New approaches will never be embraced by everyone at first. If you need unanimous consent, you’re not going to move forward. – Seth Godin
Until 1916, most American consumers handed their grocery lists to a store clerk, who would then fetch the items for them. This slow and inefficient system often led to long queues and frustrated customers. These frustrations eventually sparked a retail revolution—the birth of the self-service supermarket.
Birth of Self-Grocery Store
Before founding the first self-service grocery store, Clarence Saunders worked as a traveling salesman and later in a traditional grocery store. It was during this time that he witnessed firsthand the drawbacks of the outdated, staff-assisted model.
When he moved to Memphis and joined Shanks, Phillips & Company—a wholesale grocery firm—he gained practical experience in supply chains, pricing, and distribution. This deeper understanding highlighted the inefficiencies of the conventional retail approach and planted the seeds for something better.
Key Problems with the Traditional Model:
- Slow Process: Customers relied on staff to fetch items from shelves or back rooms—a time-consuming task.
- High Labor Costs: Stores required multiple staff to serve shoppers, eating into profits.
- Limited Customer Control: Shoppers couldn’t search or compare products on their own.
- Theft Risks: Clerks could manipulate prices or pocket cash unnoticed.
Saunders Frustration with Staff Assisted Grocery Model
Frustrated by these issues, Saunders opened his own grocery store in Memphis with a groundbreaking concept: Let customers find and choose items on their own. This model not only streamlined operations but also laid the foundation for the modern supermarket experience.
While running his store, Saunders tested radical ideas that would later define Piggly Wiggly. Here’s the ideas he had tested in his store:
Early Self-Service Elements
- Open Shelving: Allowed customers to pick out items themselves—nobody heard of that concept during that time.
- Shopping Baskets: Introduced handheld baskets so shoppers could carry their products easily.
- Price Tags: Marked prices on every item to eliminate haggling and standardize transactions.
Layout Innovations
- Forced-Aisle Flow: Designed store layouts to guide shoppers along a fixed path, ensuring maximum product exposure—a precursor to modern supermarket designs.
- Checkout Counters: Centralized payment points to streamline purchases and reduce theft.
Labor Reduction
- Clerk Reduction: It Reduces the number of clerks by 75% in his test store, demonstrating that self-service could dramatically lower labor costs.
As a result of these innovations, grocery shopping became more enjoyable and convenient. Customers could take their time checking, comparing products, and choosing items that caught their attention before placing them in handheld baskets. Many shoppers even visited without a grocery list, relying instead on the clearly organized aisles to guide their choices.
This new model not only empowered customers but also improved store profitability by significantly reducing the need for clerks and minimizing the risk of internal theft.
“The first commandment of self-service: customers wait upon themselves.
Every customer will be her own clerk.”
Clarence Saunders
But still other grocery store resisted this approach because of these following reasons
- Fear of Theft: Critics worried that without staff closely monitoring customers, theft would skyrocket.
- Skepticism Toward Change: Shoppers were accustomed to personalized service; many felt self-service was too impersonal.
- Doubts About Scalability: Small store owners believed the model couldn’t handle large inventories efficiently.
Despite these concerns, Clarence Saunders proved them all wrong—Soon Piggly Wiggly’s sales soared, and competitors rushed to adopt his model.
“Every unnecessary service in connection with the distribution of food must be eliminated… in order that the people may have food at prices within their reach.”
Clarence Saunders
The Invention of the Shopping Cart and the Rise of the Modern Supermarket
As self-service grocery stores became mainstream across the U.S., a new challenge emerged: how could customers carry more items while shopping?
Although shoppers wanted to buy more, they were limited by how much they could hold in handheld baskets. These baskets became heavy quickly, forcing people to set them down repeatedly while shopping.
Women, in particular, struggled with the weight especially when comparing products or navigating the aisles. The convenience of self-service was being held back by a simple problem: no easy way to carry larger quantities.
When Goldman noticed the shoppers in their Humpty Dumpty store, especially women who stopped shopping when their baskets were full, he along with his brother Fred, Sylvan Goldman invented and introduced the world’s first shopping cart in 1937.
They designed a four-wheeled, foldable carriage that featured a metal frame with a basket-like structure attached, along with small wheels for easy movement.
BOOM, but nothing happens
When the shopping cart was introduced in stores, everyone — including Sylvan Goldman — expected it to be a huge success among shoppers. But to his disappointment, none of the customers were using the carts.
Sylvan Goldman in his words
“I thought it would be an immediate success. I was so enthused about the cart and the advertising we had put around the cart being put on the market,” Goldman told CBS television reporter Charles Kuralt in a 1977 interview.
“There were people shopping and no one was using the cart.”
“I went down to the store the next morning about 10 o’clock expecting to see people standing in line outside the store trying to get in.”
“When I got there, there was ample room for me to get in. There were people shopping and no one was using the cart.”
From Rejection to Routine: How Marketing Normalized Shopping Cart Usage
Initially, men felt that using a shopping cart seemed feminine — they didn’t want to appear weak by pushing a cart instead of carrying a basket full of products. Women, on the other hand, thought the carts looked too much like baby strollers. As a result, shoppers ignored the carts and continued using handheld baskets.
To overcome this resistance, Sylvan Goldman came up with a clever marketing tactic. He hired actors to pose as everyday shoppers, casually pushing carts around the store. Seeing other “shoppers” comfortably using carts made real customers curious, and soon they began trying the carts themselves.
Once people experienced the convenience, the shopping cart quickly became a huge success.
Saunders and Goldman didn’t just invent solutions—they understood desire and opportunity, and built a solution around them.
Clarence Saunders revolutionized shopping by introducing the first self-service grocery store, giving customers the freedom to search and choose.
Sylvan Goldman followed by inventing the shopping cart, making it easier for shoppers to buy more with less effort.
Together, they turned shopping from a chore into a pastime.
Their ideas not only changed the supermarket chain but it also shaped everything — from how cities are built (hello, strip malls) to what we eat (processed snacks, anyone?).
Next time you grab a cart or wander the snack aisle, remember:
You’re following a marketing strategy they executed over 100 years ago.
What’s the common thing between these visionaries?
They observed people’s behavior carefully and came up with a no-nonsense approach to make their life easier. Saunders and Goldman understood their customers’ “Jobs-to-be-Done” and made bold moves to simplify their lives.
They didn’t anticipate that their actions would revolutionize supermarket chains worldwide, but they keenly observed their customers’ struggles and the jobs they wanted to accomplish.
What Clayton Christensen said about Jobs-to-be-done
Customers hire a product to accomplish a specific job in their lives. A “job” is shorthand for what an individual truly aims to achieve in a given situation. In this context, circumstances matter more than customer demographics, product features, emerging technologies, or market trends. Also “Jobs” are never purely functional—they also carry strong social and emotional dimensions.
A functional job is a practical, tangible task (e.g., “transport goods”);
a social job reflects how the customer wants to be perceived by others;
and emotional jobs relate to how the customer wants to feel—or avoid feeling.
Note: Most of the time, these dimensions will overlap, so deep observation is needed before rushing to a conclusion. (It’s not a snackable theory)
Observations and Jobs to be Accomplished:
Piggly-Wiggly:
- Observation 1: Staff-assisted systems create long queues and take more time for shopping.
Saunders realized that when shoppers had the freedom and time to find products on the aisles while walking in the store without standing in long queues, they would often buy more than what was on their grocery list—without the need for assistance from a clerk.
- Observation 2: People only buy products on the grocery list.
Most people forget things they need and then remember them when they come across the products while shopping. So, Saunders designed the store layout to expose customers to more products, leading to bigger baskets and happier customers, which meant they no longer needed to carry a grocery list.
- Observation 3: No option for researching before buying a product
Customers don’t have the option to research a product before making an informed decision. While waiting in long queues, their only motive is to quickly get the items from the staff and leave the store. Neatly arranged aisles help them research better before buying.
- Observation 4: No option for comparing features and price
There is no opportunity to compare products from different companies. By organizing all similar products from different brands in the same aisle, customers can easily compare features and prices across brands.
- Observation 5: Haggling increases time spent with a single customer.
He even prevented haggling by using clear price tags so shoppers would focus on what products they needed to buy instead of figuring out how to bargain for a lower price. By allowing customers to compare products easily, it helped them make quick decisions on their own and eliminated haggling altogether.
Customers "hired" Piggly Wiggly to simplify their shopping experience.
- Job 1: Avoid waiting in long queues (functional & emotional)
Functional: This job is fundamentally about saving time and reducing inconvenience (Primary)
Emotional: Avoiding queues made customers feel relieved and less stressed about wasting time (Secondary)
- Job 2: Help them shop without needing a grocery list (functional & emotional)
Functional: This job clearly targets the practical task of shopping efficiently (Primary)
Emotional: Reduced anxiety and made customers feel more confident (Secondary)
- Job 3: Allow them to research products before buying (functional & emotional)
Functional: Customers who hire this job want to overcome uncertainty in order to make an informed decision (primary).
Emotional: Feeling confident or reassured about a purchase. (secondary)
- Job 4: Enable comparison between different products (functional & emotional)
Functional: This job is about facilitating the practical task of comparing options. (primary)
Emotional: The emotional payoff might be feeling secure that one made a good decision (secondary)
- Job 5: Provide clear price tags to avoid haggling (functional & emotional)
Functional: Making prices transparent so customers don’t have to negotiate (primary)
Emotional: Haggling can be stressful, so clear prices made customers feel more comfortable or treated fairly (secondary)
“Functional and emotional dimensions may overlap, but it’s important to identify which one has a greater impact. Some products also have social dimensions that overlap with the other two.”
“Customers don’t buy products. They hire them to do a job.”
Clayton Christensen
Because of these observations, Saunders identified the crucial jobs his customers wanted to accomplish and designed a system to help them do it. As a result, the need for extra staff was reduced, while sales skyrocketed thanks to the increased freedom customers had while shopping.
“100 customers can wait by themselves in the Piggly Wiggly, and every 48 seconds a customer leaves Piggly Wiggly with her purchase.”
Clarence Saunders
Humpty Dumpty Store:
Observation 1: Sylvan observed that when customers’ baskets became full, they stopped shopping. So he invented the shopping cart to help customers carry more products instead of relying on handheld baskets when they wanted to shop for more items.
Observation 2: However, the idea didn’t catch on immediately because he didn’t consider the psychological barriers behind adoption.
Just because we invent a great solution doesn’t mean everyone will adopt it. Once Sylvan realized this, he used fake shoppers to roam around the store with shopping carts. When real customers saw others using the carts, they became familiar with the idea and gradually started using them, moving past their prejudices.
Fact:Goldman patented his design and created a company called Folding Basket Carrier Company. to manufacture and supply shopping carts to other retail stores.
Customers “hired” shopping carts to buy more products without worrying about the weight.
- Jobs 1: Help them to add more products into their baskets
Functional (Primary): This job is fundamentally functional. It solves a concrete physical problem: the handheld baskets were too small, causing customers to stop shopping.
Emotional (Secondary): Customers may feel relieved or satisfied when they can buy more without dropping items.
- Jobs 2: He overcame their bias by using fake shoppers to make it look normal.
Social (Primary): This job is mainly social in nature. It isn’t about a physical task at all, but about social acceptance of the shopping cart.
Emotional (Secondary): Customers initially felt uneasy, embarrassed and anxious about using the new carts.
Takeaway:
These pioneers didn’t just build smart solutions—they truly understood people. They recognized that customer behavior is shaped by bias, beliefs, social status, and prejudice. That’s why they didn’t stop at invention—they figured out how to get people to embrace those ideas too.
Saunders didn’t stop at introducing self-service grocery shopping—he also designed a store layout that exposed customers to a wide range of products before they reached the counter.
Clear price tags and well-organized aisles with competing products made it easier for shoppers to compare and make decisions. As a result, word-of-mouth marketing spread like wildfire among customers.
Goldman was disappointed when customers initially ignored the shopping cart. But by recognizing their emotional behaviors, he hired actors to use the shopping carts and make them seem familiar.
This clever move helped overcome customer biases and normalized the shopping cart experience.