Company Blog

The Waiting

by Adam Zack — September 14, 2016

#2 Customer Complaint

“The waiting is the hardest part….”
– Tom Petty

My patience for waiting in line at the store – any store – has grown shorter and shorter, just like the majority of Americans. Maybe it’s that our schedules have got so tight that an extra 5 minutes seems like 15. Or that we are trying to do too much in a day. Or maybe we just have developed a disdain for what appears like a combination of incompetence and I-don’t-care by employees. We live right down the street from a Smart & Final, the only grocery store within a couple miles, so we frequently have to run in for an item or two. Inevitably, from 5:00-6:30 every night there are two cashiers, maybe three and about 5 people in every line. It took 2 minutes to run in, grab some arugula and cheese, but it takes 5 minutes to get through the register. And that 5 minutes seems like 15. We stand there, look around for any sign of urgency and see none. Or someone calls for customer service and no one shows up. Or the response comes back “He’s on his lunch.” And every time we say sarcastically “Huh, what a shock. There’s a long line and no one is coming to help.” It leaves us with a bad taste for the store and makes us avoid it whenever possible.

The Huffington Post recently wrote:

In fact, waiting too long is the No.2 complaint consumers have about retailers (The first? “Rude staff.”) Keeping customers waiting more than 10 minutes may seem a trivial complaint, but it can cost you. If you make them wait, 48 percent assume your business is poorly run, and 52 percent take their business elsewhere.

Why it matters to your business: Clearly, consumers have little patience for waiting in line in our 24/7 society. Don’t compound the problem by ignoring it. If there’s an unavoidable hold-up, acknowledge customers and thank them for their patience. Often, that’s all it takes. Of course, you can also get high-tech about it: 87 percent of consumers are willing to use some type of technology if it keeps them from waiting in line at retail stores, and 67 percent would use online check-in or download an app that saved their places in line at a retail business.

Which brings us to the specific point of this week’s sermon: What are you doing to alleviate the wait in your busy departments. Deli is #1 because of the time that each customer may require for slicing meats, making sandwiches and buying multiple items out of the case. Sure, most people have a number system and try to move it along as quickly as possible, but if there’s going to be a 10 minute or more wait at lunch time I’m going somewhere else. Recently we had a new customer request a way to have orders come from their new website menus to their deli and juice bar. Because our web designer is a friggen genius, he is building a platform where the orders will flow through the website to an ipad and a Bluetooth receipt printer located in the deli, where the employees will be alerted to the new order. Customers will be able to send in their orders from their phone or computer and it will be ready when they arrive. No waiting. And it doesn’t require prepayment or a third party vendor. It’s going to change the waiting game in busy delis. And it doesn’t have to stop at the deli. Bakeries, coffee bars, meat departments – any place you want to reduce wait times it will work.

And to you great retailers out there who are ahead of the waiting game, your rock. Keep it up and share any ideas you think will help the independents out there!