How partnerships and technology have driven the customer experience during the COVID pandemic

Adam Presdee, Service Director at GEZE UK explains how technology has helped consumers feel safer in store and enabled retailers to meet COVID regulations cost effectively.

As the figures for COVID rose and the need for Tier restrictions and then another national Lockdown took place, government advice demanded that retailers limited the numbers in store by “calculating the maximum number of customers that can reasonably follow social distancing guidelines.”

Unsurprisingly this led to queues forming outside many shops and so the need for queue management. Often this meant a member of staff, sometimes two, stood at the door counting people in and then counting them out again - a time-consuming task which was liable to errors. And not the best use of staff that could be more profitably engaged elsewhere and not ideal for the poor staff member left standing in the cold!

A solution that provided queue management automatically, saved money, made better use of staff and met government requirements was required.

GEZE Counter, a customer flow control solution specifically addressed these challenges.

Customer flow control and successful store layout for maximising sales have always played an important role for retailers. The coronavirus pandemic brought these considerations increasingly into focus because customer flow control involves analysing the number of customers and the routes they take, and directing and controlling them correspondingly.

But during the pandemic, the main task of flow control systems was to ensure that only the correct number of persons could enter a building or rooms under control and safely. This allowed each customer to better socially distance themselves, feel safer and enabled retailers to comply with government guidelines. Escape routes are unaffected. Customers easily identified that the retailer or site management had thought seriously about the issue and acted accordingly, with a visible solution, generally giving a much more pleasant experience once indoors.

BP Fuels were quick to spot the benefits of GEZE’s Counter system and were one of the first to sign up to have it installed and it has now been rolled out to over 200 BP retail stores across the country. They were keen to adopt a system that ensured the health and safety of their staff and customers and provided data on current capacity.

BP chose GEZE Counter Plus; the system includes a large display pillar with an integrated traffic light system that controls the automatic door’s operator and links to a local network on a PC or smartphone to view, control and manage analytics in store. GEZE UK was delighted to win the BP Contractors Achievement Award 2020 for Innovation for their introduction of GEZE Counter Plus across the BP retail forecourts

By enabling effective control of the flow of customers and at the same time prevent access when predefined limits were exceeded, retailers complied with regulations during the course of the corona pandemic, while simultaneously concentrating fully on their business.

Benefits and advantages

• Use of the door as a clear physical barrier to access control relieves staff and eliminates the need for security services
• Modular and minimally invasive system that can be integrated into existing systems
• Flexible setting of the current maximum permitted number of people (upper limit)
• Efficient and safe compliance with regulatory instructions
• Visual display of the occupancy status for customers via a traffic light function and a visually striking display pillar in the entrance area
• Network control allows the user to regulate the maximum number of people in store, view current capacity and retrieve statistics about customer flow
• Customer’s appreciation of their safety and comfort

As the country opens up, hopefully the need to queue outside a store will be a thing of the past, but

GEZE Counter systems can offer more than queue management, the systems provide analytics by hour, day or week to give management greater control and ensure the health and safety of employees and customers. There are two versions available, meaning there is a system for every building – an internet or cloud based system for full analysis, control and management either locally or at head office, or a local network system to a designated PC or smart phone to view, control or manage analytics in store.