Many people today do not enjoy grocery shopping, but the experience we have is stillmany times better than that of the past.

Gone are the days when consumers paid higher prices for the advantage of a painfullyslow shoppingexperience.In addition to lower prices, supermarkets also offer shoppersadded convenience and much quicker service.

   In the old days, grocery shopping was quite a bit troublesome. Consumer-sizedpackages did not exist, so a clerk had to measure out the exact amount you needed foreverything you bought. This system cost much labor and therefore was rather expensive.On top of that, the entire experience was extremely time-consuming as, much like buyingmeat at a butcher shop,the number of shoppers that a store could serve at the same timewas limited by the size of its staff. The high labor costs and poor efficiency (效率) werequite a problem for both the industry and its public.

    Thesupermarket is a large departmentalized retail store,offering "one-stop shop"convenience with housewares, magazines, beauty products, and much more in addition tothe food items sold by traditional stores. Need soap to go with your newspaper and bread?The supermarket saves you time by providing all three items under one roof. Along withadded convenience comes added efficiency.

Shoppers can now fetch what they want from shelves instead of waiting for service.This in turn reduces the need for additional staff, helping owners to cut costs greatlyandto pass the savings back to the consumer. In fact, supermarkets pass so much of thesavings back that their margins are razor-thin - only l to 3 percent - so to make a profit,they must rely on extremely high turnover rates and keeping operating expenses low, forexample, by not offering delivery for one. The result is a quick and painless shoppingexperience with very reasonable prices.