Following a six-month trial, queue management company Qm Group’s SQV (Single Queue Vision) queuing system is now in use at toy store Hamleys.
The in-store trial, which ran from summer 2004 and through the Christmas peak has demonstrated the positive effect of combining queue management with brand communication, according to QM.
Two SQV systems are in the Regent Street store, managing the store’s busiest queues at the main checkouts either side of the entrance. The SQV system brings together Qm Group’s ‘cashier number three please’ digital voice call-forward system and 20-inch TFT LCD screens within a head-of-queue unit.
On a programmed and updateable basis, the screens provide customers with service information and ‘brand-aligned’ messages. The fun and factual messages have all been designed to reduce tension and provide customers with a complete and relevant brand experience, say the manufacturers.
Custom designed for Hamleys, the system also features a specially recorded call –forward system using child voices.
The flagship toy store has also been supplied with several in-queue merchandiser (IQM) units and a number of GL45 Guideline queue barriers.
What they say
Alistair Agnew, Qm Group Managing Director, said: "During our initial discussions with Hamleys we proposed a mix of queue management and integral brand communication. We worked closely with the Hamleys visual merchandising team to create SQV video content tailored to provide a mix of service and store information, brand experience media and fun factual messages. This helps to build what Qm Group calls ‘The waiting experience’. Hamleys has a very detailed brand specification so we had to be sensitive to this. The queueing system encourages managed traffic through the busiest part of the store, providing a clear space for Hamleys’ famous toy displays in the central demonstration space."
Qm Group founder and inventor of the SQV system Martin Christie adds: "This all adds up to what Qm Group calls ‘ensuring a positive leaving experience’. If waiting in line to pay is the last thing your customers do before leaving, make sure the process doesn’t undermine all the hard work you’ve put in to get those customers to the store in the first place!"
