New pre-booking app for customers a hit with retailers

The Line Lite is aimed at helping retailers to minimise queues while maximising footfall

People queuing to enter an Aldi supermarket in Laytown, Co Meath, during the coronavirus lockdown. Photograph: iStock
People queuing to enter an Aldi supermarket in Laytown, Co Meath, during the coronavirus lockdown. Photograph: iStock

Developers of a new digital booking system that allows customers to pre-book visits to stores, are in talks with a number of leading retailers about the solution.

The Line Lite is aimed at helping retailers minimise queues while maximising footfall in an era in which social distancing rules apply.

The solution has been developed by hospitality consultant Anthony Remedy and John O'Neill, founder of Oshi Software, the company behind Tickets.ie.

Mr Remedy, a promoter, who has also run a number of restaurants, said that in addition to helping retailers minimise queues, the Line Lite can also provide analytics on in-store shopper preferences and buyer behaviour.

READ SOME MORE

“As someone who has had to manage them for a big part of my life, queues are unpredictable and can be difficult to manage. Shopfronts and high streets are not conducive for physical queues and they’re stressful for customers and for the stores managing them,” he said.

Nervous customers

“The Line Lite is a simple solution underpinned by world-class technology that will reassure nervous customers and help retailers to regain customers’ trust in the shopping experience. We hope that it will help Irish retailers to ensure they have every advantage to make the most of what is left of 2020,” Mr Remedy added.

He said the company was in advanced talks with a number of major Irish retailers, independent stores and bars, about the solution, which has just launched.

The booking system is built on the same technology used by Tickets.ie, which provided tickets for the Papal visit in 2018, and is also used by music venues such as the Button Factory and the Grand Social.

While some “essential” retailers have recently been allowed to re-open following the lockdown, others are preparing to open up again shortly after being closed for more than two months.

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor

Charlie Taylor is a former Irish Times business journalist