Lawrence Metal Products Launches Its Latest Electronic Call Forward and Impulse Merchandising Systems March 10-12 at Las Vegas’ Sands Expo and Convention Center, Booth # 2834.
Lawrence Metal Products, part of the Tensator Group and world leader in queue management products, will unveil its latest version of the SLQ3000 single line Electronic Call Forward (ECF) and In-Queue merchandising systems to the U.S market at GlobalShop 2010.
All of Lawrence’s systems are designed to speed customer flow through the checkout queue by up to 25 percent, while optimizing the potential for driving impulse purchases by up to 400 percent. The company’s revolutionary queuing solutions have also been proven to improve customer satisfaction by up to 96 percent, provide opportunities for multimedia advertising and promotions, and to maximize revenues per square foot.
The SLQ3000 ECF system includes the standard features Lawrence has come to be recognized for in single line electronic call forward technology, but now allows for wireless installation of Positional Display Units (PDU), enabling easier and more cost effective installation. A new twin Central Display Unit (CDU) LCD screen allows for multiple media messaging to be shown alongside the call forward system anywhere in the queue area, which is ideal to support in-store promotions or to be sold to third parties – providing additional revenue streams for the business. This also has a unique feature that displays the number of customers per minute being served relieving those standing in the queue of the stress of not knowing the length of the wait.
Lawrence’s ECF is an electronic queue management system used wherever customers are in a “first come, first served” single line setting. The system speeds customer flow in the queue line by directing the customer to the next available cashier. The ECF uses digital voice and an LCD CDU (Central Display Unit) to alert customers to an available cashier, drastically reducing wait times and customer walk-aways by up 96 percent, with the ability tosend multimedia marketing messages to customers standing in line.
The company’s latest technological offering, InQ-tv™, will also be previewed at the booth for the first time in the United States, with a full roll out expected to the market later this year. InQ-tv™ allows retailers and brands to introduce engaging media into the queue and directly target waiting customers. Easily integrated with any Lawrence In-Queue merchandising system, it is a prime opportunity to target media advertising relating to items merchandised within the queue and see a direct uplift in impulse purchases and margins.
“Winning companies understand every square foot of space must be creatively used to generate sales while enhancing the customer experience,” said Keith Carpentier, senior business development manager for Lawrence. “The next generation ECF and In-Queue systems efficiently guide customers through the checkout queue while using the latest technologies to showcase various goods for impulse purchases. Once installed, these systems drive revenue by reducing customer frustration and confusion while promoting additional spending while moving through an interactive queue.”
Also featured on the stand will be the latest technology in dispersed queue ticketing solutions, powered by ESII and offered by Tensator, these solutions are ideal where there are a number of service positions and departments. Impulse posts and free- standing merchandising units will also be on display and are ideal for multi-line queuing environments or to add an additional revenue generating area anywhere within the store.
Lawrence’s booth #2834 at GlobalShop will be fully interactive allowing visitors to experience all of the featured technology products.
Queue Management Experts will Implement Single Line Electronic Call Forward Queuing Technology throughout Attendee Registration Area.
Lawrence Metal Products, A Tensator Group Company, today announced it will unveil a brand new queue management solution at Global Shop 2010, March 10-12, at the Sands Expo Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
As a main sponsor of the attendee registration area, Lawrence (Booth #2834) will employ its latest generation SLQ 3000 Electronic Call Forward System to speed waiting queues for attendees by efficiently directing them to the next available GlobalShop assistant at registration. The SLQ 3000 ECF system is guaranteed to reduce waiting times by up to 30 percent, customer walk-aways by up to 96 percent, as well as increasing operational efficiencies and reducing the risk of shrinkage through a form of employee theft known as ‘sweethearting’.
Additionally, Lawrence will help GlobalShop revamp the existing registration area by installing the company’s Tensabarrier® – a post and belt barrier system that is ubiquitously used throughout the world wherever there is a waiting line – to create a single line queue. With a single line queue added to the SLQ 3000 ECF system, attendees will experience shorter wait times and less confusion throughout the registration process.
The innovative SLQ 3000 model comes fully equipped with a host of new features, including a twin LCD Central Display Unit (CDU) that enables you to inform customers on waiting times, full wireless capability for Positional Display Units (PDU’s), and a full media capability opening up an additional revenue stream for saleable advertising space to third parties as well as enabling a display for promotional multimedia marketing messages.
To demonstrate improved queue flow even further, Lawrence will also be showcasing solutions for many different store environments at the company’s booth, including a fully functioning single line queue set-up, complete with the infamous Tensabarrier® retractable posts and acrylic messaging panels.
“Lawrence is proud to sponsor and participate in GlobalShop for a second consecutive year,” said Keith Carpentier, senior business development manager for Lawrence Metals. “We are introducing more products than ever before at the show, so it is a natural extension for us to help create a smoother and faster registration experience for all attendees.”
Global Shop 2010 (www.globalshop.org) is the largest global tradeshow for retail designers and brand marketers, featuring more than 800 exhibitors of fixtures, digital signage, visual merchandising and in-store marketing products.
The ticket controlled dispersed queue management systems Increase Traffic Flow and Optimize Resources in a Retail Environment with Multiple Service Positions or Points of Sale
At some point in our shopping lives we have all experienced it, a Saturday afternoon mob scene at the deli counter as you take a ticket and hope to hear your number yelled out by the clerk above the crowd. Quite often this process is frustrating, confusing and can result in your walking away before making a purchase – costing the retailer a sale and annoying the consumer.
Lawrence Metal Products, a Tensator Group company and world leader in queue management products, today introduced a suite of cost-effective dispersed queue ticketing systems which allow retailers to handle multiple transactions more fairly, ensuring that customers are served in a timely manner and by the most appropriate member of staff. Properly implemented, the dispersed queue systems help to improve customer service, increase traffic flow, improve operational efficiencies, optimize store resources and improve revenue generation.
Dispersed queue ticketing systems allow non-linear queues and are ideal in environments where there are a number of service positions and departments. The system allows customers to approach a kiosk, press an interactive touch screen and specifically choose the reason for their retail visit and the service they require, helping retailers direct them to the correct member of staff and counter for their requirements. The kiosk will then provide a number and one of several overhead displays will notify the shopper when to come forward. This system allows the customer to continue shopping, effectively turning a waiting customer into a shopper and increasing the overall customer experience by eliminating the frustration and confusion typically associated with the traditional queue.
Part of the company’s electronic Queuing (eQtm) portfolio, the dispersed queue ticketing systems are powered by Lawrence’s technology partner ESii and come in a variety of levels of software with varying applications depending on the number of counters and services the system needs to serve. The system has a full reporting package, providing management with real time date enabling them to see the performance of the store from any location.
Keith Carpentier, Senior Business Development Manager at Lawrence commented: “This system can be customized to any retail environment and at its most advanced level has the capability to operate across unlimited services, counters and multi-site operations, bringing real operational efficiencies to the retailer.” Keith continued: “In addition to this, the system has full digital media capability opening up additional revenue streams, opportunities to gather consumer research, and a full online scheduling service enabling customers to book appointments before arriving at the store, along with text and Email notifications.”
Retail sales are down, and the slumping economy might not turn around for some time. Retail giants, including Circuit City, Linens ‘n Things, Sharper Image and KB Toys, are liquidating inventories. Others are on the verge of doing so. But smart retailers are digging in and making the necessary investments to boomerang out of this recession and, hopefully, win over the customers of their struggling competitors.
One of the largest areas for investment among winning retailers is the checkout queue. That’s right. The checkout queue is the area that represents perhaps the greatest pain point for retailers and customers alike. It is, in the opinion of many industry experts, the most significant area where sales ultimately are either made or lost.
Research suggests that retailers experience an average of 1.6 percent of customers leave the checkout queue – and the store – without completing the purchase. While the percentage seems relatively small, consider a retailer with 500 stores throughout the U.S. that averages 500 transactions per store, per day with an average customer purchase of $30. That small percentage adds up to $280 per store per day, or, $100,800 per year. Multiply that by the retailers 500 stores and this retailer is losing $50,400,000 each year because its customers are opting to walk out of the store without completing the purchase. They’re dropping the items and are walking away. We call them walk-aways.
Why do walk-aways exist? It’s simple, really. In today’s fast-paced world, consumers are short on time and money. When shopping, consumers can navigate the store at their own pace, selecting the items they’d like to purchase; however, when moving toward the checkout queue there is an ingrained perception that there will be an inefficient and slow-moving line. It’s when perception meets reality that many consumers opt to walk away without completing the purchase.
Smart retailers recognize this pain point. They know they’re losing revenue, and worse, they’re losing customers. They also understand their failing competitors have experienced this walk-away problem. Not wanting to meet a similar fate, responsible retailers are addressing their checkout queues.
Retailers are turning to queue management experts and are investing in new technologies and strategies to solve this walk-away problem. They’re finding that emerging queue management technologies, when applied correctly, are greatly reducing walk-aways, improving customer satisfaction and increasing the average customer purchase.
Queue management experts are working with retailers to determine the best checkout solutions for each store, whether this be a lane-per-lane checkout, virtual queuing or single-lane queuing. While each solution is efficient in the proper environment, queue management experts can identify which system is best for a uniquely designed store. Whichever checkout queue solution is implemented, retailers are experiencing reduced walk-aways and happier customers.
Properly designed checkout queues can lower customer wait times by 25 percent and reduce walk-aways by as much as 90 percent. Checkout queues enhanced with in-queue merchandising products generate impulse purchases from up to 10 percent of customers. For the example retailer used in the walk-away model earlier, additional impulse sales of $1.50 to 10 percent of its customers would generate $10,500,000 of incremental revenue. Queue management experts are helping retailers capture this lost revenue with in-queue merchandising panels, baskets and bowls.
In-queue merchandising systems enable retailers to turn customer flow into cash flow by replacing traditional checkout queue barriers with merchandising panels and accessories. Modular slat wall systems promote and display products and include interchangeable graphic headers for displaying promotions, sales or corporate branding. Accessories including merchandising baskets and bowls allow maximum merchandising capacity per square foot of floor space, thus optimizing revenue per square foot performance.
Queue management solutions are unique to each retailer, and can even be customized for individual stores. When implementing a queue management system certain elements should be considered.
- Design: Queue management experts can help identify which checkout queue is best for a store. They can determine where the checkout queue should be located and if it should be a lane-per-lane checkout, virtual queue or single-lane queue. They can improve the flow of traffic and guide customers toward featured products or marketing materials.
- Technology: As a central element of the checkout queue, technology plays many roles. Electronic call forward systems speed customer flow by directing the person at the head of the line to the next available cashier. The system can keep customers advised of transaction speed giving visibility as to the wait time. Electronic queue ticketing allows multiple transaction profiles to be handled fairly and equitably for all waiting customers.
- Customization: Retailers can customize the checkout queue to meet specific needs. Whether it is for crowd control, to increase impulse purchases and move sale items, or to improve the store’s revenues per square foot, queue management experts bring together combinations of crowd control solutions with merchandising ad-ons best designed for the store. Modular merchandising panels and product displays built into the crowd control barriers can be designed to meet any retailers’ needs.
A well-designed checkout queue produces nearly immediate results. When the checkout queue is customized to meet a retailer’s needs, and is supported by technology, benefits will be realized in the following areas:
- Increased revenues: A well-designed queue will increase revenues per square foot by turning the dead space of the queue line into a revenue-generating area. Checkout queues modified with crowd control merchandising panels and ad-on product displays will generate impulse purchases from up to 10 percent of customers.
- Customer satisfaction: A better organized checkout queue provides a fair and equitable “first come first served” process that can generate up to a 94 percent customer approval rating. Checkout queues complete with electronic call forward technologies allow retailers to connect with their customers. The customers are more aware of their wait time and the pace at which the line is moving. Including signage and electronic displays communicates corporate messaging, store information and sales.
- Impulse purchases: Checkout queues modified with crowd control merchandising panels and ad-on product displays will generate purchases from up to 10 percent of customers. Strategically placed feature and sale items near and within the checkout queue increase the customers’ awareness of the products and drive them to purchase.
- Reduced walk-aways: Properly designed checkout queues are proven to reduce customer walk-aways by as much as 90 percent. When customers witness the efficiency of a checkout queue they are less likely to walk away. These customers leave the store satisfied with their shopping experience and eager to return.
Retailers implementing queue management and in-queue merchandising are moving customers through the checkout queue more efficiently and are increasing impulse purchasing behavior. Customers are happier and are spending more. And with a better shopping experience, they just might become customers for life.
Lawrence Metal Products Describes the Customer Guidance Techniques that can be Implemented to Prevent Injury During High-Volume Shopping Periods.
In today’s ultra-completive marketplace, holiday shoppers rushing to their favorite retail locations well before the sun rises to purchase deeply discounted items has become as much a holiday tradition as eggnog. As scores of shoppers line up on Black Friday anxiously awaiting that prized item, steps can be taken to assure their safety during this critical spending period.
“During the holiday rush, customer guidance principles apply equally outside of the store and at the point of sale,” said Richard Prigg, executive vice president of commercial operations for Lawrence Metal products, a world leader in customer guidance, visual merchandising and hospitality since 1881. “When you have hundreds of people anxious to enter a store at the same time you need to effectively control the flow into the store, and the best way to accomplish this is by forming lines.”
By utilizing Lawrence’s Tensabarrier – a flexible belt barrier system used throughout the world – to form a single line queue, retailers can guarantee customer entry into their stores according to when they arrive. If effectively used, the single line queuing system removes the added pressure shoppers tend to feel when they’re unsure of the order in which they will enter a retail location.
According to Mr. Prigg, proper signage outside of the store around the queue is also a very effective exterior crowd control method during high volume shopping periods.
“If signage is used properly, this greatly calms a crowd and helps relieve shopping stress,” Prigg said. “By clearly marking where customers should line up and by using displays to help them understand the queuing process, an event like Black Friday becomes much more uniform.”
Additional techniques that can be implemented to help control customer flow during high-volume shopping periods, include:
• Allocating enough queue space to accommodate the entire crowd waiting to entire the store. If crowds get too large, a contingency plan utilizing additional portable barriers should be in place.
• Allowing potential shoppers to enter the store in groups through the single line queuing system. By issuing tickets prior to the event either online or within the store, retailers can stand by the entrance allowing each appropriate group to move through the queue into the store.
While effective queuing strategies can greatly improve the process of moving customers into the store, Mr. Prigg is quick to point out the importance of crowd management at the point of sale as well.
“During heavy traffic periods customers will most likely arrive at the checkout together in one large group, and the same basic rules apply,” Mr. Prigg said. “By implementing advance queuing systems and technologies at the point sale, customers safely move through the checkout while millions of dollars can be saved by eliminating walk aways and maximizing holiday transactions.”
Lawrence Metal Product’s Electronic Call Forward Installed to Increase Revenue, Eliminate POS Confusion.
Lawrence Metal Products, Inc. today announced the latest versions of its Electronic Call Forward will be installed in JCPenney’s flagship Manhattan store – marking the first installation of the innovative queuing technology in the United States. The newly introduced product is designed to speed customer flow through the checkout queue , improving the quality of the customer relationship and operational efficiency.
Following the success of a similar version of Lawrence’s queue management technology in the company’s Dallas store – which sharply reduced customer “walk aways” at the checkout providing increased revenue – JCPenney decided to install the newest technology in its flagship Manhattan location. Due to the high volume of shoppers expected and the physical restraints of such a popular retail destination, JCPenney realized the need to maximize space while providing the best POS experience possible.
Electronic Call Forward (ECF)
Lawrence’s ECF is an electronic queue management system used wherever customers are in a “first come, first served” single line setting. The system speeds customer flow in the queue line by directing the customer to the next available cashier. The 2009 generation ECF uses digital voice and a twin LCD CDU (central display unit) to alert customers to an available cashier, drastically reduce wait times and send multimedia marketing messages to customers standing in line. A unique feature of the 2009 system is that the second CDU screen displays the number of customers per minute being served relieving those standing in the queue of the stress of not knowing the length of the wait.
“Responsible retailers understand every square foot of their stores must be creatively used to generate sales while enhancing the customer experience,” said Richard Prigg, executive vice president of commercial operations for Lawrence Metal Products. “After the ROI experienced at the Dallas store, JCPenney understood the need for a single line queue to seamlessly move customers through the checkout process, eliminating frustration and effectively reducing the number of walk aways – which is critical in a heavily trafficked retail location like Manhattan.” Prigg continued: “We’ve designed our queue management products and technologies to help retailers create better relationships with their customers while providing incremental revenue through the near elimination of walkaways.”
Lawrence Metal Products Builds Safety Measures into Barriers to Ensure Consumer Safety.
Standing in line is something we all have in common. We do it at the checkout in the supermarket or a store in the mall, in the bank or at the airport. It is probably something we don’t think about very much and it is certainly something that we seldom associate with bodily harm. In recent years, however, a growing number of low quality, imported retractable belt barriers have entered the market, and their lack of safety features is subjecting consumers to potential injury – particularly children.
“We have become very concerned over the number of products entering the market that are potentially dangerous,” said Richard Prigg, president of sales and marketing for Lawrence Metal products, a world leader in customer guidance, visual merchandising and hospitality products since 1881. “The critical safety features that all retracting belt barriers must have is a braking system and an anti- tamper belt end. The anti-tamper end stops the belt from being released accidentally, which is particularly important in environments frequented by children. The braking system is vital as the spring in a cassette mechanism will retract an unbraked belt with such force that it ‘whips’ back behind the post, potentially causing injury to bystanders.”
Mr. Prigg added that tests have shown retractable belt barriers without braking systems or anti-tamper belt ends can fly in a wide arc at the exact eye level of many children.
“The risk of an eye injury to a child is positively unthinkable and entirely avoidable if today’s retailers are more cautious about the quality of barriers they utilize,” he said.
The Lawrence Tensabarrier has the most advanced braking system available and anti-tamper belt ends as standard.
“This is an issue of design and manufacturing quality as well as one of corporate responsibility,” Mr. Prigg said. “Having unbraked products on the market does a disservice to the whole industry. It is likely, however, that the sale of these low quality barriers will eventually discontinue as retailers and their distributors become subject to personal injury claims.”