sales promotion, salesmanship, selling, sellout, soft sell,
   swapping, trade, trading, trafficking, wheeling and dealing,
   wholesale, wholesaling