09 Oct Speedy checkout process at Lidl with Q-Control

The Lidl brand was founded in Germany in 1930 and has since grown to be one of Europe’s leading food retailers. The supermarket’s first UK store was opened in 1994, and 26 years later they now have over 800 stores across the country.

Discount supermarkets including Lidl and Aldi have become extremely popular in recent years due to the huge savings customers can make because of their low prices. Over the 2019 Christmas period, Lidl experienced increased footfall, recorded an increase of 11% in overall sales and saw around £110 million worth of spend switched to Lidl from all other grocers, including Aldi.

Known for their speedy checkout approach, Lidl reached out to Contacta in 2014 to discuss their queue management requirements for their Finsbury Park store. With their mission to ‘deliver outstanding customer satisfaction’ the retailer wanted to optimise their checkout process and ensure they deliver an efficient service to all their customers.

Contacta’s Q-Control systems provide ideal management of single line queues using both visual and audible direction, providing clear instruction to customers wanting to pay for their groceries. The kit features a main display, service display, a control hub and a mouse controller device that staff use at service points to call customers forward. This ensures customers are served quickly and staff can operate efficiently, aligning with the brands mission statement.

A Contacta engineer carried out a site survey to review the Lidl store checkouts and assess installation requirements. Due to the high ceilings within the store a longer cashier and main display units were required. Contacta overcame this by installing 1 metre poles instead of the standard 0.5 metre poles.

The retailer was extremely pleased with the system and Contacta have gone on to install further Q-Call systems in Lidl stores.