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Without commercial shelving, modern retail is simply impossible.
Heavy duty, large and versatile shelves allow for a huge variety of products to be displayed at one time, and with a growing number of physical retail stores, supermarkets and fulfilment centres relying increasingly on the long tail to compete with online retail, shelving capacity is needed now more than ever.
Whilst both retail establishments and shelving are ancient and shops have always needed shelves and cabinets in one way or another, there was definitely a turning point in history when the evolution of shelving allowed for one of the biggest revolutions in retail history to occur.
Shelves And The Rise Of Self-Service
It can be strange to think about, given how ubiquitous supermarkets and other modern retail stores are, but the concept of the self-service shop is surprisingly recent, relative to the history of the shop itself which is so old it predates currency itself.
Typically these took the form of either open markets, where the furniture of choice would have been the trade table or permanent premises for skilled artisans, two concepts that exist to this day and would dominate retail for several thousand years.
In both cases, customers would ask for items from a seller, whether it is directly from an artisan, a tradesperson or via a merchant or peddler in the markets.
Even with the rise of shopping arcades such as The Rows in Chester and thus the capacity to sell items on shelves, these shelves were primarily used for storage and organisation for the benefit of the shopkeeper and any staff working inside it.
Customers would wait outside the shop and be served through a hatch or a window, meaning that until they actually paid their money and received whatever they happened to have ordered from the shop.
This only finally started to change in the 18th and 19th centuries with the rise of an entirely new type of shopping experience, one that was predicated on the very shelves that had been hidden away from view in older, danker shops.
The Department Store concept as we know it today evolved very slowly, and exactly what counts as the first store with this concept is up for debate. However, by most modern standards, the first department store would have been Harding, Howell & Co in Pall Mall in 1796.
The Grand Fashionable Magazine, as it was also known, featured four big departments, and was one of the first shops to have a self-service element to it, a concept only made possible through shelving and hanging arrangements that made move products visible and available to order directly.
Whilst not the first shop to ever be self-service, department stores would transform the retail experience by making it more involved, thus turning shopping from a necessary conversation with stockists into a leisure activity in itself.
This concept would reach its zenith in 1909 with the launch of Selfridges in London, which made accessibility to customers its main priority and pioneered the idea of event retail, something that retailers have increasingly relied on to combat e-commerce.
Shelving made this possible, and as the needs of customers and retailers have shifted dramatically, the layout of stores will continue to evolve as the 2020s progress.
For more information on When Shelves Transformed Retail Establishments Forever talk to UK Shelving Ltd