Make Waiting in Line Interesting

Two years ago, Loblaw Companies Limited, which is Canada's largest grocery retailer, began gradually rolling out what they call "Clutter-Free Check Out Lanes." Magazines, batteries and even the impulse-grabbing, high-margin-earning candy bars are gone. If you want your candy, you buy it in the larger package in the candy section of the main store. The same sort of thing goes for the batteries and the magazines.
     Some congratulate Loblaw not only for cleaning up the overstuffed cash/wrap area, but also for enabling parents to guide their children and themselves through candy-free alleys, making it less likely that they themselves will end up looking overstuffed. But others say Loblaw is cheating stockholders out of dividends by forgoing the chance to sell all those small, last-minute purchases when the shopper is waiting in line with cash, check, or credit card ready to go.
     What did you think?
     Now please consider another perspective: Doesn't the checkout area clutter make any wait seem to go faster? Shoppers pass the time reading magazine covers and consume mental energy wrestling with themselves about which sweets to buy today. If you are going to shift the product selection purchase sites in your store away from the checkout, either ensure there are adequate resources to at least almost completely eliminate any lineups or introduce ways to make the wait more interesting. Product information posters, intriguing ads for stores you've teamed up with, music that's pleasant to listen to. Those all can work. Harvard Business School research finds that mirrors in waiting lines make the time go faster, since people will get involved in looking at themselves. You might not want to use that one in a Loblaw store, though. There's always the risk that customers will take one look at themselves and start putting the food items back.