Some consumers may love shopping but you'd be hard-pressed to find (m)any that get the warm and fuzzies thinking about the checkout. Now, Hannaford Bros. is looking to see if it can find a better way to help shoppers make their way through the front-end.
One of the grocery chain's stores in Ballston Spa, New York has set up a system where shoppers need to queue up and wait to be directed to a checkout by a store associate in a similar manner to the way post offices and other retail businesses move large numbers of people through the last leg of their facilities.
The Albany Times-Union reports that the system has been in place for nearly three months at the store. A shopper at the store, Barbara Virkler, told the paper, "I find it's quick, you never wait. It's smooth, and I'm not standing there reading tabloid headlines while I wait. I'm definitely a fan."
Hannaford's Queue System is more than just lining shoppers up. The company makes use of "queue buster" hand-held cash register units in addition to the other register to help speed the process. If one cashier is checking out a shopper, a second can start ringing up the next customer in line. If the first person in line moves out of the checkout, the associate at the main register can pick up where the queue buster left off.
Discussion Questions: Has Hannaford Bros. found a better way to get customers through the checkout? Should there be any concern about a loss of front-end sales if the checkout process becomes more efficient?