The "market" of uniform pricing systems began around the time the Greek alphabet and coinage was invented and is strongly inherent to western literate civilization.

This uniformity comes from the fundamental nature of the alphabet which is a uniform system of symbols. Later on, the printing press vastly increased this element of uniformity by its precise mechanical design (as compared to the variance of writing by hand). The linear fragmented uniformity of the printing press was the precursor of the assembly line.

Tribal, traditionally not literate(ish) cultures whose primary method of communication is/was the spoken word are more apt to use haggling and/or bartering.