Mystery Shoppers from 23 countries joined queues in a range of retail types including grocery stores, banks, fast food outlets and travel ticket offices. Secret Shoppers reported on the time taken to reach the front of the queue and on the response of the member of staff to the queuing customer. Nearly 3000 mystery shopper queue reports were submitted, making this the largest survey of its kind.
Julian Chamberlain, MD of Retail Active Mystery Shopping and Brand Audits said "Frustratingly mystery shoppers could see ways in which the queue could be shortened, by opening more available tills, or bringing extra staff to assist, but noted that this very rarely happened.
"The research shows that Russia has the longest and slowest queues and Post Offices have the longest queues.
"Customers appear resigned to staying in the queue, but one in three was dissatisfied about the experience."
The surveys show that on average it takes almost 9 minutes to reach the front of the queue, 1 minute less than 2 years ago and still about the time taken in 2008, indicating that cost cutting changes made because of the recession may be having a real impact on customer experiences.
Retail active is a leading mystery shopping company providing research throughout Europe. Mystery Shopping is a valuable way to help organisations measure exactly how well, or badly, their customers are treated.
