Queue management system for retail9/26/2023 ![]() Second, by being called upon by name, the telecommunication provider expects to provide a more personal entry into the service consultation between employee and customer. In order to make the waiting time more pleasant for customers, the retailer’s intentions by providing an advanced queuing system were, first of all, to offer customers the possibility to move freely around the closer area of the store or to use the time productively carrying out errands. ![]() Our study investigates the human-computer interaction between customers and a queuing technology based on the concept of ticketing and offered as both a self-service and human-operated system. We conducted face-to-face interviews with a qualitative and quantitative questionnaire after customers visited a telecommunications store in an Austrian shopping mall. From the retailer’s perspective, SSTs have mainly been introduced to save labour costs as machines are able to take over tasks from human beings. Convenience and the quick and accurate ability to perform the task, are necessary attributes in order to encourage customers to use SSTs. SSTs enable customers to take over control of the situation or transactions in waiting and queuing situations. Almost 30 years ago, the topic of SST in retail gained a lot of attention, when researchers of service literature began to examine relevant factors that are of great importance for customer participation with SSTs at servicescapes. The development of information systems (IS) entails that firms increasingly provide technologies, such as self-service technology (SST), which have been introduced widely in retail environments. A more recent study has shown that customers prefer invisible ticket queues above physical queues. Those systems apply to so-called “invisible” queues, in which people are not standing in line one behind another. One well-known example of a FIFO system is a ticket queue, in which customers receive a consecutive number by which customers are called out or which is displayed on a centrally placed monitor. Queuing systems such as First-In, First-Out (FIFO) enable fair processing of lines, described as “social justice” by Larson. In order to treat customers equitably and fairly, we often encounter queuing systems in stores, especially where products or services require customer-specific and intensive consultation. observed that customers feel very angry if somebody successfully sneaks into the line ahead. ![]() In 1985, Maister and Haynes found that the feeling of equitability has a positive effect on the customer’s perception of waiting time. In the 1980s, scientists started to recognize the importance of queue management and the impact of waiting time on customer experience. Waiting was mentioned among the main reasons that encourage customers to buy online instead of visiting a physical store. When we encounter a queue at medical facilities, hairdressers, banks or retail stores, our perception of the service delivery is directly affected. Waiting for service is one of the most unpleasant but unavoidable events in everyday life. Beyond the statistical analysis, our mixed-method approach contributes to a broad understanding of advanced queuing technology for practitioners, retailers and developers of such systems. However, customers were satisfied with the technologies and evaluated their queuing experience as effortless, easy and quick, which shows general support for those technologies. Our study shows that advanced queuing technologies in stores, with generally low customer frequency and short waiting times, show no statistically significant effect on a customer’s perception of the overall customer experience, satisfaction or intention to repurchase. In this field study, we investigate a self-service and a human-operated queuing system, both offering additional features, designed to offer a higher level of personalization and convenience for the customer’s waiting time. Queuing systems manage the order of customers waiting for their service encounter fairly and equitably and influence the perception of their experience in a physical retail store.
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