From buying goods in markets to online shopping to the emergence of discovery commerce, shopping has long been part of our culture with evidence of retail activity going all the way back to ancient Greece. Back then, merchants would set up stalls in public squares – agoras – and sell their goods and services. They laid the foundations for a global retail market that is today worth $24 trillion
Fast forward to the 21st century and shopping has gone online, with global e-commerce sales expected to increase 20 per cent in 2020. In the UK, online retail sales increased 13 per cent between 2010 and 2020, and then jumped 13 per cent in just five months during the lockdown, underlining the dramatic pace of change in consumer spending habits. Technology has also helped transform and streamline the shopping experience so that with a few taps of a keyboard, consumers can discover and buy products in an instant, with brands harnessing tech to enable consumers to shop safely and at their own convenience.
Discover how the experience of shopping has changed over the millennia and how technology has enabled the change from people finding products to products being matched to people.