Early History of Retail Industry
Retail has a long and illustrious tradition. There are shards of archaeological evidence for water networks and commerce that date back more than 10000 years. As culture developed, barter was gradually replaced by retail trading, which included the use of currencies.
About the 7th millennium BC, buying and sale are thought to have originated in Asia Minor, Turkey. At about 6000 BCE, there are numerous bits of evidence of trading centres and primitive shops in Kashan.
Open-air public markets can be found in ancient Babylonia and Egypt, among other sites. These open-air markets were typically located in the town's centre. They were surrounded by professional workers and artisans such as leather workers and metal workers, who inhabited a permanent lane that led to the open market area.
They were preparing products to sell on market days. In ancient Greece, the Agora was the location of open-air markets, where items were shown for the public to see on market days.
In ancient Rome, the forum was where treaties were held, and their way to forums, Forum Romanum, and Trajan's Forum. It is said that the Roman forum was one of the earliest examples of a permanent retail store.
About 3000 BC, a new type of currency known as the Shekel was introduced in Mesopotamia, now modern Iraq. It was used as a weight indicator.
The Phoenicians, known for their seafaring abilities, used to Pile their ships across the Mediterranean. By the 9th or 10th century BCE, they had established themselves as a significant trading force. Textiles, timber, and dried fruit oil, wine, and nuts were also imported.
They traded material commodities and played an essential role in the transportation of culture, as the trading networks connected them to bookkeeping and correspondence.
They developed an alphabet around 1500 BC, making it much easier to interpret and comprehend the complicated scripts used in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
The Phoenicians have distributed their alphabet across the Mediterranean, and their inscriptions have been discovered in several archaeological sites and colonies, including modern-day Lebanon and Carthage in North Africa.
The economy in the Roman world was primarily served by poor local peasants and farmers who would sell a small surplus gained from their agricultural operations to purchase small farm machinery and implements and a few moderate luxuries for their households.
On the other hand, the hand owners would have been able to distribute independently, including importing and exporting.
In ancient sources and archaeological research, the existence of export markets is also well known. The Romans tended to buy particular products from specific locations, such as cinnamon from Arabia and oysters from Londinium. Throughout Europe and the Middle East, they had specific location-based interests.
Retailing saw a rapid increase in England and Europe, which has been widely observed, but less is understood about the trend elsewhere. China is also said to have a long tradition of retailing.
China used branding and packaging to distinguish family and place names and product consistency, and government-imposed branding as early as 200 BCE.
Under the Song dynasty, which ruled from 960 to 1127, Chinese society is thought to have developed a consumerist ethos, with the ability to purchase an exhaustive survey of consumption.
The growth of popular culture has increased investment and commercial investment in business image and retail signage and preserved symbolic labels and trademarks.
Retail History of Europe
Customers tended to stroll into a tradesman store where they negotiated shopping opportunities with the tradesman directly in Europe and England, where there were a few permanent stores.
Markets, hucksters, costermongers, peddlers, and other types of itinerant vendors were known to occur in 13th century London, and grocers sold herbs, drugs, and miscellaneous small wares. However, markets sold fish and other perishables, hucksters, costermongers, peddlers, and different types of itinerant vendors.
By the conclusion of the 13th century, a small number of shops had started to appear in other large cities. The medieval store was well-known in Chester for being a significant novelty that drew customers from miles around. It was known as The Rows, and it was thought to be Europe's first shopping arcade.
Rows from the 13th century have been discovered in Cheshire. About the 13th to 14th centuries, another arcade with several shops was recorded in Winchester at Drapery Row. Permanent shops were becoming more frequent in medieval Europe, as evidenced by street names like Mercers Lane, Drapery Row, and Ironmonger Lane.
Modern counterparts had little in common with feudal markets, and shops were little more than Rude stalls as late as the 16th century. The front doors of a traditional shop were flanked by two larger openings on each side, each with shutters.
These shutters were built to open so that the top portion formed a canopy, and the bottom part was equipped with legs that served as a shop board.
The shopping experience of a medieval shopper was vastly different from that of a modern shopper. There were no glazed windows in the 17th century, and they did not become common until the 18th century. It also implies that stores were dimly lit.
The outdoor industry didn't use displays too much, and the idea of a service counter was unheard of. There were few opportunities for shoppers to test products before making a purchase. Many of the shops had sidewalk openings where customers could be served.
Purchases of consumables were made at fairs or markets outside of major cities. Daily needs in crowded cities and towns were popular, as were weekly markets in less populated areas. These markets offered fruits and vegetables and beef, poultry, baked goods, seafood, and ready-to-eat foods.
On the other hand, heads are held regularly and are usually associated with a religious holiday or a significant event. Non-perishable goods like housewares and agricultural implements and rugs, and ceramics were sold in pairs.
Market towns may be found in abundance in medieval Europe. For decades, peddlers and other itinerant traders worked in the retail industry.
Investigations of medieval market town networks across Europe indicate that by the 12th century, there had been a substantial surge in the quantity of market towns, as well as the advent of merchant circuits that were used as merchants but came from further out, and there was a disparity in markets in major towns.
The Grand Bazaar of Istanbul is one of the oldest continuously running markets in the world. It was first built in 1455. From the beginning, English shops were supervised, and English monarchs granted charters to establish markets and fairs in towns and villages. The lords were also given the freedom to take action under the alliance and some protection from competing markets.
When a market was permitted for certain market days, the nearby rifle could not open the market on the same days. Many local markets sprung up between the 12th and 16th centuries, providing buyers in medieval England with a fair selection.
According to an analysis of other people's and monks' shopping patterns in medieval England, the buyers of the period that it is running. The customer's understanding of range and consistency and the price of the goods affected purchasing decisions significantly.
This often influenced their purchasing choices, such as where to buy and which markets to avoid. Regional district markets opened once or twice a week, while traditional markets were popular in larger towns, according to a study of medieval European markets conducted between the 13th and 15th centuries.
With the establishment of permanent shops, the necessary reading decreased, and the manufacturers filled the distribution holes.
The physical market was described using transactional trade, and the economy was described using local commerce. According to accounts, products travelled short distances such as five to ten miles or 40 to 70 miles in cattle. However, after the exploration period, goods such as porcelain, tea, and silk from China, calico cloth and spices from India, and tobacco, rum, sugar, and coffee from the new world were smuggled from far away.
Retailing after the 17th century
In the 17th century, as the number of shops increased, they underwent a significant change. Separate interiors and shopfronts were created in the early 17th century, which is more familiar to contemporary shoppers.
Consumers were now able to inspect and feel items before they were sold, and retail developments were developed in the 18th century.
Outside of major metropolitan areas, few shops catered to a single class of customer. There was a window that opened into the street and from which consumers would be served.
This also encouraged you to sell to others without having to invite them inside. During this period, another tactic that emerged was displaying the merchandise. Many exporters and importers in the United States started to specialize in wholesale or retail positions.
By the late 18th century, grand retail malls had sprung up all over Europe, and the term "shopping arcade" applied to a multi-vendor area operated under one roof. It is the forerunners of today's shopping malls. These were designed to appeal to the middle class, and they marketed luxury goods at much higher costs. By the nineteenth century, there were more and more arcades springing up all over the place.
Many independent shops were divided into categories based on their occupations, such as saloons, libraries, book stores, and various refreshment kiosks and entertainment areas that later became theatres.
The idea of window shopping was born as long glass was used in storefront windows, allowing the emerging middle class to see items from the windows without entering the store.
By the late nineteenth century, department stores had sprouted up all over the country, and they had redefined the idea of luxury and service. The word department store was coined in America, and markets in nineteenth-century England became known as Emporia or wholesale shops.
On Regent Street and Oxford Street in London, the first department store opened. They quickly grew into large department stores with locations in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. Leading department stores also had dining and tea departments, as well as ladies' therapy rooms. By the mid-nineteenth century, catalogue sales were becoming popular.
Edward Filene, a pioneer of a quantitative approach in retail management, created the idea of the automated bargain basement. However, he was not the first to open a bargain basement in the United States. He recommended that the goods are delivered within 30 days, or they would be marked down.
In the postwar era, American architect Victor Gruen helped to create the design of shopping malls. This mall will be a self-contained shopping centre complete with statues, an enclosed plaza, parking, and pipe music.
He envisioned a world where customers would be incredibly relaxed and spend time in it, enabling them to make purchases.
The first of these malls, Northland Center, opened in Detroit in 1954. He has designed 50 such shopping centres, and he is also referred to as the most prominent architect of the twentieth century due to his unique and popular idea.
The first store opened in Texas in 1930, and Sylvan Goldman designed the shopping cart. The first seven-eleven convenience store opened in Texas in 1946, impressing shoppers with its extended hours of service. In the 1960s, the first electronic cash register was created.
The first Walmart opened in 1962, followed by Target, which opened its doors to customers in 1960.
The barcode was not developed until 1974, and as a result, inventory monitoring methods have changed.
In 1995, Amazon, the e-commerce pioneer, launched and sold its first book. Following the introduction of the internet into online commerce, the retail market saw a massive boom.
Since 1999, internet sales of brick-and-mortar products have more than doubled, accounting for 59 per cent of total sales. The majority of shoppers began to enjoy selling their products online and closing shops. In 2007, Facebook crossed a milestone of 1 lakh business accounts used by businesses to draw new clients.
Amazon as a retailer
The retail business, which includes Walmart and Amazon, is the leading employer in the United States as of 2017. Any of these businesses are in the supermarket industry.
Jeff Bezos created Amazon on July 5, 1994, and it began as an online book shop.
The company split into streaming software, audiobooks, computer games, and everything else found in a department store. It is the second-largest employer in the United States of America and the world's largest internet organization by sales.
In 2015, Amazon overtook Walmart as the most profitable retailer. The website amazon.com has been visited by 615 million people.
Promotional fees influence the results provided by Amazon's search engine. Third-party purchases are allowed on Amazon, and it also has an associate network, which is the second most common form of advertisement after Google Ads.
Amazon's approach is a multilevel E-Commerce strategy that relies on business-to-business relationships. The company's website encourages anyone to sell something, and an associate network allows anyone to submit a click-through commission sale after posting an Amazon connection.
Future of Retail industry
Brick and mortar stores are increasingly dwindling and disappearing, with the rise of online retailers dominating the industry. The current trend reveals that today's shoppers are bargain seekers who seek out the best offers available.
Customers do not and do not adhere to a singers store offering a particular product because there are more choices available.
It's evolved into a consumer market rather than a shopper market. The incorporation of artificial intelligence technology by Amazon and synthetic drones to distribute goods quickly to consumers have made brick and mortar stores obsolete.
As a result of mobile advertising, merchants must market themselves on the internet to draw consumers. Both retailers and consumers want a long-term relationship with each other rather than a one-time deal.
Companies are spending more money on developing their names than on developing their products. Shoppers have also been helped with the personal shopping experience thanks to artificial intelligence.
Netflix, for example, recommends videos depending on the ones you've already seen, and Facebook displays advertisements based on the facts and pages you've liked.
Similarly, Amazon also displays the offer that you saw on the internet as an advertisement on its Facebook page to affect its buying decision.
E-Commerce is now promoting online payment solutions and multiple payment gateways that offer consumers various discounts, further boosting the retail industry.
Companies like Amazon are trying to make shopping more personalized and store-like by allowing you to purchase from the luxury of your own home. The word "retailers" is facing competition from e-tailers, who are solely online retailers.
The Future of retail is dependent on both online and brick-and-mortar shops, which corresponds to Place in the Marketing Mix.
If you want to buy a book, you have two choices: order it online, wait, or go to the shop and buy it. While there are fewer middlemen in an online retailer, which cuts the quality of the merchandise, the price of a brick and mortar store could be higher in comparison.
If the buyer needs it right now, he'll go to the shop and buy it, and the e-tailer will lose sales. As a result, businesses like Amazon are trying to cut shipping times and allow same-day deliveries.
Amazon is also opening a physical store to serve its clients better.
Contact Us:
In this article we have explored the history of retailing as well as its future which have been illustrated using both past and present real world examples and cases in retailing.
If you'd like further advice on retail business and marketing, do contact us or write us at [email protected]
