Queue Busting – MDE and mobile receipt printers to combat queues in retail
Waiting at the checkout in the supermarket can often be quite frustrating - especially if you only want to buy a few items. Nobody likes waiting in queues. This leads to dissatisfaction among customers, especially at the checkout in the supermarket, at the specialist retailer or in the clothing store. Queue Busting – in German: queue management – is one approach.
And this is how the process works in detail:
A mobile computer (MDE device) with an integrated barcode scanner (MDE device) is connected to a mobile receipt printer via Bluetooth, WLAN or cable. An employee is equipped with both devices and uses the MDE device to scan the barcodes of the items in each customer's shopping cart while the customer is in the queue. All products are scanned directly from the shopping cart and after all items have been recorded, a receipt with a 2D code is printed out for the customer on the mobile printer. The customer shows this receipt at the checkout. The employee at the checkout scans the 2D code and the total amount of the goods in the shopping cart is displayed at the checkout and can be paid for by the customer. The advantage of queue busting is that the purchases do not have to be placed on the belt at the checkout again, but the purchases can be paid for directly after presenting the 2D code receipt. This speeds up the checkout process significantly when there are large numbers of visitors.
In principle, queue busting can be carried out with many devices, regardless of the manufacturer. All you need is a handheld scanner (MDE device) with the appropriate software and a mobile printer - and an employee to carry out the operation. Of course, it is advisable not to just use any devices, but rather ones that can be integrated harmoniously into the store's auto-ID system (ERP system) and, ideally, used elsewhere. The use of queue busting is particularly useful in small shops. There is often no space for additional cash registers. Where every square meter of floor space often counts in small stores and there is simply no room for additional checkouts, large stores can also set up additional shelves or create advertising space by not having additional checkouts that would otherwise not be possible. Queue busting generally makes sense wherever there are longer queues at checkouts during peak times. And this regardless of the actual size of the business.
