Improving the customer service at Marks & Spencer
With 16,000 customers visiting the women’s wear department each day, M&S in Brent Cross saw the need to manage and improve the customer flow at the tills. A linear queue system from Qmatic has brought order to the sometimes confusing payment area, and customers have no problem finding their way to the next available till. Staff no longer have to shout to call customers forward and as a result the waiting time is reduced, the transactions quicker and the whole operation has improved its efficiency.
BACKGROUND
Marks & Spencer is one of the high street giants in the UK. Operating for over 125 years it has over 450 stores across the country selling a wide range of clothing and food. Qmatic is used in 211 stores on food sections where there are critical trading periods and efficient Customer Flow Management (CFM) is needed, e.g. during lunch time when sandwich sales are high.
“We wanted to improve the customer experience by ensuring fair queue management and to drive efficiency by reducing transaction time and idle time,” said Jo Moran, Head of Customer Service at M&S (pictured above). “Qmatic has helped us identify the right number of high activity tills needed and ensure a smooth flow for the customer.”
Following years of successful use of Qmatic’s CFM system in the food departments, M&S decided to try Qmatic’s linear queue system in other busy areas.
“We are exploring opportunities for fairer and more efficient queue management in our clothing sections where we are adopting larger banks of tills. These can become complex for customers to navigate around and idle time can be inefficient for employee,” said Jo Moran.
The women’s wear section in the Brent Cross store in north London was the ideal place to try the system. As one of the busiest M&S stores in the country, 16,000 customers visit the department each day resulting in 7,000 transactions per week. The whole store sees 118,000 customers pass through each week.
“If queue management would work in Brent Cross, it would work anywhere,” said Theresa Azille, Commercial Manager Womenswear.
HOW IT WORKS
As the customers walk up to the tills, a sign informs them where to wait and a barrier solution ensures they know which direction the queue is facing.
As the next till becomes available, the staff member uses a handheld device to call the customer. The main display at the head of queue area, supported by a voice function, tells the customer which till to go to. A row of position displays over the tills ensures there is no doubt where to go.
“This way employee idle time is diminished and customer waiting time reduced,” said Jo Moran.
Customer and staff benefits
Before Qmatic customers could be confused in the way they were queuing. Staff had to shout “next please” and customers didn’t always know who was calling them. There were inevitably delays when customers were trying to work where to go, and often the next customer in line would prompt them forward.
Now, the queuing is quick and efficient, and customers can even browse strategically placed merchandise while waiting, knowing their place in the queue is secure.
Before the Qmatic system, customers sometimes faced the wrong way or could even inadvertently cut in front of the whole queue. A barrier solution has solved that problem and now the queuing is orderly and fair.
The customers in Brent Cross have noticed the improvement and have been quick to tell the staff what they think.
“There is a general improved perception in waiting time and that a fairer system is now in place,” said Jo Moran.
Theresa Azille said: “Customer comments we have heard include: ‘This is so much better, you should have this system in all departments here in the store.’”
“This is definitely an improvement and a way forward,” Theresa said.
Marks & Spencer use Qmatic’s linear queue system in 211 stores across the UK. SQ5 is used in 200 stores and SQ7 in 11 stores. The average number of positions in the stores is 7 for SQ5 and 11 for SQ7. The system used in Brent Cross has 6 till positions and each advisor has the ability to call the customer forward, using both voice function and digital signage. There is main display showing customers the next free till number, and each till has a position display showing their number. In addition, the store in Brent Cross is using Qmatic’s barriers to ensure fair and orderly queuing.
