RepricerExpress takes a look back at the last century of shopping, what the trends have been, and how you can use this information on your Amazon page. While some buying habits haven’t changed a bit, others have drastically, which should give you hints about the future. And while it’s a little-debated fact that the items people purchase have changed and will continue to change, people’s natures tend to be a little more static. Read on to learn what the last 100 years of retail have looked like.
Beginning of the 20th Century: Shopping from a Catalogue
Although most of us weren’t around at the turn of the 20th century, there’s a good chance you’ve at least heard of the Sears Roebuck Catalogue (and bonus points if Montgomery Ward rings a bell, too). Families could rifle through the pages of the catalogue and shop for just about anything they needed or wanted, from small things like clothes accessories to bigger-ticket items like house-building materials.
You can see how the early catalogues were a precursor to things like Amazon marketplaces, with the biggest difference being analog versus digital. People have always liked to see everything a store has to offer in one spot, whether it’s on pages in a book or on a digital screen.
What Happened Leading up to the War?
How people shopped changed dramatically leading up to the war, and even in the first few years after it ended. Instead of just buying from print catalogues, people now turned to another medium: the radio.
Radio actually came to prominence in two different ways:
- The big stock market crash put a lot of people out of work. Being poor, they didn’t have the disposable income to go out for entertainment, and spent a lot of time at home, listening to stories on the radio.
- This increased audience meant that there were also more people there to listen to radio commercials during breaks in programs.
Suburban ‘50s:
The Introduction of the Credit Card
The next huge change in shopping was how people paid for their purchases. Before, cash was king because it was just about the only method of payment (there were others, like personal cheques, but it mostly had a cash foundation).
In the ‘50s, however, the credit card was introduced to mass appeal, with the Diner’s Club being the first one (1949). How popular was it? It took only two years before 20,000 people had one. Even more, door-to-door sellers started their rise, fleshing out another aspect of buying.
Swingin’ ‘60s and ‘70s:
More Disposable Income to Work With
The key to more spending is having more money to work with, and the period from 1965 to 1975 saw Americans with a very comfortable amount of discretionary income. As well, the most populated generation in recent history, Baby Boomers, were starting to come into their prime, and were using their disposable income to wield enormous influence.
Mid-‘70s to Mid-‘80s:
The Rise of TVs and Computers
The 1984 Apple commercial is one of the most iconic of all time, and it further underscored the power that the screen had, whether by TV or computer. And as with radio, advertisers now found themselves with another juicy medium in which to reach millions of potential buyers (69 million American homes — not citizens, but homes — had a TV in them in 1976).
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Around the same time as the above statistic with TVs, the personal computer was introduced. And it wasn’t long after the personal computer was introduced that the Internet made inroads in our lives, and we all know how that turned out — and is still turning out!
Shopping Now: The Internet Rules Supreme
It didn’t take long before a large amount of shopping was being done online, as consumers found it much easier to sit in front of their screens and select a product, as opposed to making the trip out to a store, being tempted by other merchandise, and waiting in line to pay.
Ads also took a different form online: instead of companies simply putting out their product, they now use sophisticated algorithms based on your Internet activity to tailor ads to you, giving them a more targeted approach in success.
And with stores like Amazon, the customisation process has become a lot more finely-tuned. Smart Amazon merchants know how to:
- Alter their language and layout so it reads equally well on a desktop and smartphone
- Make key suggestions based on search and purchase history, like cross-selling and up-selling
- Use apps to market their products to a growing demographic
- Use social media sites to further awareness about their product
Major Takeaways
Whether it was purchasing their wares through a catalogue, using a credit card to complete the transaction or shopping online, each subsequent development during the last 100 years has brought to the consumer added convenience in their daily lives, and retailers have sought to reach those consumers where eyeballs and ears were found in abundance. It’s no surprise that the rise of Amazon has been so meteoric as it brings even more convenience to consumers and offers retailers a marketplace of some 237 million eager buyers with credit cards at the ready.
One other element that was always present in shopping, whether it was in catalogues way back then or on Amazon now, is repricing — knowing how to set your prices — and change them — is key to a successful business, and we want you to apply it to your own. Check out our 15-day free trial to see just what we’re talking about.
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