• BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    They’ve been in use in the US in other retail outlets for about as long.

    I suppose there was little rationalization for them in grocery stores until recently. Keep in mind grocery stores are massive chains, largely stocked by vendors - the store doesn’t own a huge portion of the product, they rent out space to vendors.

    So there’s probably also the interaction between vendor and the chain - how the pricing update is managed.

    Maybe someone more knowledgeable about how grocery works could chime in. I only have a cursory understanding. I wonder what their It systems look like, how they integrate/communicate with vendor systems.

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      5 months ago

      I used to work for a company that did contract work for retail and grocery stores. For the most part, there isn’t a whole lot of direct integration, unless you’re talking about the huge chains and huge suppliers. Buyers make an order, that order gets tracked, shipped, added to inventory, and placed on the shelf.

      Walmart is so huge and so nickel-and-dime that I’m sure they track and update prices based on a variety of factors, much like how Amazon does their micro-pricing stuff.