The father of online shopping
In the third episode of the BBC Two series, Robert Peston Goes Shopping, Peston tells the story of the rise of online shopping which, together with the credit crunch, proved a knock-out blow for many of Britain's High Street retailers.
In this clip Peston goes back in time to 1984 and discovers a forgotten pioneer of online shopping, Videotex, which was trialled in Gateshead.
Videotex was created long before Amazon, Asos or eBay, and five years before the internet, but Michael Aldrich, who pioneered online shopping, recalls: "What I had done was making shopping functional...any time, any place, anywhere."
Viewers (in the UK) can learn more about Michael Aldrich, Mrs Snowball and the rise of online shopping in Robert Peston Goes Shopping at 1800BST on Saturday 12th October or catch it later on the BBC iPlayer.
16 Sep 2013
- From the section Magazine