Shopping Moms Need A Better Shopping Cart
I am a stay at home mom of two small boys. Like a lot of stay-at-home moms, I am limited to what stores are \”accessable to me\” by a number of things. Things like the width of store aisles, the ease of parking, helpfulness of employees, and the size and maneuverability of the available shopping carts are all a factor in where I can and can’t go.
Even today, most households require the woman to do most of the shopping for the family. Of course this may not always be fare, but its the reality we live in. Factors such as convenience and the other challenges mentioned above play a big role. As such, I must visit a beauty supply store later this morning. With its narrow aisles and lack of shopping carts, my time inside the store will be minimal.
I feel this is the case for most women in my position. When faced with challenges such as aisle size and or maneuverability, most will completely avoid that store or limit the time spent inside by only getting the few items they need. Hence avoiding the \”impluse buys\” that they may otherwise purchase. This means less money spent along with the avoidance of a public meltdown by either mom or the children.
Shopping carts play a big part for me in choosing where to shop. The size and maneuverability determine how in which car seats or infant carriers will be managed during the shopping experience. A cart not accomodating the car seat properly may result in simply balancing it in place versus actually securing it to the cart. This can be quite dangerous while steering and making your way around the store.
The ideal shopping cart for a small business should be sturdy and lightnot bulky and heavy. It should be large enough to contain the items a shopper needs, but not so large that maneuvering through aisles becomes difficult and frustrating.
On several occassions, I have simply left a store due to frustration created by shopping carts being the wrong size for the shop I was in, or the wheels not working correctly or even aisles to cluttered for me the navigate through them to get to the items which I am most interested. I seem to avoid these stores in the future due to these bad experiences.
I understand that there is a fine line between having shopping carts the appropiate size in comparison to the needed aisle width to accomodate the type of products a store may carry. But I need a cart which is large enough for a five year old to sit in the basket along with whatever items I am purchasing. A good balance is needed for a store to provide a convenient place to shop.
Some may think it’s silly to put so much emphasis on where to shop based on their shopping carts, but it’s the truth. These factors all weigh in on which stores I will visit. There is a particular retailer I had to avoid until my son could sit up on his own since finding out that their carts would not allow me to safely secure my infant carrier to the front. However mundane it may seem, shopping carts do have an impact of the stores clientele. For me, the best shopping cart would be lightweight, possibly made from plastic, sturdy yet free turning wheels, wide enough to safely secure an infant carrier along with the needed space inside the basket for possibly another child, yet light enough as to not feel bulky while navigating through the store. The overall size needs to be proportunate to the aisle width and the products being sold. Such thought into the shopping carts may result in shoppers spending more time inside the store, hence spending more money.
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