The advancements in the technological world have allowed supermarket chains and other stores to quickly dominate the market and are driving out the concept of the "local stores". Here are some facts about supermarkets and shopping:.
Barcodes .
The goods found in supermarkets are labelled with barcodes used to identify specific items on a central database. When the good is scanned a request is sent from the checkout to this main database where the request is handled and the appropriate information returned to that terminal and the correct amount reduced from the stock of that item. The bar codes are formed of lines of different widths and as each line represents a number the resulting code is the information sent to the main computer. The barcode hold several important pieces of information about the product including the country of origin, the manufacturers" number, the product code and the Check digit or check sum that verifies that the rest of the code has been read correctly.
Internet Shopping.
The most recent development in the supermarket world is the introduction of the Internet shopping service. The customer can order which goods they require without having to visit the store. The customer now can choose at what time they would like the delivery and can pay with a large range of different formats. As the integration of these systems grows stronger the customer is provided with a better service and comes to expect more therefore putting pressure on the market to evolve all the time. "Tesco" was the first in 2000 to provide an online shopping service and for a time was the biggest online retailer in Europe seeing its orders rise from 15,000 to 60,000 a week worth approximately 5 million dollars each week. Paying for these goods involves handing over personal data and the supermarket is obliged under the data protection act of 1998 to keep the data safe and not use or distribute it in any unlawful way.