If you ask a typical sixteen-year-old girl what she wants to do in her free time, the potential answer can be going to the nearest shopping center. Going out shopping with friends or strolling to the shops has evolved into an ideal form of short-term escape in today’s world. Not just a brief break, shopping and spending money on something one loves is more powerful antidepressant than fitness, sunlight, or medicationitself. One might wonder how this phenomenon has been an important part of our life. When did it all start? Has it changed over times? To know the answer, let’s have a look on its history.
The word "retail” first emerged in the 1980s. According to the Chicago Tribune, one of the early uses of the word, referred to the now-renowned phenomenon of going shopping to change one's mood and point of view. However, trading existed before the invention of currencies. According to archaeological findings, vendors used cowrie shells as tokens equivalent to coins to denote the worth of commercial transactions around 1200 BC. Later on, the coins replaced cowrie shells as the preferred currency. Ancient manuscripts and archaeological evidence tell the story of ancient cultures that used coins such as the Roman drachma and denarii. Cowrie shells or gold coins may have additionally been used to please visiting dignitaries. And back then, the largest “retail” system we have practical experience of involved the agora–the Roman trading hub where independent traders would set up shop to sell their products. These items ranged from the day's catch of fresh fish or freshly harvested vegetables to extremely valuable purple dye.
Shopping took on a new shape at the turn of the 16thcentury in Europe when expansive marketplaces and fairs were built as fundraisers and temporary festivities. According to the History of Retail Objects, one of the largest was the Foire St. Germain in Paris, a fair for the benefit of the Abbey of St. Germain founded by Louis XI in 1482.This type of fair used to take place for a few weeks during Easter. Merchants will deal, sell, and raffle off things to help the illustrious Abbey. Parisians enjoyed something close to an early shopping mall. Similar fairs grew in popularity and expanded throughout the developing Western world.
With the early businesses of the Industrial Age came the now-familiar mass-produced products that contributed to the fast, widespread industrialization of shopping culture and the birth of the retail industry as we know it. Businessmen began to see the potential in opening general-merchandise stores to profit from the now-available needed goods. In the 18th and 19th centuries, specialty shops, urban gallerias, and department stores were born, bringing forth the general public with the option to being able to purchase everything they wanted at the drop of a hat. In the late 1800s, Montgomery Ward's first mail-order catalogs and the recent invention of the cash register gave shoppers more opportunities than ever before.
Today, retailers can conduct almost all of their business digitally, thanks to online and mobile shopping, which manages inventory, payroll, CRM, point of sale, and nearly everything else. Consumers can walk into shops packed with European mod cons, Asian gadgets, and kitschy furniture pieces created by third-world artisans. They can use their cutting-edge computers or iPhones to buy products from retailers all over the world and get them delivered in as little as one day. While looking for the right gift for their loved ones, they can read customer reviews and also experts' opinions on the possible future of technological transformation. But, what comes next?
The only thing that is known is that there will be further developments on the way. It is an undeniable reality that circumstances change. Shopping malls would more definitely look different than they did when you were younger. However, it's fun to think about what the future may bring. Humans will still buy items, but we will do so in different ways. To keep up with the technical advances in the retail environment, Chhaya Center, an iconic retail complex, is also now engaging with different internet and mobile shopping units to create a system to deliver goods and services easily and quickly.