Dubai International Airport has installed four bilingual virtual assistants to communicate important security and travel information to the 50 million plus passengers that pass through its doors each year.

Each of the virtual assistants will now cheerfully greet and engage with the Airport’s passengers in order to provide them with key information on the preparations they need to make prior to entering the security screening and immigration areas. The use of this innovative technology is set to improve operational efficiency and enhance the customer experience at Dubai International Airport by reducing wait and queue times in key areas.

Tensator provided Dubai International Airport with a full consultancy service that included idea generation, script writing, filming and final installation, to ensure the system matched the airport’s exact requirements,

Tensator’s virtual assistants can also be seen at Edinburgh, London Luton, Birmingham and Bristol Airports. Have you seen them? If you have, we would love to hear your thoughs!

Passengers at Edinburgh Airport will now have more assistance as they travel through security in the form of two new multi-lingual virtual members of staff.  

Designed specifically for Edinburgh Airport, the Virtual Assistants communicate important safety and security messages to waiting passengers in English, Polish, Spanish and Italian. Using visual props and effective audio messages, these state-of-the-art audio visual technology solutions have been installed in Edinburgh Airport’s Security Search Area to help improve communications and subsequently speed up passenger flow through the security check areas.  

Keith Carpentier, Senior Business Development Manager of Retail & Finance for Lawrence, a Tensator Group Company, gives viewers an in-depth look at the “Virtual Assistant,” which is making its U.S. debut at Duane Reade’s new flagship store on Wall Street in New York City.

The technology crafts a unique and compelling trip for customers in their tour of the 22,000 square-foot store, which also features a medical clinic, spa, and sushi bar.

Keith explains on TouchPoints TV how the technology formulates a customized plug and play solution for retailers by conveying information on promotions, sales and new brands to give shoppers a simple yet rewarding in-store experience.

View the footage here

On Tuesday, 5^th July 2011, Duane Reade, New York’s largest pharmacy chain celebrated the grand opening of its Wall Street megastore at 40 Wall Street - currently the site of The Trump Building in the World Financial Centre.

As Duane Reade celebrates this momentous occasion, Tensator also celebrates the installation of our first US Virtual Assistant in Duane Reade’s impressive Flag Ship location.  The Virtual Assistant will welcome customers as they step off the escalator into the space, and introduce them to the store's many new features. The VA was custom-designed for Duane Reade. Duane Reade also relies upon Tensator's Single Line Queuing Solutions to reduce customer walkaways and increase impulse purchases.  

This Duane Reade location will reflect its "New York Living Made Easy" mantra in the front end with such features as the Sushi Station, The Juice Market, a Starbucks coffee and fresh bakery counter, a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine, and an expanded natural and organic products section containing fresh fruit, vegetables, wraps, sandwiches and salads.

To read the full story click here 

Avid Harry Potter fans from all around the world started queuing in Trafalgar Square for the movie on Tuesday, a shocking 2 days before the event. The film, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, is the last of the popular series so is it any wonder people are already waiting for it? And when the forecast is, in typical British fashion, fairly grim you certainly can’t fault them for their commitment!

Read the story here.

Would you spend 2 days queuing for anything? If so, what? We would love to hear from you.

Visitor safety and waiting times have vastly improved at Dubai’s monumental Burj Khalifa Tower thanks to global crowd control specialist Tensator.

With more than 160 storeys, Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world, attracting hordes of tourists and locals wanting to experience breathtaking views of the city and the UAE’s Gulf shore each day.

After the opening of the 828m (2,716 feet) skyscraper in January 2010, Tensator submitted a proposal to the tower’s developer - the Emaar Group - promising to optimise floor space and increase queue flow.

Click here to read the full release.

Custom designed for London Luton Airport by Tensator, global leaders in queue management and digital signage solutions, the holograms, in both male and female versions, are technically referred to as Tensator Virtual Assistants, but have been affectionately dubbed “Holly” and “Graham” by London Luton Airport Staff.

Meet Holly and Graham on the BBC News!

At 11am today, London Luton Airport and Tensator hosted a press conference to announce the launch of “Holly” and “Graham”, Tensator’s Virtual Assistants.

As part of a series of initiatives aimed at simplifying the security process and improving the experience for passengers, London Luton Airport has today become the first airport in the world to introduce holographic announcers.  These will be employed to communicate important security messages as passengers pass from check-in to the departure lounge.

Click here to read the full press release, and watch out for media coverage of the launch on BBC Look East at 1.30pm and 6.30pm today!

This month (October 2010), Retail Design magazine tackle the issue of queuing and Tensator give advice on how retailers can take the pain out of the queue.

Tensator’s General Manager for the UK and Europe, Kevin Hickson, recommends that a single line call forward system can help retailers to reduce walk-aways by 96%, improve service times by 30% and improve customer’s overall in-store experience.

Kevin identifies that customer’s expect more from their shopping experiences and that shouldn’t stop when they reach the till point, instead customers should be kept entertained whilst in line and retailers should be doing all they can to keep wait times to a minimum.  He also identifies that a well thought out store layout is vital, and that clear entrance and exit points are a must to create a more efficient queue flow structure.

To see the full article, check out Retail Design now!
For tailored advice on your store, please call us on +44 (0) 1908 684600

Tensator’s UK General Manager, Kevin Hickson, has answered this question in depth in the current issue of Retail Week (4^th September 2009).  Hickson, recommends a number of solutions that can speed queue flow, capture shopper’s attention while waiting in the queue with the use of In-Queue Merchandising and also considers providing estimated wait times as an ideal way to reassure queuing customers.

One ideal way in which to speed up the queue without opening more tills is to try a single line call forward system, which can increase customer flow by 25%.  In a recent trial in one US store, there were 164 walk-aways from the tills in a week without such a system, and only 6 a week later after it was installed.

It is also suggested that retailers consider the position of their tills, moving them to the rear of the store, to prevent another trend – walk-on-bys - where the sight of a queue puts consumers off entering the store at all. 

To see the full Retail Surgery piece, check out Retail Week now!
For tailored advice on your store, please call us on +44 (0) 1908 684600