John Lewis and Waitrose trial virtual queue

John Lewis and Waitrose have announced plans to trial virtual queuing in partnership with tech firm, Qudini, which was the finalist of John Lewis’ retail innovation ‘JLAB’ competition.

For four weeks, the John Lewis shops in Brent Cross, Horsham and Kingston, as well as Waitrose branches in Gerrards Cross, Holloway Road, Horsham, Parkstone, Sheffield and Weybridge will trial the virtual queuing.

As part of the trial, customers will be invited to pre-book a day and time which suits them. Or if there is a queue, customers will be invited to scan a QR code or text a SMS code to participate.

The aim of the trial is to enable customers to shop safely and conveniently by eliminating physical queues and managing the flow of customers at a certain number of John Lewis and Waitrose shops.

Peter Cross, customer experience director at Waitrose, said in a statement: “As a nation, we're famous for our love of queuing but as the uncertainty around the pandemic continues and the long hot days of summer become a distant memory, we know a long wait outside in the rain to enter your favourite shop isn't an appealing notion for anyone.

“Which is why we are thrilled to work with Qudini on this brand new trial which will let you wait for your turn in line from the comfort of your car, ensuring that everyone can continue to shop safely and seamlessly. It’s a great opportunity for us to test the viability of this type of queueing for the future.”

There will be access to real-time visibility of the queue via a SMS message with a link so shoppers can wait from where they like while also monitoring their position in the line. When the customer nears the top of the queue, they will receive a further SMS message alerting them of their position.

Imogen Wethered, CEO and co-founder of Qudini, said: "It's been incredible to have the opportunity to partner with the John Lewis Partnership to help improve its Covid-19 shopping experience through virtual queuing.

“Having been through John Lewis’s JLab accelerator programme, we've been thoroughly impressed by how committed the Partnership is to driving innovation and change by working with agile technology companies like ours. It’s fantastic to be working with such a quintessential British brand on solving a very British problem.”

Photo credit: courtesy of John Lewis Partnership