The Incredible Logistics of Grocery Stores
·2 mins
- Interesting parts (for myself) in the following video:
- Some customers are picky about brands. So, if their favorite brand is out of stock at some store, they may go to a competitor and decide they like that competitor more than their regular store. So, grocery stores try to carry every brand, however small the sales.
- I am quite the opposite. I dislike the concept of huge number of similar-looking brands because that puts the burden of decision making on me. I’d rather have the store choose quality brands for me and I am okay paying a premium for that.
- That’s the reason I like Costco. Trader Joe’s also does something similar, but we’ve been there only twice, so a bit early to say.
- Grapes, for example, are in demand the whole year and I used to think they maintain supply by keeping things in cold storage in off-season months. So, I was surprised to learn we instead
hack geographyutilize global climate patterns to produce fresh grapes throughout the year. - The video also talked about software to automatically track available inventory and regular manual checks to calculate drift between software-reported and actual inventory. (This drift could occur because of theft, rot etc.) I initially found that interesting but that’s kind of obvious now that I think about it.
- Some customers are picky about brands. So, if their favorite brand is out of stock at some store, they may go to a competitor and decide they like that competitor more than their regular store. So, grocery stores try to carry every brand, however small the sales.