Small Business Glossary: D

demographics: The characteristics of a population (such as age, gender, income, and so on) collected or used for market research.

depreciate: To allocate a fixed asset's cost over three or more years, based on its estimated useful life to the business.

direct selling: A business format in which you sell consumer products or services in a person-to-person manner, away from a specific retail location.

disclosure: Information provided in a financial report, in addition to the information in the financial statements.

distributor: A business that buys products from wholesalers (and sometimes from manufacturers) and resells them to direct-sales organizations, brokers, and dealer.