5 minutes – How this little number can have huge consequences

It takes just 5 minutes to make a cup of tea, to chat to a colleague, to fire off an email or to catch up on the day’s news. It also takes just 5 minutes to lose a customer – possibly forever. This tiny number can have huge consequences for a retailer. It represents the amount of time that most people are willing to wait in a queue for service. It has consequences that go far beyond that individual customer; it influences your store operations, queue management and the stress impacts on your employees. 5 may be a low number, but it should be high on your agenda.

Our research has indicated that in Germany, 78% of shoppers are willing to wait just 5 minutes before they will become dissatisfied and would consider walking out. Just 5% of consumers are willing to wait longer than 10 minutes and 15% expect to be served within just 1 minute before they will become dissatisfied.

Download the full study here (in German).

Customers want an online experience, but in-store

Intelligent task management systems that deploy employees to the right place at the right time can successfully reduce waiting times without adding further staffing costs. Reflexis Real-Time Task Manager uses store-defined parameters to determine when queues have reached a tipping point and automatically advises management to act. Over time, analytics can also be used to predict times when queues tend to be longer and ensure that trained staff are available.

It may take just 5 minutes for your customer to leave their shopping and walk out, but it could take just seconds to react to a long queue. Which will you choose?

Book a meeting with Reflexis at EuroShop 2020 (in German) to learn how we are transforming store operations.