My Favorite Traveling Hobby: Visiting Grocery Stores

I guess you could just call it "shopping". But Geo-arbitrage is an interesting concept. On the surface, different places have different prices for the same item.

In Japan, Japanese food is inexpensive, while foreign foods are expensive. In USA, USA food is inexpensive (or expensive who you ask!) but everywhere else, it can be cheaper or more expensive depending on what it is.

Then you have the idea of a brands and branding. How marketing really affects a product and how it shapes your opinion.

One item that I find truly consistent is Coca - Cola.  

In general, a Grocery Store is a marketplace. While there is much  hype online about creating marketplaces, e-comm in general and curating to a unique audience - the brick and mortar staple really is something to admire.

Chains are a form of branding, and create consistency, and seeing them throughout the world internationally really paints a picture of how much "work" it is to create, establish a brand - and then create an automated system, through manpower and logistics.