What is retail?

Retail is a term that is bandied about in business, and it’s a simple term that encompasses any activity where money is exchanged for goods. This very activity stretches from online, to stores and even into different business models like market places. That’s a very simplistic way of explaining it, but if we look at history that can help us understand better what retail is all about.

The history of ‘ancient’ retail

Retail has existed since our earliest civilisations. In fact we can trace retail which most likely was in the form of bartering (exchanging goods for goods) back to more than 10,000 years ago. Retail would have fundamentally changed as currency (in the form of gold and silver) was introduced. This shifted retail from bartering to exchanging money for goods. Very close to how we understand retail today. According to research the earliest ‘retail’ where selling + buying occurred was in Modern Day Turkey (Asia Minor) around the 7th millenium BCE. In fact there is evidence of retail activity throughout this area from Sialk Hills In Kashan (around 6000 BCE) through to Jericho (around 2600 BCE).

The rise of the marketplace

In fact these early retail activity became synonymous with the concept of the ‘Marketplace’ - this is the ancient version of a shopping mall. The Marketplace was often a public market in the centre of a town, where skilled artisans, makers, metal workers, ceramicists, leather workers etc. sold through a permanent stores. The big difference between these stores and modern day retail stores was that goods were both available for sale as well as made to order. This is an important delineation. Given goods + resources were scarce, they we often made bespoke (made to order) for the customer. This is funnily enough a trend that we are returning to now in modern day retail.

Retail in Ancient Greece + Rome

Retail in Ancient Rome

One of the images that frequently comes to mind when you think about retail is the Agora or the Forum in Greece + Rome. These were centres of retail trade. In Ancient Greece the Agora (which means market) was an open space. Kind of like the Farmers Market or Stalls we think of today. Where retailers - who were skilled artisans - would set up temporary shops to sell to the public on specific market days. Then we have the Forum in Ancient Rome. In fact there were two forums in Rome - the Romanum + the Trajan. The Romanum was something akin to a shopping centre of it’s day featuring 4 levels, and multiple buildings dedicated to trade. In Ancient Greece and Roman retail often involved direct selling to the public.

From Direct Selling to Importing

The Ancient Phoenicians

As time progressed the concept of importing was introduced by the Phoenicians around the 9th century. This was a culture adept at sea travel and so started to trade (import) textiles, wine, fruits, glass etc through a network of cities across the Mediterranean. In fact their trading - procuring of goods across the region - was so good their own language spread across the region. So retail shifted from a place for local producers to share their goods; to a place where merchants peddled goods procured from other cities to the public.

Modern Day Retail from Ancient Beginings

So from ancient beginnings Retail - even ecommerce - still use the basic tenant of buying and selling that started in the 7th Millenium BCE. We are still surrounded by businesses that use the marketplace model (ie. Ebay, Etsy etc), those that use the premise of the merchant (ie. Department stores like Selfridges, David Jones, Harrods or Nordstrom) and those who operate as direct to consumer (ie. Casper, Tiffany, Apple etc). So it’s very true that although things change they follow the same principles that were established with their creation.