The Grocery Queue: A Consumer Behaviour Challenge.

Despite retailers' efforts to win consumer loyalty through tech-driven improvements like, optimised store layouts and new payment options, consumers remain fickle. Happily hopping between shops that offer the best convenience, value for money.

One pain point for grocers is the checkout queue.

A Retail Bulletin¹ article cited a survey which found that customers, will only wait 5 minutes before ditching their purchases and walking out!

This post digs into why, despite all the fancy tech, we're still dealing with queue headaches. The key takeaway? It's not about the technology – it's about understanding and working with consumer behaviour.

The Evolving Retail Landscape

The fishbone diagram illustrates the factors influencing the retail landscape.

Grocers have responded to changing consumer demand and preferences by providing different delivery and payment methods. Consumers mix and match these options as they see fit, so:

• main weekly shop by delivery, but pop down to the supermarket

• prefer in-store, but Whoosh or Zoom when needed

This led to more payment and collection options, with the main options represented in the illustration.

Adopting self-service checkouts, means in-store changes.

Where once there were rows of cashier kiosks, its now a mix of cashier, self service and click & collect areas.

These new changes impact both consumers and staff. Staff have to be trained, new customer service protocols established. Likewise, consumers need educating on which payment option should be used.

Why Queues Persist?

Queues persist for the following reasons:

1. Uneven technology adoption and learning curves

2. Peak time bottlenecks

3. Store layout and flow issues

4. Inventory and pricing discrepancies

5. Staffing challenges

6. Unpredictable shopping patterns e.g. recent pandemic, localised issues

New technology adoption whether for a new concept or rollout to all stores is gradual. This means across a store estate, the technology is adopted differently with learning curves for both staff and consumers.

Peak time bottlenecks affect sales - 5 minute walkouts!

Remember "five or less items" basket self checkout?

Maybe it was “seven or less”? The point is, consumers saw it as a guideline rather than an absolute directive - causing queue backlogs.

Product discrepancies, a damaged product, a barcode that doesn't scan - kiosk red light a supervisor responds, more delays!

Grocers are simultaneously cutting jobs and looking for staff, none of which helps in-store morale, customer service - increasing queues. 

Let's not forget the COVID pandemic or localised events such as concerts, sporting events.

Solutions are needed to connect all these dots.

Digital Twins: A Holistic Solution

To solve the issue of grocery queues, digital twins offer the following solutions:

• Optimise mix of checkout options

• Predictive queue management

• Personalised customer guidance

• Staff allocation optimisation

But how exactly?

Digital twins can:

• Analyse shopping patterns to predict busy periods

• Help stores allocate staff more efficiently

• Simulate different store layouts to improve flow and reduce bottlenecks

• Suggest optimal product placements to speed up the shopping process

See below examples for Kroger and Lowe’s.

Digital Twin Real Life Examples

Kroger

Use case: Checkout simulation before physical implementation utilising Nvidia Omniverse.

Lowe’s 

Use case: Store planning, digital twin of a physical store to understand sales performance

Despite these tech advancements, the core issue remains.

The Core Issue

It’s consumer behaviour.

Shopping habits changed. Grocers responded by extending opening hours allowing more frequent shopping. Additionally, self-checkout kiosks are a result of consumer expectations for convenience and speed.

Grocers are meeting consumer demand. The challenge is to use technology to challenge human nature.

We're seeing this in a related field - food waste.

Meanwhile, in the EU.

Many online grocers such as Tesco offer recipes with the ability to "shop ingredients". It's also seen the rise of meal-kit start-ups such as Gousto, Hungryroot and Hello Fresh all provide exact recipes to your door.

Research by Statista puts the global market for meal kits at $14.59 billion in 2024, forecasted to grow to $19.52 billion by 2028.

However, total waste of €132 billion against a $14.59 billion (€13.34 billion) market value, it's an encouraging use of technology, but more can be done.

Now, a digital twin that models store traffic, consumer purchase behaviour with the goal of reducing waste at supply, that will do more to reduce food waste?

Conclusion

Digital twins are a promising solution enabling grocers to solve the waiting game, as long as the solutions, reflect actual consumer behaviour / human nature.

In theory, Amazon's Just Walk Out technology is the perfect solution, until implementation costs for larger stores is factored in , as well as consumers worried they've missed an offer, or fretting about the receipt.

It doesn't have to be digital twin technology. There's a variety of existing in-store and external tech that could be combined:

• mix Verint's queue management with RFID, add self- checkout?

• Disney has Disney Parks which helps riders pass the time in queues, could that work in Tesco's, Aldi or Ocado?

• Uber style surge pricing to manage queues?

The post pointed out how grocers (and retailers in general), have seen and met consumer demand. Consumers will argue that its adaptiveness in tough economic times and not fickleness behind the search for convenience and speed

However, for grocery consumers, all the options are covered, we’ve got what we wanted - consumer demand is supplied.

As consumers, we need more patience at grocery queues and to let technology change our excesses (food waste), for the better.

Further Reading

A snapshot of consumer shopping habits in 2023

The Future of Grocery Retail

1  How long lines drive away UK retail customers