When looking around, most information on medieval trade tends to be about the big intercontinental trade across the silk road.
But I'm wondering about the total trade, so including trade in between European countries and inside countries themselves.
What was the mainstay of the normal, average merchant. Like, was it food, raw materials (wood, stone, metal), luxury goods?
I'm interested in any period or country that roughly corresponds to 'medieval Europe'. As long as it's about the total volume of trade, and not one specific trade route or trade good.
One of the major changes that happened in western Europe during the central middle ages is the transition from a "make your own" economy where people in rural areas would essentially make their own essential goods for living, from leather goods to clothing and metal goods, either made in their own home (spinning for example) or in their local community, to a "buy the essentials" economy where you would sell wool, hides and other raw materials produced on the farm and use the silver acquired to buy products already made, for example fabric or some finished clothing. The time not spent on making your own would then be spent on producing more, which in turn leads to growth in the agricultural production to feed and clothe a fast growing population.
Wool in its many forms would then be one of the major products handled by an average merchant. Some raw wool would be produced locally and traded in a local market, but depending on where you are in Europe wool may be coming from afar. By the end of the central middle ages England was a major producer of raw wool which was exported to the Flanders and other locations in continental Europe. In addition to raw wool, there would be a significant trade in the dye and mordent needed to color the wool. Woad, saffron and other coloring agents were both produced locally (again depending on where in Europe) and traded from other locations in Europe. Spain was a major producer of saffron used for dyeing clothes yellow, for example. Alum used for fixing the color was mined and refined in small quantities in parts of Europe, and the majority of it would come from mines in the Eastern Mediterranean. Many merchants were involved in the trade of these materials, and there were towns where the vast majority of merchants would be specializing in this type of trade for the fabric industry. And of course there is going to be the trade in the finished product. While some high end cloth would be exported to the east, the vast majority of the cloth produced and sold in Europe would be medium to low quality, perfectly satisfactory for the need of the bulk of a growing European population. Lighweight twill wool fabric was a specialty of Florence, for example, and regional and local markets would have been places to buy that and other fabric for the local population.