Housewares Business-to-business magazine for housewares retailers and their suppliers
Morrisons has promised that it will open extra checkouts for customers if there is more than one person ahead of them in a queue.
The initiative comes after the 500-strong grocery chain listened to customers who said queuing was their top frustration in supermarkets (70%) ahead of unhelpful service (67%) and poor quality products (66%).
Research conducted for Morrisons found the average person can only last a maximum of six minutes and 48 seconds in a queue before losing their patience.
So, Morrisons checkout managers will now be directing customers to newly-opened checkouts when they see queues building.
Thousands of Morrisons staff have been trained so that they can quickly turn to operating a checkout when stores become busy.
Morrisons retail director Gary Mills said: “While we’re proud to have one of the shortest queue times in the industry [according to a 2016 Which? survey] we want to serve our customers better. Our new ‘checkout promise’ will ensure our 11 million customers get the best shopping trip possible, even as our stores become busier.”
Morrisons research also revealed that more than half of UK adults (56%) avoid shopping at places known for queues and that two-thirds (64%) would leave shops rather than join queues at tills.
