Eli5 How do grocery stores around the world afford to be fully/half stocked in a product 24/7 simultaneously even in small towns where not everything’s bought?

Question

Eli5 How do grocery stores around the world afford to be fully/half stocked in a product 24/7 simultaneously even in small towns where not everything’s bought?

In: 47

Answer 1

Possible by **very long shelf life**. The products don’t expire fast and don’t need constant flux of replacements, very small waste, if any, at the end of each batch. One transport once in a blue moon is enough to stock anything necessary. So it’s a small cost for having a lot of products available on the shelf all the time.

With short shelf life everything is reversed, costs grow exponentialy, being permanently supplied gets next to impossible.