In 1937, Sylvan Goldman, the owner of the Humpty-Dumpty grocery store chain, invented the shopping cart. Determined to reduce the cost of having to staff his stores with enough clerks to personally help each customer with over-the-counter purchases, he changed the paradigm.
He created displays and shelves where people could help themselves, and, to prevent any inconvenience, he invented the shopping cart so they didn’t have to struggle with armfuls of goods. For all intent and purpose, the creation of the shopping cart was the byproduct of a much larger cost-saving initiative.
