Cultural and Contemporary Issues in Marketing - High street Retail
A Brief History of Retail to Present Day High street retail as we know it today has its origins in the late 19 th century continuing to develop in the very early 20 th century forming the type of retail sector that we are more familiar with today. About this time an American arrived in the UK to transform shopping into what is commonly known today as retail therapy, Harry Gordon Selfridge opened his first department store in 1909. In doing so he single-handedly revolutionised shopping in the UK, bringing some transformational marketing concepts including, relocation of the lucrative beauty and perfume dept to front and centre of the first floor of the store where products were not hidden in cabinets but openly available for people to try before purchasing. Other innovations included window displays, live music and interactive displays. Marketeers today still use these techniques with evidence suggesting store atmospherics can positively manipulate consumers responses incl...