Clarence Saunders & his Revolutionary Super Market - Piggly Wiggly

 

Super markets - which are now a norm - have mushroomed all across the world, India included. The genesis for the supermarkets stem from a remarkable innovation that came from an young American (born in poverty) - Mr Clarence Saunders - who introduced the first ever super market to the world - the Piggly Wiggly. It was on this day - 6 September, 1916, that the first ever truly self-service grocery store of the world was opened with great fanfare in Memphis, Tennessee in US. Piggly Wiggly store was completely different from any other contemporary grocery stores of the time. The store had wooden shopping baskets (plastic ones are used in current times) open shelves, aisles for the movement of the customers, and no delivery boys to choose the products for the customer. The customer to the Piggly Wiggly was welcomed and s/he had a complete freedom to choose what to buy her leisure, walking through the aisles of the store and check out paying for what s/he picked to buy – all of which were previously unheard of. The rest, what they say is history.

The humble neighbourhood किराना (kirana) shop (grocery shop), which most of my generation grew up with, has changed with time as a result of Clarence Saunders and so also with technological advancements. It was not until the era of economic liberalisation in India that the humble kirana shops remained the prime movers of serving grocery and such other utilitarian food items to their customers. My generation and so also those who live in the hinterland of the country continue to depend on the humble neighbourhood kirana shop for their grocery needs. The Kirana Shop - grocery stores of that time - encouraged their customers to prepare a list of the groceries that they wish to buy and this hand written list - on a small piece of paper often times on the back of a used envelope or a newspaper etc. - was required to be presented to the boys manning the kirana shop, standing behind the owner who would be seated on a chair controlling cash box. These boys would then gather the groceries and other materials listed on the piece of paper from the store shelves. Although the customers did have the facility to see some small quantity of samples what they wish to buy, but most often they had literally no choice to touch and feel the product they wished to buy.

Clarence Saunders, a dynamic and innovative man, who was serving as a sales man in a whole sale grocery store in US, was expected to increase the sales. This mandated Saunders to travel extensively and meet retailers hold discussions and motivate them to place orders with his whole sale store. During this period, Saunders watched very carefully each of the retail shops and how they are functioning and how their owners are managing their stores and how they interact with their customers. He was convinced that the method followed by all the retail stores resulted in wasted time and expense. He also observed that often times the customers were expressing their unhappiness for not being able to personally see and select what grocery items they wish to buy for their homes. He, therefore, came up with an unheard-of solution that would revolutionize the entire grocery industry. He developed a way for shoppers to “serve themselves” and the result was the founding of the first self-service super market concept which we now take for granted. He strangely called his grocery shop Piggly Wiggly, a rhythmic sounding name, which also speaks of his interest in poetry. The supermarkets and the ultramodern stores, which we see today - with an ever-improving technology embedded in these super markets - owe their genesis to a journey of their evolution that began with the outstanding innovation by Clarence Saunders, who founded his revolutionary concept of self service in the retail market.

Clarence Saunders was born on August 9, 1881 in a poor family in Virginia to his parents Abraham Warwick and Mary Gregory Saunders. Mary was the second wife of Abraham. Clarence was born when his father was 47 and his mother just 26. As fate would have it his mother died when he was 6 years. This meant that Clarence had no formal education. He went to school only for two years and the rest of his learning is all self-taught. He started working for a shop when he was just 12 years of age at 4 Dollars a month remuneration. He was expected to clean the lanterns and the wicks used in these old and decorative lanterns. He worked so passionately on his job and wanted to be the best lantern cleaner in the city. His vision to be the best in the market was taking roots at this young age. He worked in this shop from early morning to late night. Impressed by his commitment and his impeccable workmanship, his boss doubled his remuneration in just a month. The character to excel in whatever you do started taking shape in the young Saunders. He then changed many workplaces, each time gaining not just the experience but also increased remuneration. Even as he was working so very hard, he found time to read books, particularly literature and had up made up his mind to be self-taught. He also learnt maths – arithmetic - which he thought was important to succeed in life. This would serve him well in his career. At age 14, Saunders started working part time in a grocery store.

Armed with his experience of working in a retail store, Saunders soon found a job in a whole sale market at age 19. In 1904, at 23, he moved to Memphis and landed up with a good job in Shanks Philips and Company as a salesman in the whole sale market at 85 Dollars a month. All through this period he had continued to be self-taught including taking keen interest in literature and poetry. His love for books drew him closer to be his wife – Caroline Amie Walker who he married on 6 October 1903. His wife too loved books, particularly poetry. He wrote poetry for his wife. In just two years of his joining Shanks Philips and Company, his salary was increased to 125 Dollars a month. This gave him space to improve his living life style and provided space and time for his entrepreneurial ambitions. While serving in this company he made fair number of notes and observations on how the retail stores work. He had also established good rapport with many of the retail stores. In fact, he had motivated an organised movement of the retailers who had collectively formed a store with all their stakes in this store.

Having made a name for himself as an expert grocery wholesaler, Saunders decided to embark on a plan of revolutionizing the grocery store - common supermarket. He believed that there must be a better way to serve the customers. He therefore, envisaged removing unnecessary material handling boys – clerks - creating elaborate aisle displays and rearranging the store to force customers to view all of the merchandise. His experience and innovative mind helped him found a new revolutionary concept, of self-service shopping in retail market. All these features were some of the characteristics of Saunders’ Piggly Wiggly stores, which was opened on this very day, 6 September, 1916.  It became   a ground-breaking enterprise that changed the face of retail market. When Piggly Wiggly opened its doors in Memphis, Tennessee on September 6, 1916, it became the first truly modern American supermarket. Though the Piggly Wiggly Store was in complete variance from its competitors, the style became the standard for the modern supermarket, and in 1922, just six years after it was opened, Piggly Wiggly had grown into 1,200 stores in 29 states.

Until the beginning of the Piggly Wiggly stores, customers were typically forced to wait behind a counter to request items stored beyond their reach and view. With limited employees manning the counters, often times, the customers had to wait a while for their turns to get what they wished. If other customers were in line, people had to wait even longer. In the newly opened "cafeteria grocery", Saunders moved the stockroom into the front of the store and allowed customers to roam the aisles and select their own groceries, the idea of which was truly revolutionary in 1916.

Saunders innovation, the Piggly Wiggly, a strangely sounding name, turned the then existing retail market model on its head. Shoppers no longer needed to be at the mercy of the grocer. They were invited into the store, handed a shopping basket, and left free to move around the grocery store to touch and feel their chosen items and know the price of each of the items. Shoppers to Piggy Wiggly could pick and choose what they liked at their own pace and fill their cart and checkout of the stores paying for whatever they selected. This may not sound very impressive now, but imagine this concept one hundred six years back when no one had ever thought of self-service grocery shopping the way Saunders thought of it. Commemorating the centenary of Piggly Wiggly innovation the TIME magazine paid tributes by stating “Piggly Wiggly was the original grocery store, which not only introduced grocery carts, but also price-marked items, employees in uniform, and the supermarket franchise model.”

Piggly Wiggly permanently changed the face of grocery shopping not only in America but around the world. When people asked Saunders why he gave his grocery store such a funny little name, he is reported to have said, "So that people will ask that very question." It seems to have worked, because even after the centenary of the Piggly Wiggly stores, people still ask the reason for naming it with a strangely looking name. Saunders was also a master marketing man and the launch of his new store was truly memorable and one could quite easily compare his launch with the launch of the Apple products by their founder late Steve Jobs. Saunders grand opening of his first Piggly Wiggly in 1916 had included a jazz band on top of one of the refrigerator units, a beauty contest, flowers for the ladies, and balloons for children. History was made, and reportedly several thousand people showed up to witness Saunders self-service grocery shopping.

Piggly Wiggly store was an immediate financial success -- quicker for customers, less labour intensive for the shopkeeper, the new format allowed multiple customers to shop at the same time, and led to the previously unknown phenomenon of impulse shopping. Saunders soon patented his self-service concept, and began franchising Piggly Wiggly stores. Within five years, the chain had more than a thousand stores, and was the nation's largest grocery retailer. Sadly, during the Great Depression, Saunders was forced to sell the company after a long financial battle with Wall Street investors. He went through bad times in his business including losing his Piggly Wiggly and starting new ventures, which initially succeeded but later failed.  Having built and lost two major fortunes, Saunders died on October 15, 1953. Leaving behind a legacy which will remain etched in the annals of history and he will be remembered as the man who brought the retail store into the twentieth century.

On this day which happens to be the 106^th anniversary of the first super market – Piggly Wiggly, we must remember that we go to a supermarket, we must spare a thought for Clarence Saunders innovation, which made these self-service markets possible. them possible. Long live Innovation, which is more than mere conversion of knowledge into a workable technology. It implies an S&T-led solution that benefits economy and human society and today when we are celebrating our seventy five years of our independence – Azadi Ka Amrut Mohotsav – it is time for us to invest more in the field of science, technology and innovation as we aim towards becoming the second largest economy of the world much before the targeted year, 2047.

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