The future of shopping overseas

[unhappycamper]

The future of shopping overseas
By Kevin Dougherty, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Monday, January 12, 2009

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Compared to their stateside counterparts, commissary patrons are exemplary at making shopping lists, managing the pantry, asking family members for edible ideas and clipping coupons.

They also use self-checkout stations at more than twice the rate stateside shoppers do, according Philip E. Sakowitz Jr., the director of the Defense Commissary Agency, citing industry surveys.

In December, 28 percent of all DeCA store transactions were done through self-checking, the agency says. Twenty-one percent were done that way in Mannheim, Germany, and 63 percent at Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart.

A new state-of-the-art system should keep that trend going.

"We’re getting visited by other grocery chains," Sakowitz said. "Self-checkout is a new concept. It’s beneficial and people want it. It’s the way of the world."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=59950