Retail

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It’s Tuesday so it’s The History Of Retail In 100 Objects  post – This weeks object is The Cowrie Shell. In the earliest civilisations the concept of ‘trading’ was well established, but there was no equivalent to money for use in such transactions. To get your food you would ‘barter’ an item such as fish, fur, clot hes, decorative items, tools or even weapons. From 9,000 to 6,000 BC the nearest equivalent to currency was cattle. Archaeological evidence suggests that the first widespread form of currency was introduced around 1200 BC, through the adoption of the cowrie shell as a trading ‘token’. These shells shared many of the attributes of modern coins – being durable, portable, easily recognisable and hard to fake. As well as being counted out in payment, they could also be traded by weight. The cowrie shell was indigenous to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but its use as a trading token spread and it became the most commonly used means of payment across large parts of Asia, Africa, and some of the outer reaches of Europe. The significance of shell trading in China is evidenced by ancient artefacts that show simplified representations of the cowrie used as part of the characters for words with economic meaning – such as money,coin,buy. Just as with currency exchanges today, the value of the cowrie shell could fluctuate, depending on where it was being traded. For example, in some places a few cowries would buy a cow; whereas in the Maldives (where cowrie shell collecting and trading was a big business), several hundred thousands of cowries would be required in exchange for a single gold dinar. The Portuguese, English, French and Dutch played a significant role in promoting the cowrie as a currency for commercial transactions, including using it for trading in slaves. In Western Africa, ‘shell money’ remained legal tender right up until the mid 19th century.

Contribution to Retail History

As the first recognised ‘common currency’, the cowrie shell played a vital contribution to the development of commerce and early formal retail. Non-perishable, lightweight and robust, it opened up international trade opportunities by enabling transactions to be carried out across continents and between different cultures.

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It’s Tuesday so it’s The History Of Retail In 100 Objects  post – This weeks object is The Shelf

The shelf is a fundamental component of the store experience and allows retailers to display products and encourage sales, impart information and deliver promotional incentives. The type and quality of materials used in the fabrication of shelves contributes to perception s of the retailer and the products offered for sale. Shelves were created in ancient times out of a desire to elevate and protect valuable objects, which at the time tended to be scrolls or other types of written documents. Advancements in printing which made the publication of books possible meant libraries needed extensive shelving for storage. The application of shelves was readily apparent to retailers who equipped stores with horizontal surfaces to store products in back rooms and display products to customers so they could easily be retrieved by clerks. The boom years for shelves arrived with the birth of self service shopping in department stores in the 1800s and later in supermarkets. The new approach to retail meant shoppers needed to be able to see and touch products and shelves were the solution. Shelving materials can consist of wood, metal, glass, plastic, stone or composite materials and come in an endless array of finishes. Shelves perform the most basic of functions within a retail environment, but the combination of materials, finishes and configurations present retailers with an infinite number of options when it comes to creatively merchandising a store. In addition to their important contribution to merchandising, shelves play an important role in supply chain management. Different categories require specific shelving solutions which can vary widely from car batteries and cans of paint to folded shirts and delicate ceramics. Shelf design must account for the unique characteristics of each, to enable effective merchandising while providing adequate holding capacity to maintain acceptable in-stock levels based on anticipated rates of sale and the retailer’s replenishment capabilities. An amazing array of shelving is evident in the retail industry today.

Contribution to Retail History

Early shelving options allowed retailers to increase the inventory capacity of their stores and the productivity of selling space. Chain stores who made use of consistent shelving configurations were able to optimise product assortments and increase sales. The extensive range of shelving materials, finishes and configurations also advanced the practice of visual merchandising which greatly affected store experience.

The History Of Retail In 100 Objects Is Available As A Free Podcast

It’s Tuesday so it’s The History Of Retail In 100 Objects post – This weeks object is The Balance Scale

Balance scales were in use in Mesopotamia as early as around the year 4000 BC . They were probably derived from the principles of a yoke, whereby two equal weights would balance if suspended either side of a central beam. Early balance scales measure relative weight (as opposed to actual weight). Measures were calculated by putting the object measured on one plate, and stones (the counterweight) on the other, until equilibrium was reached. In the late 18th century, a way to measure absolute weight was developed by Richard Salter when he invented the spring scale. This calculated the weight of an item by measuring the pressure it registered when hung by a hook attached to the spring. Around the same period (in 1897), one of the first commercial price-indicating scales was being developed in America. A weighed cursor, graduated vertically into prices per pound, was slid along a steelyard, which is a device with a short arm taking the item to be weighed, and a long graduated arm along which a weight is moved until it balances. The price of the goods could be read off the chart at the point where balance was achieved. Slow to actually provide a reading, it failed to catch on. From the 1940s, scales were incorporating electronic devices to make them more accurate. Today, the traditional balance scales so associated with grocers, butchers, confectioners and a myriad of other retailers, have been replaced almost entirely by digital scales. These scales not only weigh to a tenth of a gram, but by communicating with the retailer’s pricing system also print labels, instantly giving the weight and associated price of each weighed purchase. Scales are also integrated into supermarket checkouts, greatly streamlining the process.

Contribution to Retail History

Scales are one of civilisations most important developments. For centuries, traders have bought and sold goods according to weight and today all trade depends on having a fair system of weights and measures controlled by law. The food we eat and many of the products we use will have been weighed and measured – probably many times – in their journey through the supply chain. Without the ability to measure weight and ascribe a value to it, commerce would not have progressed beyond the basic bartering system. Thus, the scales became the principle way of determining the cost of an item, and a cornerstone of retailing as we know it.

The History Of Retail In 100 Objects Is Available As A Free Podcast

It’s Tuesday so it’s The History Of Retail In 100 Objects post –  This weeks objects is- The Cuneiform Tablet.

Civilisation ’s need to write things down , make a list, keep a record, categorise data and thereby pay taxes, goes back to the earliest times. The first system of writing used to record this information (that is known to us) is called ‘Cuneiform script ’. Cuneiform used pictorial symbols set out in columns on clay tablets, using a blunt reed for a stylus. The blunt reeds left a ‘wedge shaped’ impression , and this is where the name cuneiform comes from, the Latin for ‘wedge’. This writing system began in Sumer, in Mesopotamia, as long ago as 8000 BC. The early tablets were in their simplest form principally used for record keeping – agrarian inventories for grain, animals and equipment. But as the ancient world increasingly urbanised, these writings took on a more commercial form and were employed to record bargains sealed, ships’ cargoes, and lists of manufactured goods. Early Sumerians used cuneiform to list the clay tokens they used to exchange and store their agricultural and manufactured goods. The clay tokens were put in clay containers and they impressed onto the sealed containers, one picture for each token inside the container. As time passed, it became a standard practice for the major cities to date documents by year, names, and their respective kings. It also became a way of calculating how much people should pay in taxes. These early writings in turn led to their use for everyday purposes, not least in shopping. Dr Irvine Finkel, of the British Museum and noted Cuneiform scholar, has established that some of the earliest tablets he has examined are shopping lists!

 Contribution to Retail History

Cuneiform tablets highlight our shopping journey from the ancient world to modern times. The shopping bag and the shopping list have survived the journey of time and civilisations. Both have been in use for millennia and whilst we have little evidence of an ancient bag, it is interesting to see from the many clay tablets that have survived, that the ancients wrote out their lists just as we do today.

The History Of Retail In 100 Objects Is Available As A Free Podcast

Today is the start of the Tuesday, History Of Retail In 100 Objects, series

This weeks object is… The Abacus.

Traders have always needed counting boards of some kind. The earliest versions, which predated the abacus, would have been used by traders at markets. Traders drew lines in the sand with their fingers or a stylus of some kind. They would then place pebbles between those lines to represent numbers.  The Abacus – or counting frame  – evolved from ancient times, through to the Middle Ages and Modern Times. In 500 BC the early counting boards included The Salamis Tablet, the Ro man Calculi and the hand-abacus. The Roman hand abacus was often made from stone and metal.  In the Middle Ages came the Apices, the coin-board, and the Line-board, which date from 5 AD to around 1400 AD.  Most were made from wood, and originally the beads on which you counted ran vertically. By the time the system had evolved to Line-boards, the columns ran horizontally.  From 1200 AD the abacus evolved into the Chinese suan-pan, the Japanese soroban, and the Russian schoty.

The classic Chinese abacus is the one we are most familiar with. It has two beads on the upper deck and 5 on the lower deck, and is often called the  ‘2/5’ abacus. From about 1850 this was replaced with the ‘1/5’ abacus, with one bead on the top deck and five beads on the bottom deck.  The Chinese abacus was further adapted by Lee Kai-Chen, and by 1958  the ‘new’ abacus could be found in use,  complete with an instruction book. It has more decks top and bottom combining the 1/4 soroban model and the 2/5  suan-pan style. Kai-Chen said it was a  “Revolution of Chinese Calculators”. Traders have always needed counting boards of some kind. The earliest version s, which predated the abacus, would have been used by traders at markets. Traders drew lines in the sand with their fingers or a stylus of some kind. They would then place pebbles between those lines to represent numbers.  The Abacus – or counting frame  – evolved from ancient times, through to the Middle Ages and Modern Times. In 500 BC the early counting boards included The Salamis Tablet, the Roman Calculi and the hand-abacus.

The Roman hand abacus was often made from stone and metal.  In the Middle Ages came the Apices, the coin-board, and the Line-board, which date from 5 AD to around 1400 AD. Most were made from wood, and originally the beads on which you counted ran vertically. By the time the system had evolved to Line-boards, the columns ran horizontally. From 1200 AD the abacus evolved into the Chinese suan-pan, the Japanese soroban, and the Russian schoty. The classic Chinese abacus is the one we are most familiar with. It has two beads on the upper deck and 5 on the lower deck, and is often called the  ‘2/5’ abacus. From about 1850 this was replaced with the ‘1/5’ abacus, with one bead on the top deck and five beads on the bottom deck.  The Chinese abacus was further adapted by Lee Kai-Chen, and by 1958 the ‘new’ abacus could be found in use, complete with an instruction book. It has more decks top and bottom combining the 1/4 soroban model and the 2/5 suan-pan style. Kai-Chen said it was a  “Revolution of Chinese Calculators”.

Contribution To Retail History

As the first known calculating mechanism, the abacus enabled merchants and traders to add, subtract,  multiply and divide without the use of pebbles, twigs or other ‘representations’.  Being liberated to work on larger, more complex calculations was a significant advancement in the earliest days of retail management.

The History Of Retail In 100 Objects Is Available As A Free Podcast