Topshop’s Oxford Circus flagship store has gone live with a call-forward system to minimise queues for customers.

The system is being used to manage queues at the store’s banks of tills. The store is visited by an average of 250,000 customers a week.

Supplied by Q-Matic, the SQ 3 system calls the next customer forward with an electronic voice and digital signage to one of the numbered tills.

More commonly seen in banks and Post Offices, the system is also used by Matalan and is in some Boots stores.

Aside from ensuring customers are served in turn, the supplier says that it is also effective at reducing shrinkage. It makes it difficult for customers and staff to collude in theft and Q-Matic said that one 400-store retailer has reported a significant reduction in shrinkage since the system went live.