Piggly Wiggly..It's not about Pig..but store!!

Piggly Wiggly is world’s first true self service grocery store, which was founded by American entrepreneur Clarence Saunders on September 6, 1917 at 79 Jefferson Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee. This concept patented by Saunders in 1917, although the Gerrard brothers, founders of the Alpha Beta grocery market chain were already using the concept in their store in Ponama California, but it was not so polished. Clarence Saunders added very new things in grocery retail format that is considered as standard of supermarket format.

A true entreprenuer: - Piggly Wiggly’s founder Clarence Saunders born in Virginia. Saunders left school at 14 to clerk in general store. In 1900 he was nineteen years old and earning $30 a month as a salesman for a wholesale grocer. Through his experience he learnt that many small grocers failed because of heavy credit losses and overhead. He applied his learning in his very new store format. Though this format of grocery market was drastically different from its competitors, the style became the standard for the modern grocery store and later supermarket. The name of store is quite attractive and attention seeking. The story behind this name is that once he saw from a train window several little pigs struggling to get under a fence, which was the same way how customer struggled to get things in store. He wanted a name that would be talk about and remember. It was an example of store positioning.

Piggly wiggly – the store incorporated shopping baskets, self service branded products and checkout of front, attractive aisle displays and rearranging the store to force customers to view all of the merchandise. Piggly Wiggly was first to:

·         Provide checkout stands.

·         Price marks every item in the store.

·         Feature a full line of nationally advertised brand.

·         Use refrigerator cases to keep produce fresher longer.

·         Put employees in uniforms for cleaner who know the location of their favorite products in their local store knew where they were in every store.

·         Standardize product location in their local store where they were in every store.

·         Design and use patented fixtures and equipment throughout the store.

·         Franchise independent grocers to operate under the self service method of food merchandising.

On its peak Piggly Wiggly had 2660 store and annual sales of $180 million. In November 1992, Saunders attempted a squeeze on the substantial short interest in the stock running the share price from 40-120 and profiting by millions on paper. As a result stock exchange removed the stock of Piggly Wiggly. Saunders reputedly lost nine million dollar in the attempted corner. Following these events, the company was divided into strategic units and sold to regional grocer’s chains including Kroger, Safeway. Management of Toyota corporation were inspired by Piggly Wiggly’s just in time inventory strategy and used this model to develop its Toyota production system, a philosophy by which the company organize its manufacturing and logistics, including its interaction with suppliers and customers.

A revolutionary idea: - the concept of self service store is a revolutionary beginning in brand market. It started the new era of segmentation, targeting and positioning. After starting of self service format it became very important for brand owners to differentiate their products from other same products. The packaging of product and brand recognition became very important because now customers have various choices on one shelf and they were free to choose anything. This concept added new dimension in brand’s life. It allowed brand to show their power of positioning on the shelf. Customers became more aware of brands and were able to compare two different brands. Self service format also brought concept of inventory management and wide assortment. This concept gave chance to many companies to innovate for differentiation and strong positioning. It was a starting of true brand war. In store promotions also became very important to attract customers. It also innovated the new concept of impulse buying. Without self service, modern branded packaged goods, as we know them, would not exist.

Nadeem Shaikh

GLCRMM 1012