Improving customer service at Waitrose
To ensure quicker times at the tills for its customers visiting its convenience stores, grocery retailer Waitrose decided to install Customer Flow Management (CFM). As a result, shoppers are pleasantly surprised by the short waiting times and staff have more control over their work environment.
Background
Qmatic’s CFM is already in use in more than 15 Waitrose core stores. Now the retailer is rolling out the system to a growing number of convenience stores. The linear queuing system is well suited for these stores as they traditionally have a high footfall and similar demand for quick service. So far, 5 convenience stores have installed the system, with more following soon.
With 8,000 customers a week, Waitrose Amersham, Buckinghamshire, is a busy branch where efficient service is in high demand. Shoppers are used to visiting the convenience store for quick purchases, and as such do not want to have to queue for long.
In order to provide better customer service and be more efficient, Waitrose looked at ways to make its queuing process quicker.
“Qmatic was installed in a number of our convenience branches in order to help with the flow of customers through our tills,” said Michelle Barnes, Waitrose Amersham Store Manager.
Now, the queuing is quick and efficient, and consumers can even browse merchandise whilst waiting, knowing their place in the queue is secure, as the linear queuing system uses an automatic call forward function. As a result, there is never any doubt for shoppers where to go, and customers know when to come forward.
Staff benefits
“The benefits to Partners - as all Waitrose employees are known - and managers within our store are that customers know where to queue and are clear when a Partner becomes available,” said Michelle. “It allows us to manage the flow of customers and identify how many tills we need open throughout the day.”
Customer benefits
The benefits to the shoppers are great, as they never have to worry about choosing the “wrong” queue – one that will move slower than the next one.
“Our customers really appreciate how easy the queuing system is to use. They often comment that although they thought the queue looked quite long, they were surprised by how quickly it moved,” Michelle said.
How it works
The CFM solution allows consumers to queue in an orderly manner, and to be automatically called when it’s their time to be served. A barrier system with in-queue merchandising clearly shows customers where to start the queue and where to stop and wait to be called.
In Amersham, 7 tills are used and equipped with Qmatic’s linear queuing system. As the next till becomes available, the staff member uses a handheld device to call the customer. The main display at the head of queue area, supported by a voice function, shows the number of the next available till. A row of position displays over the tills ensures there is no doubt where to go, as the available till number lights up.
The future
Waitrose is using an LCD screen at the head of queue, in order to show high quality messages to its customers whilst they are waiting. In the future, Waitrose may introduce digital signage as part of the CFM solution.