David Roth

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

I recently edited a book and narrated podcast series called The History of Retail In 100 Objects. It was a partnership with The Store WPP and Intel. It has always concerned me that from the very first transaction, retail has always played a vital part in the fabric of life yet never really been recognised as a major driver of society. In fact the history of retail and social developments are inextricably linked. So… inspired by The British Museum’s, History of the World in 100 Objects, I set out to define the key objects, which over time have had a profound impact on the development of retail.

Arriving at the list of 100 objects has been an enriching experience. It has generated much heated debate with many different perspectives and opinions for the inclusion or exclusion of objects. Our list of 100 objects has been arrived at through collaboration and combining wisdoms – the wisdom of crowds and the wisdom of experts. Using social networks around the globe we first asked for objects to be nominated. We received thousands. An advisory board of experts from different disciplines were invited to help shortlist the most defining objects. I believe that that there will be more change in retail in the next 10 years than there has been in the past 50. So, in conjunction with our partners on this project, Intel and the Intel ‘Futures’ team, we have looked into the future to try to define what objects, not invented yet or commercialised, will have a considerable impact in the years to come. We included seven objects that shed light on where the future is going.

This is the first of many collaborations with Intel to better define the retail future. While the future of retail is uncertain, the one certainty is that the combination of retail, technology, creativity and understanding the changing consumer has never been so intertwined and vital for success.

So starting tomorrow and on every Tuesday  I am going to feature on this blog one object that earned its place in The History Of Retail in 100 Objects.

And if you cant wait for each Tuesday you can download the entire podcast series featuring the story of every 100 Object and the future objects from the link at the bottom of this post.

I am indebted to our Intel partnership team led by Joe Jenson, Jose Avalos, Maroun Ishac, Adrian Whelan, Steve Power Brown, Megan Bednarz and to Brian David Johnson, Director, Future Casting, Interactions and Experience Research Intel.

I hope that you find The History of Retail in 100 Objects and the future objects  interesting and thought provoking.

The future is not what it used to be.