Editor’s Note: Losing patience
It happened on three consecutive weekends, at three different chains in three different towns. But, the end result was the same. I walked out of the store without purchasing anything.
Over the course of about 16 days, I was subjected to the ultimate curse of retailing on three separate occasions — waiting in line to pay for merchandise I needed from a drug store when there was just one cash register open and just one cashier working at the checkout.
Now, no one is ever going to accuse me of having a lot of patience. But, I am fully prepared to wait in line to pay for my merchandise as long as things are moving along. Unfortunately, on each of these occasions, the lines were barely moving at all. With just one person manning the front end, it seemed that virtually every reason possible to prevent customers from finishing their transactions took place.
Several times, the line came to a stunning halt as the cashier was asked to help a customer find a certain item. Other times, the cashier had to leave the checkout to find the price of a product. And, on other occasions, customers simply were buying too many products, and that by itself slowed things to a crawl.
Each time, after at least 10 minutes in line, I gave up hope. I simply put my merchandise down on the nearest counter, gave the cashier a scowl and muttered some comments to my line mates as I walked out the door. I was not the only customer to do this, either. Eventually, I went to another store to purchase these products, but each time it was a supermarket, and each time I went there to make food purchases and remembered to purchase my OTC needs as well.
I am not here to tell retailers how to run their businesses. But I will say that getting a customer out the door in a timely fashion is vital to maintaining an atmosphere that encourages shoppers to visit your store. Putting a second or third person — as needed — at the front end will pay for itself in a short amount of time.
In the end, getting the consumer out the exits quickly will lead to getting more consumers to come in the entrance.
Over the course of about 16 days, I was subjected to the ultimate curse of retailing on three separate occasions — waiting in line to pay for merchandise I needed from a drug store when there was just one cash register open and just one cashier working at the checkout.
Now, no one is ever going to accuse me of having a lot of patience. But, I am fully prepared to wait in line to pay for my merchandise as long as things are moving along. Unfortunately, on each of these occasions, the lines were barely moving at all. With just one person manning the front end, it seemed that virtually every reason possible to prevent customers from finishing their transactions took place.
Several times, the line came to a stunning halt as the cashier was asked to help a customer find a certain item. Other times, the cashier had to leave the checkout to find the price of a product. And, on other occasions, customers simply were buying too many products, and that by itself slowed things to a crawl.
Each time, after at least 10 minutes in line, I gave up hope. I simply put my merchandise down on the nearest counter, gave the cashier a scowl and muttered some comments to my line mates as I walked out the door. I was not the only customer to do this, either. Eventually, I went to another store to purchase these products, but each time it was a supermarket, and each time I went there to make food purchases and remembered to purchase my OTC needs as well.
I am not here to tell retailers how to run their businesses. But I will say that getting a customer out the door in a timely fashion is vital to maintaining an atmosphere that encourages shoppers to visit your store. Putting a second or third person — as needed — at the front end will pay for itself in a short amount of time.
In the end, getting the consumer out the exits quickly will lead to getting more consumers to come in the entrance.