Survey: 14% of Shoppers Left Items and Walked Out Over Long Queues in the Past Year

Long checkout queues in Latvian shops are shaping shopper behaviour: 69% of residents have opted for self-checkout tills in the past 12 months for this reason. This comes from a survey by StrongPoint, a technology company offering retail solutions. The results suggest a queue can cost retailers both individual sales and regular customers.

What the survey found

According to the data, 14% of shoppers left their chosen items and made no purchase because of a long queue. One in ten chose a different shop next time for the same reason. A further 36% looked for another till with a shorter queue over the past year, and 22% tried to shop at a different time.

Differences by age

Younger people leave more often. In the 18–29 age group, 27% of respondents said that in the past 12 months they left items behind and did not buy because the queue was too long. In the 60–74 group, only 6% did so.

Self-checkout is not only a choice of younger shoppers, however. In the 60–74 group, 66%, nearly two thirds, chose self-checkout because of long queues.

The company's explanation

Uģis Začs, StrongPoint's regional manager for Latvia and Estonia, says shoppers are demanding and that a queue can be the moment a person leaves without buying or loses the wish to return to that shop. He says digital solutions, including self-checkouts and scanners, have already proven their value in improving the customer experience. In his words, their aim is no longer just to speed up purchases but also to make shopping more convenient and intuitive.

Retailer Rimi said that more than half of its customers have used its self-checkout tills this year.