Who invented the shopping trolley?

Today, I will talk about a great invention that is most easily overlooked in the history of business. It is also a super explosive product-a supermarket shopping cart. Few have invented such a deep understanding of users' consumption habits. We never seem to pay attention to the history of shopping carts. So, I searched the history of the shopping cart, and this steak found a business genius. That’s right, this business wizard is the inventor of the shopping cart-Sylvan Goldman.

1. The original supermarket shopping method: carry things to checkout

Goldman, born on November 5, 1898, in a small town in Ardmore, USA. Goldman's father was a Jewish immigrant from Latvia (yes, a Jew), and he worked in a dry fruit shop. Goldman only completed elementary school, but for him, this small shop was a crash course in business. Before the refrigeration equipment was widely used, he learned how to satisfy the customer's desire to the greatest extent in his teens.

During World War I, Goldman went to France, where he worked for two years. In 1919, Goldman returned to the United States, opened a fruit wholesale store with his savings in a prosperous oil city, and ran to California when the oil ran out. At that time, every grocery store in the United States was equipped with a shop assistant wearing a white apron. If you want two pounds of sorghum, this shop assistant will weigh you and then pack it for you. Customers are holding a lot of things in their hands to wait for checkout. This model is not ideal, it requires a lot of staff and is very inefficient.

2. The shopping cart came out - inspiration came from a folding chair

By the late 1930s, major changes had taken place: Freon was developed in 1930, and since then refrigerators have spread widely. By the late 1930s, more than half of households in the United States had refrigerators. In this way, when shopping, consumers can not only buy what they eat on the same day, they can buy more products at once. So, the question came: At that time, the self-service supermarket only provided a basket made of wire. If housewives feel the weight of the carry is too heavy, they automatically reduce their desire to buy. Goldman recalled in 1970 that if we could make housewives carry two baskets for shopping and free up one hand to select goods, our business would be even bigger. Goldman began to realize that the problem faced by the merchant was the pain point of the customer. In order to sell more products, he had to find a way to make the customer more labor-saving. Goldman found a big pain point.

The solution at the time was this: When the clerk saw that the customer was full of a basket, he would send it to the cashier and give them an empty basket. It turns out that this approach is a bit too complicated. Just when Goldman was stunned, one night he saw the folding chair in the office, and he seemed to feel that a bright future was beckoning to him. Goldman jumped excitedly. He grabbed a few folding chairs, jumped to the desk, and put the basket on the chair. Goldman was so excited that he didn't sleep. He tinkered and added four wheels to the folding chair. In this way, the shopping cart that changed our lives came out. A folding chair with a basket and four wheels, the shopping cart is born.