The legal cannabis industry has witnessed unprecedented growth in recent years, and as more states in North America join the revolution, cannabis retailers must keep enhancing customer experience. One great tool to do that is a queue management system that helps cut down on wait times, provides a more comfortable retail experience and builds customer loyalty. When your store is busy, especially on occasions like 420, a queue management solution allows customers to place their order on the floor with a budtender and browse around while waiting for their purchases, instead of waiting in a physical line to check out. As retail shopping behavior changes and social distancing becomes the norm, a virtual lineup will also keep your customers safe while they wait for their turn to collect their package.
What is Queue Management?
Queue management is the process of providing convenient and seamless service to customers at your cannabis dispensary while staying organized and efficient. With a queue management system, customers won’t have to wait in a physical line and can place their orders on a mobile tablet and browse the dispensary as their package is being prepared. They’d be notified when their order is ready for collection at the checkout. A mobile POS tablet will also give your budtenders ample designated time to serve and delight each customer, without the pressure of a growing lineup, thus ensuring an unforgettable cannabis retail experience.
Why is Queue Management required in Cannabis Retail?
A convenient location is just one aspect of attracting customers to your cannabis retail store, but convincing them that they are getting good value just not for their money but also time is a whole different ball game altogether. In today’s retail reality, customer service begins even before they step inside your store and this is where a properly implemented queue management system enhances customer loyalty by recognizing that their time is valuable.
Poorly-managed queues are not just a deterrent for customers but create more work for your staff as well, thus increasing the likelihood of human errors. A customer typically expects to enter the store, browse a bit, pick up their cannabis products, pay at the counter, and exit. But if they have to wait too long, they may leave before purchasing anything, which means lost revenue for your store, and possibly bad reviews, and negative word-of-mouth marketing.
A good queue management system ensures that customer wait times are reasonable and that they always receive excellent service. A customer will always return to a marijuana dispensary that offers a positive and seamless experience and will recommend it to friends and family.
How can Queue Management Benefit Cannabis Retailers?
A queue management system does not just demonstrate your store’s commitment to customer experience but also facilitates personalized service, gives insights on consumer behavior, and lets you better design the layout of your marijuana dispensary. The following points illustrate how you can benefit from a Queue Management system:
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Reduce wait times and walkaways
People don’t like to wait, and they’d rather be investing their precious time in doing anything else than waiting outside your cannabis store with no idea about when their turn would come up. And if they have to wait for an inordinate time, then the queues at your dispensary will gradually start shrinking as your customers shop at another store.
With a virtual queuing solution like the one Cova POS offers, your customers can continue browsing the dispensary or do something else instead of standing in a long line to check out pay for their purchases. While it significantly decreases the possibility of sales lost due to walkaways, it also demonstrates to the customer that their time is valued and presents an opportunity for upselling as well. It even allows you to efficiently manage crowds during busy holiday periods and on big days like 420. Not only will this increase revenue for your cannabis retail store, but also enhance customer experience and loyalty.
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Personalize customer experience
For your legal cannabis retail store, personalization is crucial as you’d get a lot of different customers with diverse knowledge of marijuana, who’d need varying levels of assistance in choosing the right product for them. You must be able to identify and segment all different buyer personas to figure out how much time each individual may need for a better shopping experience. This will allow you to manage your virtual queue even more efficiently.
A Cannabis Retail Queue Management System also provides customer data that offers insights on how you can improve your dispensary experience. It also makes servicing clients easier and customized with the ability to address them by name. While their package is being prepared, they may be intrigued by another product, thus triggering a last-minute purchase and more revenue for your cannabis dispensary.
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Keep customers safe from Covid-19
We can’t emphasize enough that Covid-19 has drastically changed the retail shopping experience. Managing customer flow and limiting the number inside at any particular time is more vital than ever to keep your clients safe while adhering to government-imposed guidelines. A queue management system will help you enforce and stay compliant with capacity regulations while knowing exactly how many people are in your dispensary and whether it is safe to let more customers in. Along with offering curbside pickup and delivery service, mobile queue management will also help you grow your cannabis business in the new normal.
In today’s world of retail, your staff doesn’t have too much time to stop and contemplate, and customers seek quick service as well. So instead of asking your employees to manually manage the line outside your cannabis store, let technology facilitate it for you and let your budtenders focus on providing an incredibly personalized experience to your customers. To learn more about Cova's incredible features, book a demo with us now.