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Merchant capitalism is a term used by economic historians to refer to the earliest phase in the development of capitalism as an economy and social system. In Europe, merchant capitalism first became a significant economic force in the 11th or the 16th century, depending on point of view. The mercantile era drew to a close around 1800, giving way to industrial capitalism.

Merchant capitalism was mostly not based on industrialisation and the factory system, but on merchant houses backed by financiers acting as intermediaries between simple commodity producers. Thus, merchant capitalism preceded the capitalist mode of production as a form of Capital accumulation. The transformation of merchant capitalism into industrial capitalism involved, according to Karl Marx, a process of primitive accumulation of capital, resulting in a rapid expansion of industrial wage labour.

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