1. HEREWETAKEALOOKATTHELASTTHREEDECADESOFTRENDSANDSTYLESINRETAILINSTALLATIONSANDHOWTHEYHAVECHANGEDOUTOFALLRECOGNITION.
The 90s began with the release of Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison, the
Hubble Space Telescope was launched to enable us to see into the furthest
reaches of space, Germany was reunited, the Channel Tunnel was opened, the first
Harry Potter book was published, eBay was founded and Amazon sold its first book
over the internet. Technology was advancing – more of us were using mobile
phones and personal computers, the DVD was gradually replacing the video tape,
and by the end of the decade over 130 million people were connected to the
internet at home.
3DECADESOFRETAILINSTALLATION
These technological developments were both a cause of and a result
of new shopping habits among the population of the UK who were
getting accustomed to a wave of out of town shopping malls, meaning
we took full advantage of the rise of consumerism. It was during the
1980s that retail giants first understood the importance of using
technology to refine and enhance their customer offerings.
Sainsbury’s, for example, installed mini-computers in some of their
branches to link to the mainframe computers at the company’s head
office. Scanning using bar codes was introduced for the first time, and
in 1988 the company was the first major supermarket to utilise
EFTPOS which enabled its customers to pay by Switch.
The retail sector was dominated by the youth market, with stores such as Tammy Girl, Kookai, and US imports
like American Apparel and Forever 21 – some of which are no longer with us on the high street or in the
shopping malls. Many of these names perished due to their lethargy in responding to digital advancement.
One company who embraced the change was Boots which had already diversified from its dispensing chemist
function many years before and was now tapping into the beauty goods market. In 1997 it introduced its
Advantage Card which enabled shoppers to collect points on their purchases at the point of sale and redeem
them for treats at a later date.
A time of great social upheaval, when the
spectre of World War II finally appeared to
be over and the future looked bright, the
1980s began with the wedding of Charles
and Diana, saw the Falkland Islands war,
witnessed the world come together to
alleviate starvation in Africa with Live Aid,
marvelled at the fall of the Berlin Wall, and
watched in horror as the events of Tiananmen Square unfolded. It
was also the decade that brought us the first home computers, the
first mobile phones, the development of Windows by Microsoft and
the earliest version of the World Wide Web.

2. The 21st century began with worries over Y2K, or the Millennium Bug,
amid fears of a meltdown throughout the globally-connected world of
computers. As it was, the experts need not have worried and the
worldwide celebrations happened without a glitch. Social media
innovations such as Facebook and Twitter were changing how we
interacted with the world and shared news, perhaps as a reaction to
events like the World Trade Centre attacks in 2001 and the Boxing Day
2004 tsunami.
3DECADESOFRETAILINSTALLATION
The world of retail never stands still, and we’re proud to have been so heavily involved in the changes we’ve
seen on our high streets over the past three decades. Technology moves at an equally rapid pace, and while
we don’t know what the future will hold, our clients can rely on us to adapt to and lead any changes in retail
installation which may lie ahead.
Visit the Momentum Instore blog for more discussion of leading retail topics and innovation.
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The 2000s also saw the rise of the smartphone, which has completely changed the way we shop. Mobile apps
now allow us to browse and order from wherever we are and companies such as Argos have spearheaded
this digital revolution with its Fast Track pre-pay service which has enhanced the customer experience.