Definition

Defined here as sales of goods between two distant parties where the deliverer has no direct interest in the transaction, the earliest instances of distance retailing probably coincided with the first regular delivery or postal services. Such services would have started in earnest once man had learned how to ride a camel, horse etc. 

Why?

When individuals or groups left their community and settled elsewhere, some missed foodstuffs and other goods that were only available in their birthplace. They arranged for some of these goods to be sent to them. Others in their newly adopted community enjoyed these goods and demand grew. Similarly, new settlers discovered goods in their new surroundings that they despatched back to their birthplace, and once again, demand grew. This soon turned into a regular trade. Although such trading routes expanded mainly through the growth of travelling salesmen and then wholesalers, there were still instances where individuals purchased goods at long distance for their own use.

A second reason that distance selling increased was through war. As armies marched through territories, they laid down communication lines stretching from their home base to the front. As well as garnering goods from whichever locality they found themselves in, they would have also taken advantage of the lines of communication to order goods from home.

Beginnings of Retail Trade | Chains | How Retail Developed | Self-Service Stores | Birth of Distance Retailing

History | Marketing | The Supply Chain | Types of Retail Outlet

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