Piggly Wiggly

Piggly Wiggly is an American supermarket chain operating in the Southern and Midwestern regions of the United States, run by Piggly Wiggly, LLC, an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers. Its first outlet opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tennessee, and is notable for having been the first true self-service grocery store, and the originator of various familiar supermarket features such as checkout stands, individual item price marking and shopping carts.

At the time of its founding, grocery stores did not allow their customers to gather their own goods. Instead, a customer would give a list of items to a clerk, who would then go through the store, gathering them. This created a greater cost, and therefore higher prices. Piggly Wiggly introduced the innovation of allowing customers to go through the store, gathering their own goods, thus cutting costs and lowering prices.Losses due to easier shoplifting were more than offset by profits from increased impulse purchasing. Others were initially experimenting with this format as well, which initially came to be known as a "groceteria", reminding people of cafeterias, another relatively new, self-service idea.

Piggly Wiggly Corporation secured the self-service format and issued franchises to hundreds of grocery retailers for the operation of its stores. The concept of the "self-serving store" was patented by Saunders in 1917. Customers at Piggly Wiggly entered the store through a turnstile and walked through four aisles to view the store’s 605 items sold in packages and organized into departments. The customers selected merchandise as they continued through the maze to the cashier. Instantly, packaging and brand recognition became important to companies and consumers.

The success of Piggly Wiggly was phenomenal, so much so that other independent and chain grocery stores changed to self-service in the 1920s and 1930s. In November 1922, Saunders attempted a squeeze on the substantial short interest in the stock, running the share price up from 40 to 120 and profiting by millions on paper. The Stock Exchange Governors responded by deciding that a corner had been established in Piggly Wiggly and removed the stock from the Board, eventually forcing Saunders to turn over his assets to the banks that had financed his leveraged position. Saunders reputedly lost nine million dollars in the attempted corner.

According to the Piggly Wiggly Web site, Saunders was "reluctant" to explain the origin of the company's name. There are two theories: One story says that, while riding a train, he looked out his window and saw several little pigs struggling to get under a fence, which prompted him to think of the rhyme. Someone once asked him why he had chosen such an unusual name for his organization, to which he replied, "So people will ask that very question."

Piggly Wiggly

Piggly Wiggly是一家在美国南部和中西部地区经营的美国连锁超市，由C&S批发杂货商的子公司Piggly Wiggly, LLC经营。它的第一家分店于1916年在田纳西州孟菲斯开业，是第一家真正意义上的自助杂货店，也是各种常见超市功能的鼻祖，如收银台、单项商品标价和购物车。

在它成立的时候，杂货店不允许他们的顾客收集他们自己的商品。相反，顾客会把一份商品清单交给店员，店员会在商店里挑选商品。这造成了更大的成本，因此价格更高。Piggly Wiggly推出了一项创新，允许顾客通过商店，收集自己的商品，从而降低成本和价格。由于更容易入店行窃而造成的损失，已被冲动购物带来的利润所抵消。其他人最初也在尝试这种形式，这种形式最初被称为“groceteria”，让人们想起自助餐厅，这是另一种相对较新的自助服务理念。

Piggly Wiggly公司获得了这种自助服务模式，并向数百家杂货零售商授予特许经营权，让它们经营自己的商店。1917年，桑德斯获得了“自助商店”的专利。Piggly Wiggly的顾客通过一个旋转门进入店内，穿过四个过道，可以看到该店605件商品的包装，并被分成不同的部门。顾客们一边挑选商品，一边继续穿过迷宫走向收银台。很快，包装和品牌识别对公司和消费者就变得非常重要。

Piggly Wiggly的成功是惊人的，以至于在20世纪20年代和30年代，其他独立的和连锁的杂货店都改成了自助服务。1922年11月，桑德斯试图挤占该公司股票的大量空头权益，将其股价从40股上涨至120股，账面利润达数百万美元。作为回应，证券交易所的管理者们决定在Piggly Wiggly设立一个角落，并将其从董事会中移除，最终迫使桑德斯将自己的资产移交给为他的杠杆头寸提供资金的银行。据说桑德斯在角球中损失了900万美元。

根据Piggly Wiggly网站的说法，桑德斯“不愿意”解释该公司名称的由来。有两种说法:一种说法是，他在坐火车的时候，向窗外望去，看到几只小猪正挣扎着钻过栅栏，这促使他想起了这首押韵诗。有一次有人问他为什么要为他的组织取这么一个不同寻常的名字，他回答说:“所以人们会问这个问题。”