How much shoppers hate waiting in lines, and what it means for retailers: survey

Waiting in lines. It’s one of the most universally hated experiences. It’s also the one thing that can suck the fun out of going to an amusement park, and, evidently, the in-person shopping experience.

In the US, people spend about 37 billion hours a year waiting in lines, according to Waitwhile, a cloud-based software firm that recently released “The State of Waiting in Line 2023,” a study tracking how often customers queue up, how they feel about it, and how brands can improve IRL shopping.

• The survey found that more than four in five (82%) of consumers will avoid patronizing a business with a line—with only 58% of those people returning to complete a purchase.
• Forty percent said they’ll go to a competitor or not make a purchase at all.

“Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen consumers enthusiastically return to shopping at brick-and-mortar stores, dining in restaurants, and traveling, yet the expectations for service are growing and loyalty is fleeting,” Christoffer Klemming, CEO and co-founder of Waitwhile, said in a statement.

Americans are in line at retailers more often than restaurants, pharmacies, doctor’s offices, and banks combined. Two years in a row, retail is the top industry where consumers find themselves in lines. Plus, the length of time customers spent waiting in stores has increased by 30% since 2022.

• Nearly 70% of those surveyed said they would rather schedule an appointment, and 57% prefer virtual queues.
• 38% of consumers said they would continue shopping while waiting in a virtual queue.

“Businesses that want to create a meaningful connection with their customers and drive business growth must implement technology that streamlines customer flows, enables operational efficiencies, and modernizes the in-person experience,” Klemming said.