How did the Phoenician alphabet help trade?

Question:

The Role of the Phoenician Alphabet in Promoting Trade:

The Phoenicians, who lived on the coast of what is now Lebanon, had a trading empire that stretched across the Mediterranean, with colonies in Sicily, North Africa, and Spain. Though these settlements were different from the Greek colonies that developed around the same time, in that the Greeks were interested in finding more land for their citizens rather than setting up trading posts, one of them—Carthage, or "New City"—became a powerful empire of its own which came into conflict with Rome as it began to expand its empire across the Mediterranean.

Answer and Explanation: