Private sectors – Retail stores

The resumption of retail trade after the advent of the current global pandemic can only be effectively achieved if it becomes safer for both business staff and consumers. Physical distance is a prerequisite for rebooting economy and restoring consumer confidence.

Key issues

Retail companies, targeting the successful resumption of their operation, are required to resolve three key issues related to physical distance:

The number of consumers during the stay in the physical store
The number of consumers during their stay in the physical store must be monitored and controlled systematically, as it is limited and calculated based on its area (square meters).
Queuing at the entrance
Reducing the number of consumers in the physical store may create huge queues at the entrance, increasing the risk of spreading the virus and significantly reducing the customer service experience.
The capability of redirecting consumers to other sales channels such as an online store, a call center or another nearby store of the chain store.
Retail businesses due to workload and ease of service need to redirect a number of consumers to online solutions or other channels in order to reduce as much as possible the physical contact in the store.

Actual and expected results

Current data provided by the World Scientific Community show that, through optimal queue management, the possibilities of spreading Covid-19 can be significantly reduced due to limited physical contact time and a limited number of people in a place. Retail businesses can maintain their revenue streams through secure crowd flow management. Customer experience is improved as customers themselves can remotely register in the queue in an easy way and be notified of their arrival time, improving both health safety as a whole and operating waiting time.

In addition, in the post-pandemic period our lives and our consumer habits will not be the same. Consumer health safety will be more important than ever. Redirecting channels as a solution is expected to lead consumers to increasingly use digital channels or find the right vendor. The digital queue for some services in the store (such as ordering, customer service, sales consulting and other internal services) will help SMBs ensure the safest solution for customers, but also save time for consumers conducting their purchases.

Solutions

The Q-edis platform provides the following solutions:

Crowd control management into the store

For each store a digital queue with a maximum number of consumers is defined and it is not allowed to be exceeded. The staff of the store records the number of customers entering and leaving the store through a mobile application.

Queue management at the entrance

Consumers can register on the digital queue on the spot or remotely and will be notified when their turn comes (e.g. via SMS or e-mail).

Manipulating channels

The digital queue platform can be used to offer consumers alternative electronic channels (online store, call center, mobile app, etc.)