Study: Long lines mean fewer customers

DALLAS A survey of 13,000 shoppers by M/A/R/C Research found that 10 percent of shoppers will leave a checkout line if the wait is longer than four minutes. In addition, 43 percent of those surveyed said long lines affect their decision to shop a particular retailer in the future, and 3 percent said they would stop visiting the store all together.

"Retailers really have to focus on keeping their wait times under four minutes with the negative impact of even one minute more," said Tony Amador, senior vice president at M/A/R/C Research.