NEW YORK – According to a survey of consumers conducted by Retail Systems Research, nearly 20% of shoppers will dump their carts if the checkout line at the register is too long, explains Ralph Crabtree, CTO and co-founder of in-store analytics firm Brickstream, in a recent article for Chain Store Age. These lost customers mean lost sales. In other words, and as most convenience retailers already know: Time really is money.

According to Crabtree’s article, retail can — and should — take steps to make the in-store shopping experience more efficient for their customers. He suggests several best practices for taking advantage of in-store analytics technologies to proactively manage queues to keep lines moving and ensure that customers leave with a purchase rather than a bad impression.

• Capture accurate data: To minimize wait times (without over staffing), stores need the accurate data on things like: How many people are shopping? How long are those lined up in register queues waiting? Are people leaving before completing a transaction? A clear understanding of what’s happening minute by minute is critical and this requires real-time metrics collected at various points in the store. 
• Measure actual shoppers and wait times, not averages: Customers care about their waits, not the average wait. Averaging masks what each customer experiences. Even if retailers hit their target average, it can still mean half the customers are served quickly and half are waiting too long.
• Turn insight into action: Businesses often plan ahead with tools used to schedule employees to lanes based on historical trends. But when this historical information is supported by accurate real-time data, stores can more effectively “manage in the moment.”
• Add wireless: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) sensors, as well as other mobile technologies, offer additional ways for retailers to both capture more granular in-store behavior data (from shoppers with smartphones, for example) and to further improve service and wait times. For example, mobile POS terminals can be used to complete transactions throughout the store, which reduces traffic at primary registers and allows staff already helping customers to close the sale on the spot.