The cannabis industry is rapidly growing and quickly gaining traction. The unprecedented growth in cannabis retail opens up exciting new opportunities for the industry.
As a cannabis retailer, there’s one key tool that could drastically improve the customer experience: a concierge and queue management system.
Today, we’ll explore the many important benefits of using a concierge and queue management system for your dispensary.
The Rapidly Growing Cannabis Industry
As cannabis is decriminalized around the nation, the industry has begun booming. While 30 countries around the world have legalized cannabis, the industry boom is largely due to the legislative changes in the U.S and Canada. In 2017, North Americans purchased $6.7 billion on legal cannabis products, and the sales are expected to hit $23 billion by 2021!
The cannabis industry is experiencing tremendous growth, and it’s not expected to stop any time soon. The recreation and medicinal side of the industry added over 60,000 jobs in 2018. As more states legalize marijuana, job creation will also continue to grow in the cannabis industry in the U.S.
What is Queue Management?
Queue management is the process of serving customers at your dispensary. With a queue management system, the customers would check-in upon arrival. They’d use a touchscreen interface to enter their information, and then receive a text message once their order is ready or an associate is available to see them.
The employees manage the queues and notify the customer when it’s their turn. The system can also display the order of the queue so you know exactly how many people you are behind. This ensures that every customer gets a turn and that your team knows who still needs assistance.
The Importance of Queue Management in Cannabis Retail
The experience a customer has in your dispensary is vital to their loyalty. Customers want to feel like they are getting good value for their money, but also for their time.
Poorly managed queues are a major turn-off for customers, including ones in cannabis retail. The customer journey works very similarly to other industries. Customers enter your store, peruse the lobby while waiting for their turn, choose their products, checkout, and leave.
But if the customer has to wait for too long to get the help they need, then they may end up leaving before purchasing anything.
Customer service should be proactive, you cannot wait until an upset customer complains. Instead, customer service starts right at the door. Properly managing queues will ensure wait times are reasonable and help you create happy customers.
As customer spending in the cannabis industry increases, the industry becomes even more competitive. Customers will return to the dispensaries that offer the best, frictionless experience. A negative experience means bad reviews or word-of-mouth warnings to friends and family to steer clear. Even a store with an excellent quality product will fail to get customers coming back if the experience is frustrating.
Having a good queuing system, like Anthea powered by RCS, will help you reduce walkways and build loyal customers.
Benefits of a Queue Management System for Cannabis Retailers
Managing the queue at your dispensary is incredibly important. Using the top queue management system, Anthea, you can run a smoother operation with a better customer experience. Here are the top benefits of having a queue management system:
Reduced Wait Times
No matter where you are shopping or what you’re shopping for, you don’t want to wait an exorbitant amount of time to get help. Customers that enter cannabis dispensaries are no different. They want to be helped quickly and enjoy a smooth process. Queue management helps ensure you keep wait times down, which is critical for the overall customer experience.
Personalized Customer Experience
Another important part of the customer experience is personalization. Think about the different customers you’ll have in your dispensary, they all need different levels and types of services. The new cannabis consumer may need more assistance in choosing what they want and answering questions, whereas a seasoned shopper might just need to replenish a product they already love.
Queue Management systems help you create a personalized customer experience by collecting customer data. You will get visitor data that can help you find visitor patterns and examine the layout/flow of your store as a whole. The data you gain will help you create an even better future experience for your dispensary.
Privacy
Even though cannabis is slowly getting decriminalized and gaining acceptance, some shoppers are still hesitant to use their real information (name, email, etc). With Anthea’s digital queue management system, you can display the customer’s first name, or even let them use a pseudonym for privacy.
Loyalty Programs
Another great way to keep customers coming back is by implementing enticing loyalty programs. Anthea powered by RCS helps you with all of your online, offline, and back-office operations, making it easier than ever to incorporate a customer loyalty program to grow your business.
Health and Safety During the Pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses must operate under strict regulations to stay open. One common restriction is the number of people or percentage of capacity allowed in your store. For dispensaries, a queue management system is vital for helping monitor and enforce capacity regulations. You’ll know exactly how many people are in your store, and when it is or is not safe to allow new customers in. trying to do it all manually leads to extra headaches and human error. Simplify compliance and keep your dispensary safe with a queue management system.
Curbside Pickup
Businesses in every industry have embraced contactless commerce strategies like curbside pickup/ buy-online-pick-up-in-store for a better customer experience. While these methods were growing pre-pandemic, COVID-19 has certainly sparked an even faster adoption of them.
To offer the best customer experience possible, your dispensary should provide concierge order management. Customers can order online and an associate will notify them via text when their order is ready for payment and pickup.
The concierge service can also be used in-store on fixed screens or mobile devices to speed up wait times, and help customers maintain social distance for health and safety.
The Best Dispensary Queue Management and Concierge System
Quality queue management and offering concierge is essential for the continued success of your dispensary. As you can see, a high-quality retail management system that includes retail management and a concierge will help your dispensary create an ideal customer experience and safely operate during the pandemic.
Anthea Powered by RCS is a comprehensive retail management system specifically designed for cannabis dispensaries. It includes all of the tools and insights you’ll need to make informative decisions and provide an optimal customer experience. With Cannabis POS, Anthea will help you improve the customer experience while also managing your team and cutting overhead expenses. The digital retail suite takes ordering to the next level with Touch Screen Ordering, Queue Management, Digital Signage, and Concierge Order Management.
With Anthea powered by RCS, you get all of the tools and insights you need to engage with your customers and grow your dispensary. To learn more about Anthea and how it can help your dispensary, contact us today HERE.
