What Are The Greatest Changes In Shopping In Your Lifetime

What are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime? So asked my 9 year old grandson.

As I thought of the question the local Green Grocer came to mind. Because that is what the greatest change in shopping in my lifetime is.

That was the first place to start with the question of what are the greatest changes in shopping in your lifetime.

Our local green grocer was the most important change in shopping in my lifetime. Beside him was our butcher, a hairdresser and a chemist.

Looking back, we were well catered for as we had quite a few in our suburb. And yes, the greatest changes in shopping in my lifetime were with the small family owned businesses.

Entertainment While Shopping Has Changed
Buying butter was an entertainment in itself.
My sister and I often had to go to a favourite family grocer close by. We were always polite as we asked for a pound or two of butter and other small items.

Out came a big block of wet butter wrapped in grease-proof paper. Brought from the back of the shop, placed on a huge counter top and included two grooved pates.

That was a big change in our shopping in my lifetime… you don’t come across butter bashing nowadays.

Our old friendly Mr. Mahon with the moustache, would cut a square of butter. Lift it to another piece of greaseproof paper with his pates. On it went to the weighing scales, a bit sliced off or added here and there.

Our old grocer would then bash it with gusto, turning it over and over. Upside down and sideways it went, so that it had grooves from the pates, splashes going everywhere, including our faces.

My sister and I thought this was great fun and it always cracked us up. We loved it, as we loved Mahon’s, on the corner, our very favourite grocery shop.

Grocery Shopping
Further afield, we often had to go to another of my mother’s favourite, not so local, green grocer’s. Mr. McKessie, ( spelt phonetically) would take our list, gather the groceries and put them all in a big cardboard box.

And because we were good customers he always delivered them to our house free of charge. But he wasn’t nearly as much fun as old Mr. Mahon. Even so, he was a nice man.

All Things Fresh
So there were very many common services such as home deliveries like:

• Farm eggs

• Fresh vegetables

• Cow’s milk

• Freshly baked bread

• Coal for our open fires

Delivery Services
A man used to come to our house a couple of times a week with farm fresh eggs.

Another used to come every day with fresh vegetables, although my father loved growing his own.

Our milk, topped with beautiful cream, was delivered to our doorstep every single morning.

Unbelievably, come think of it now, our bread came to us in a huge van driven by our “bread-man” named Jerry who became a family friend.

My parents always invited Jerry and his wife to their parties, and there were many during the summer months. Kids and adults all thoroughly enjoyed these times. Alcohol was never included, my parents were teetotallers. Lemonade was a treat, with home made sandwiches and cakes.

The coal-man was another who delivered bags of coal for our open fires. I can still see his sooty face under his tweed cap but I can’t remember his name. We knew them all by name but most of them escape me now.

Mr. Higgins, a service man from the Hoover Company always came to our house to replace our old vacuum cleaner with an updated model.

Our insurance company even sent a man to collect the weekly premium.

People then only paid for their shopping with cash. This in itself has been a huge change in shopping in my lifetime.

In some department stores there was a system whereby the money from the cash registers was transported in a small cylinder on a moving wire track to the central office.

Some Of The Bigger Changes
Some of the bigger changes in shopping were the opening of supermarkets.

• Supermarkets replaced many individual smaller grocery shops. Cash and bank cheques have given way to credit and key cards.

• Internet shopping… the latest trend, but in many minds, doing more harm, to book shops.

• Not many written shopping lists, because mobile phones have taken over.

On a more optimistic note, I hear that book shops are popular again after a decline.

Personal Service Has Most Definitely Changed
So, no one really has to leave home, to purchase almost anything, technology makes it so easy to do online.
And we have a much bigger range of products now, to choose from, and credit cards have given us the greatest ease of payment.

We have longer shopping hours, and weekend shopping. But we have lost the personal service that we oldies had taken for granted and also appreciated.

Because of their frenetic lifestyles, I have heard people say they find shopping very stressful, that is grocery shopping. I’m sure it is when you have to dash home and cook dinner after a days work. I often think there has to be a better, less stressful way.

My mother had the best of both worlds, in the services she had at her disposal. With a full time job looking after 9 people, 7 children plus her and my dad, she was very lucky. Lucky too that she did not have 2 jobs.

Understanding Effectiveness of Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing is largely viewed as an effective medium of brand promotion. However, it’s often viewed as a “good to have” as opposed to a necessary aspect. It is now turning out to be key essential component.In this article, we’ll outline the meaning of the term inbound marketing and then elaborate why it’s becoming an important part of your online marketing plans.Understanding Inbound Marketing?In case you’re new to digital marketing; you may be a little bit confused about the concept of inbound advertising. It’s a relatively new strategy that’s almost exclusive to the web.Inbound marketing, comprehensively, is a means of enabling your brand to get noticed by customers. Listed below are a couple of ways to achieve the desired results from your inbound marketing efforts.The first and most popular inbound marketing strategy involves the effective utilization of content. It’s quite often that the phrase “Content Marketing”and “inbound marketing” are used interchangeably. The reality is that content marketing is a subset of inbound marketing.With the help of effective content marketing or management, brands publish authentic and helpful content on a blog and on their website. They optimize the content to achieve better ranks in the search engine results pages (SERPs). Instead of advertising upfront and pushing the content, the content pulls the customer towards itself via blogs, social media platforms and websites. That’s how people find it and connect with the brand. The core idea is that effective content management is used to generate leads which are then converted into customers.Another admired means that inbound advertising companies use is social media marketing. However, in this case, social media marketing isn’t the paid advertising. It’s instead used to place a human face on the entity. Digital marketers will often use social media to connect with the target audience by posting something witty or a touching story shared by people and has the elements to go viral. Brands get coverage and gain followers when they effectively use a sound social media strategy.Now that we’ve understood a bit about inbound marketing, let’s observe why it’s essential.Usage of Ad Blockers:Ad blockers have been the annoyance of digital marketers for quite some time. There’s no sign that’s going to let up any time soon.Ads are a typical example of outbound marketing. They’re usually interruptive in nature especially if they’re pop-up ads. They stand in contrast to inbound advertising companies which use different ways of pulling customers towards brands through intelligent content marketing.People don’t like pop up ads. No matter how clever, cute, or creative your ad appears, many users simply don’t want to see it. They will install an ad blocker and take the annoyance out of their Internet experience.That’s an effective step for them to get desired user experience, but it doesn’t do any good to marketers who run such ads in an effort to gain more business. That’s why alternative marketing strategy must be used.What is the effective alternative available option to running ads? You absolutely guessed it right. It’s inbound advertising. Availability of experienced inbound marketing companies makes your journey of obtaining effective results easier.

Affordable Accommodations Near San Francisco Airport

San Francisco is no doubt one of the United States most attractive and popular cities, given its rich mix of varied cultures and people. With its proximity to Los Angeles and other major cities on the American west coast, San Francisco is also home to a large number of global businesses.Traveling in San Francisco may seem intimidating to many given the steep climbs of its streets, but the trade-off is that you get to experience the beauty of a vast number of world-famous tourist spots and multi-cultural attractions combined with amazing weather and amazing natural beauty.Places like Union Square are bordered by high fashion stores, all the major retailers, as well as up-market hotels, affordable lodging and the occasional cheap deal. One of the biggest attractions in this area is one of the city’s biggest shopping areas, offering delights from various cultures from across the globe. For the business traveler or for family vacations, this place has something for everyone.While staying in such airport hotels, you not only get the advantage of proximity to the airport and affordability, but you also get to be a short distance from the very best shops, restaurants, art galleries, theaters and museums. With so much to do, San Francisco may be called a lot of things, but boring would not be one of them. With a whole gamut of indoor and outdoor activities, a visit to San Francisco has all the potential to be the journey of a lifetime.San Francisco also provides its visitors with a wide variety of accommodation to suit all aesthetic or financial requirements. Hotels near the airport offer incredible convenience primarily because of their proximity to the airport and friendly rates. Arranging your own transportation while staying in airport hotels can yield up to 60% the cost of the expenses made on hotels, which are located in other areas of the city.Hotels near San Francisco attractions like Fisherman’s Wharf might cost you more than a couple of hundred dollars per night. Hotels located in the financial districts would also have similar pricing. To avail lower prices, you can opt for staying in the hotels close to the airport. It may not boast of the proximity to famous landmarks and other attractions, but you can still avail same basic amenities.Many hotels are also competing, which should drive down prices in the near future, allowing you to get the best deal for your hard-earned money. Staying in an airport hotel, especially if you are traveling by air, brings a host of benefits which are vital to your journey like saving on time and not missing flights due to traffic. Such hotels also give their patrons a shuttle service to make sure they catch their flights and their journey starts and ends on the best possible note.