The Piggly Wiggly way

IN 1916 Clarence Saunders changed the face of retailing when he opened his first Piggly Wiggly supermarket in Memphis, Tennessee. Hitherto, shops had kept all their goods behind the counter: customers told the staff what they wanted, waited while their purchases were bagged up, then handed over their money. Saunders came up with the idea of self-service. Customers selected their own groceries from the shelves, and took their baskets to a cashier on the way out. Saunders proclaimed that by cutting labour costs his idea would “slay the demon of high prices”.

At its height, in 1932, the Piggly Wiggly empire had 2,660 stores. Saunders had lost control of the company in the 1920s but he kept innovating, seeking to perfect the fully automated shop. This included working on a “shopping brain”, which shoppers would use to keep a tally of their bills. As a business Piggly Wiggly is now a shadow of its former self: it has only about 600 stores in 17 American states. But as an idea it has conquered the world.

The self-service revolution rolls on to this day. CVS, an American pharmacy chain, has replaced cashiers with self-service pay-points....

from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1ESArVJ