36 Retail Trivia Questions with Answers
36 public questions with answers, drawn from the well. How many can you answer?
Retail trivia explores the stores, brands, inventions, founders, and shopping traditions that shape everyday commerce. Questions range from the origins of Uniqlo’s name and Muji’s first directly operated store to the first item sold on AuctionWeb, the website that became eBay.
This hub also covers department stores, luxury retailers, supermarkets, sporting-goods businesses, and checkout technology. You might identify the London department store on Brompton Road, name the retailer H&M acquired before adding menswear, or recognize scan-and-pay systems that reduce reliance on staffed tills. It suits game nights, pub quizzes, business and marketing classes, and anyone curious about how familiar shopping brands began and expanded.
What was the first item sold on AuctionWeb, the site later renamed eBay?
Answer
Broken laser pointer
H&M added menswear in 1968 after buying which Stockholm retailer?
Answer
Mauritz Widforss
Which luxury department store has a flagship at 611 Fifth Avenue in New York City?
Answer
Saks Fifth Avenue
What is Costco's well-known private-label brand?
Answer
Kirkland Signature
CVS Pharmacy was originally named what?
Answer
Consumer Value Stores
What was eBay's original name from 1995 to 1997?
Answer
AuctionWeb
Which home-improvement retailer opened its first two stores in metro Atlanta in 1979?
Answer
The Home Depot
Which retailer introduced the first money-back guarantee in 1875?
Answer
Montgomery Ward
Which supermarket chain was the site of the first barcode scan in 1974?
Answer
Marsh Supermarkets
What is the name of the world's first department store, opened in Paris in 1852?
Answer
Le Bon Marché
Which retail chain was founded by Frank Winfield Woolworth in 1879?
Answer
F.W. Woolworth Company
Which French retailer originated the hypermarket format?
Answer
Carrefour
Which grocery chain was the first to introduce shopping carts in 1937?
Answer
Humpty Dumpty
Which department store chain pioneered the 'white sale' in the late 19th century?
Answer
John Wanamaker
What was the name of the first self-service grocery store, opened in 1916?
Answer
Piggly Wiggly
Which fast-food chain is the world's largest by number of restaurants?
Answer
McDonald's
Which online retailer started as a bookseller in 1994?
Answer
Amazon
What does the acronym SKU stand for in retail?
Answer
Stock Keeping Unit
Retail trivia — quick answers
What are good retail trivia questions?
Good retail trivia questions connect recognizable brands with surprising details: the origin of a company name, the location of a first store, an unusual first product, a major acquisition, or a technology that changed checkout. Questions about Uniqlo, Muji, eBay, H&M, luxury department stores, and sporting-goods retailers make strong quiz material.
How hard is retail trivia?
Retail trivia usually ranges from easy to challenging. Brand-recognition questions about famous department stores or shopping technologies are accessible, while questions about founding dates, acquisitions, store locations, and early company history require more specialist knowledge. A balanced quiz can combine familiar names with lesser-known facts about how retailers developed.
What was the first item sold on AuctionWeb?
The first item sold on AuctionWeb, the auction website later renamed eBay, was a broken laser pointer. Founder Pierre Omidyar listed it in 1995 as an experiment in online auctions. A buyer still paid for the faulty item, helping demonstrate that people would use the internet to trade unusual goods directly.
What retail technology lets shoppers scan barcodes and pay without a staffed checkout?
Self-checkout technology allows shoppers to scan product barcodes, bag their purchases, and pay at an unattended station. Some retailers also offer scan-and-go systems through mobile apps, letting customers scan items while shopping and complete payment digitally. These systems are designed to reduce queue times and staffing demands.
Which sporting-goods retailer was founded by Michel Leclercq in France in 1976?
Decathlon was founded in France in 1976 by Michel Leclercq. The company became known for selling a broad range of sporting goods, including products under its own specialist brands. Its large-format stores and vertically integrated approach helped make it one of the most recognizable sporting-goods retailers internationally.