The evolution of shopping: An international perspective
-By Bryan Shelmon-
Shopping is a seemingly uniform activity for everyone. Traveling around the world, however, will reveal a wide range of shopping methods. Shopping has always been around since the beginning of civilizations. As they developed, regional and cultural characteristics have had major effects on shopping. This is why you see such a variety of marketplaces.
Shopping comes in different forms. Whether you’re in the developed Western world or in a traditional village setting, every society has an established method of exchanging goods. Most people are familiar with the typical shopping setting of a retail store for example. Some of the least known methods of shopping experiences include traditional street markets and more advanced methods that work strictly with technology.
The most widespread method of shopping is the typical retail experience of walking into a storefront to make a purchase. It’s easy to confuse this as the only way of shopping since it’s so common. Most societies have adapted this standard as the go to way of shopping.
The current standard of shopping involves interacting with workers in the store that can help you find the items you’re looking for and help you purchase them at a register. This method of shopping has begun to get upgrades to satisfy the growth in technology. Different modifications to this method include self-check out and pre-ordering online or via mobile to have all your items picked out so you just have to pay at the end.
This method of shopping has definitely evolved over time from more traditional ways of shopping. You can also visually see updates occurring in store to enhance the user experience. While the overall goal of shopping of exchanging goods and services for another value hasn’t changed, the way of doing so is. Technological advancements is putting an emphasis on speed, efficiency, and lower costs to the actual store. It’s worth examining traditional methods to see how they’ve evolved into the current standard and what it could possibly mean for the future of shopping.
The traditional shopping experience
The concept of shopping has been around since the very early stages of societies. While there were no actual store fronts in these times, they still had ways of displaying their inventory and welcoming customers to purchase, or barter. One of the most traditional shopping experiences are markets. Markets are generally held in a large open lot or space where vendors of any sort set up for business. Markets were a way to have a central location for getting all types of goods and services that you need. Keep in mind, that in some societies, this was the only method of shopping.
We can still see markets in most countries that still create the traditional shopping experience. Southeast Asia is a region that markets are still a popular method of shopping, and even hanging out. There are a range of markets that can be found here including night markets and even floating markets.
Night markets are a unique shopping experience where you can browse through potentially over one thousand vendors selling everything from souvenirs, clothing, entertainment, and food. Floating markets were a common traditional way of shopping for people along rivers. The vendors are set up in boats as you cruise through the market on your own boat to shop.
Shopping meets futurism
While traditional markets still have a special place in every society, there is a new way of shopping that completely changes the experience. Before, shopping in a retail environment would require an interaction between people. But now thanks to companies such as Amazon, we’re introducing the future of shopping. Amazon is currently trialing stores that eliminate the checkout process.
So how does this work? Simply scan a unique QR code available through their Amazon Go app and shop as you please. After picking out your items you’re all set to leave the store and continue your day. The store has numerous tracking cameras and weighted shelves that know exactly what you take and return to the shelves. Each item is charged to your Amazon account and you are sent a digital receipt upon exiting the store.
This new retail store design creates its own shopping experience for customers. There is no need for physical money nor interacting with people. These were previously the main characteristics of shopping. With this new store, all you would need is your phone for entry.
We have started to see retailers moving towards this revolutionized way of shopping. With the addition of technology into the shopping experience, companies are always looking for the next trend. This new store by Amazon takes a step ahead by bringing futuristic thoughts about shopping to reality today.
Is newer always better?
There are obvious differences between traditional shopping and this new way of shopping. Although the redesigned retail store evolved from traditional methods, their main similarity is the goal of shopping. The overall task of shopping remains the same for exchanging goods and services.
The traditional marketplace shopping experience relies heavily on human interaction. Many of the same customs of shopping in markets are still relevant today. You can usually barter for a better deal on any item you see for sale, even if it has a set price. The Amazon store, however, has prices already set and logged into its back system. Adding it to you shopping bag automatically includes it on your final bill.
Another benefit to human interaction is that the marketplaces transformed into major gathering places to see friends, gossip, or enjoy entertainment within the market. With new store decreasing the need for interactions while in the store, they become a lot more efficient for accomplishing shopping.
The good news is that we can get the best of both worlds when looking for the perfect shopping experience. Even as more technological ways of shopping are developed, they do not replace every type of retail shop so you can find a familiar experience somewhere in the world. The biggest advantage is that a wider range of shopping experiences to choose from.
