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Customer > Case Studies > Kidsignments
Case Study

Waitwhile manages crowds and drives sales at Kidsignments

Company

Kidsignments

Offices

Lawrenceville, Georgia

Industry

Event & Retail

Type

B2C

Started by Jeri Lynn Cunningham in 1994 in a 2-car garage in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, Kidsignments has grown to be one of the largest consignment events in the US, occupying two buildings totaling over 30,000 square feet. The semi-annual sale offers high-quality, gently used items for infants, children, and teens, attracting 1500 sellers and an estimated 10K shoppers for each event.

1,500

vendors

10,000

shoppers

The Challenge

Kidsignments is held twice a year over the course of a single week. Its immense popularity led to hours-long lines of shoppers toting wheeled garbage cans to shop the bargains on offer from 1500 different vendors. This caused congested queues that snaked through both of Kidsignments’ buildings at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds, creating safety hazards, traffic jams, and frustratingly long waits.

The coronavirus pandemic further exacerbated this issue. Due to local public health measures, Kidsignments needed to limit the number of people at their event at one time and institute social distancing throughout. For an event known to be packed, this was a serious challenge.

The Solution

Kidsignments organizer Jeri Lynn Cunningham initially thought she’d only use Waitwhile to manage checkout queues, but she soon realized that the platform could help streamline flow for many aspects of the event, including intake, capacity management, staff management, and event wrap-up.

Features used

Virtual Waitlist

Allow customers to get in line virtually and wait from anywhere.

SMS Communication

Keep an open line of communication and notify customers when it’s their turn.

Curbside Pickup

Allow people to wait in their car and be notified at every step of the process.

Capacity Management

Track entrances and automatically prompt visitors to join a virtual waitlist when you’re full.

Resource Distribution

Optimize resource and staffing allocation ahead of peak hours.

The Result

Kidsignments organizer Jeri Lynn Cunningham reports that shoppers who have been attending the sale for years and are used to long waits in lines love the tech-driven approach.

Cunningham said that in addition to bringing efficiency to virtually all aspects of the event, she’s also noticed a dramatic increase in the amount of items each of the sellers sells. She credits this to the flexibility Waitwhile offers her shoppers: without the need to stand in a mind-numbing physical queue, shoppers have the freedom to continue browsing (and shopping) while they wait to check out.

Waitwhile’s simplicity has also been of immense value. Because Kidsignments is a semi-annual pop-up event, there’s a large number of new helpers to train every time.

“A pop-up event like ours, we’re not common. Every six months we kind of have to learn, or relearn [Waitwhile], again,” said Cunningham. “To be able to learn and use this tool in the short amount of time we have and to have it effectively used and get rave reviews from our sellers and our shoppers and our helpers – I mean, that speaks volumes.”

“I just love Waitwhile. I love all the capabilities. It’s line busting at its best.”

Jeri Lynn Cunningham
Organizer, Kidsignments

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