Shopping, this task that we think we know by heart, even though it has changed without us really realizing it.
According to an INSEE study on the evolution of consumption habits since 1974, the French urban population spends on average 2 hours and 41 minutes per week shopping, or 11% of the total time allocated to domestic activities. A figure that has remained surprisingly stable for almost fifty years. But the most revealing detail is hidden elsewhere: the average duration of a single racing session today reaches 72 minutes, or more than an hour for each outing. We go there less often than before, but when we do, we stay there much longer.
This development says something quite telling about our relationship with consumption. In 1974, half the urban population went shopping on any given day; in 2010, there were only a third left. We have therefore largely replaced small, frequent local shopping trips with large weekly sessions, often on the outskirts of towns, in larger areas offering more choice, but also more temptations and more areas to browse. This shift is accompanied by another revealing change: car trips to go shopping today last on average 15 minutes, compared to only 5 minutes in 1974. We are no longer satisfied with the small store on the corner of the street, we look further, bigger, and incidentally longer.

What this task actually involves

Shopping involves making a list, going to the store, selecting products, checking out, and returning home with the bags. In this list of tasks, it is counted at 45 minutes for two sessions per week, which corresponds quite well to the reality measured by INSEE once we add the travel time to that actually spent on the shelves.

Tips and tricks for more efficient runs

The shopping list prepared in advance remains the most underestimated tool: several studies show that it reduces impulsive purchases by 20 to 30% on average, by avoiding off-topic sections and promotions that would not normally have caught your attention. Shopping on a full stomach rather than hungry further reinforces this effect, as hunger tends to direct choices towards caloric or superfluous products which were not included in the initial program.
Organizing your list according to the store plan, rather than in the order in which the ideas come, allows you to avoid unnecessary trips between departments and save precious time, especially in large stores where the distances between departments can be considerable. For long-life products (pasta, rice, canned goods, cleaning products), buying in slightly larger quantities during a session helps reduce the frequency of outings dedicated solely to emergency restocking.
Finally, avoiding peak hours, generally at the end of the day during the week and on Saturday mornings, considerably reduces the time spent at the checkout: the average waiting time observed at the checkout in France is around 10 minutes at busy times, a time which can be greatly shortened by simply staggering your passage.

Shopping may seem like an immutable routine, but INSEE figures show that it has changed dramatically in half a century: less frequent, but significantly longer each time. Enough to put the impression of endless chore into perspective, while giving some good reasons to organize yourself better so as not to spend a whole hour at each visit.