As a trip to the supermarket becomes a source of frustration and an anxiety-inducing experience for shoppers, new technology is emerging to help make it easier.

Walmart Canada has launched a traffic monitoring app, Metro is offering new pickup and delivery services and third-party online services now allow those who dread long lineups to find up-to-the-minute data on local wait times.

“I just tried it and it actually works,” Jennifer Rose of Brampton said in a Facebook post Sunday, referring to the covid19-waiting-time.thejoin.tech website created by Florence-based developer Miki Lombardi, which uses the geolocation of a device to pinpoint supermarkets, pharmacies, clinics and other locations with estimated wait times.

Relying on data from Google Maps, the free service colour codes points on a map to indicate wait times of five to 60 minutes. Users can search by city, address or name. For example, the midday lineup Wednesday at the No Frills at Runnymede Rd. and Bloor St. was marked in green, meaning the wait is only five minutes.

“I decided to help the people over the world,” Lombardi said in an email, noting that he has watched as Italy has struggled with lockdowns since March.

The wait-time map covers all of the GTA, though data may not always be immediately available for every store. “Of course, it is still estimation,” Lombardi said, calling the site a self-funded, non-commercial project. “I’m still adding new features and I’m trying to manage the high traffic on my little servers. It may be slow sometimes.”

Another mapping service, a crowdsourced website for GTA store lineup wait times, lineups.live/#gadget, was originally created to track Costco store lineups in York Region but has exploded virally to be Canada-wide, with the site indicating that the heavy traffic load is now switched over to a higher-capacity server.

Walmart Canada said it has an app that allows it to monitor traffic moving in and out of its stores based on specific capacity requirements, adding in an email that “there is more to come as we continue looking for ways to make the waiting experience better for our customers.”

“We have introduced QR (quick response) codes outside some stores, where customers can scan their phones and then watch videos about the safety measures we’re implementing,” said corporate affairs director Adam Grachnik.

Anthony Longo, CEO of GTA and Hamilton-area grocery chain Longo’s, said the company is open to working with partners on mapping wait times, and is focusing on how “we can improve the experience inside our stores amidst COVID-19, and this includes managing lineups and wait times.”

“As the situation around COVID-19 continues to change, we will add more progressive measures to ensure our stores remain safe places to work and shop,” he added in an email.

A spokesperson for Loblaw, the country’s largest grocery retailer, which operates properties including No Frills and Shoppers Drug Mart, has implemented changes “to ensure the safety and well-being of colleagues and customers. We continue to evaluate opportunities as this situation is evolving.”

Grocery chains are ramping up pickup and delivery, encouraging customers to limit visits and prioritizing front-line health-care workers amid the pandemic, with Montreal-based Metro Inc. taking a localized approach to support front-line health workers.

“As an example, for stores in proximity to hospitals, our staff will welcome local hospital workers with their hospital ID with priority access,” said spokesperson Stephanie Bonk.

She said the company is announcing two new online ordering services. The first is the M Priority pickup service, which uses a simplified web form allowing customers to pick up their pre-assembled order outside the store and simplifies the process if someone is dependent on others to do their grocery shopping.

It also announced a partnership with Cornershop, an on-demand grocery service accessible through the web or a mobile application. Cornershop allows customers to receive their orders directly at home in as little as 60 minutes, prepared by a personal shopper in a Metro grocery store. Bonk said the service is in addition to Metro’s online grocery shopping.

Still, Mike von Massow, chair in food system leadership at the University of Guelph’s agriculture department, said there are further steps businesses should consider to manage wait times.

“There are things they could be doing but I’m guessing they are so busy trying to keep up.”

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Stores could take reservations for specific times, with customers booking a time and getting to the front of the line,” he said. “They would still have lines for walk ups but you could book a time and know you were going to get in. It might also help spread out customers as late bookers would get off peak times.”

He also suggested grocers use “fast passes” similar to those used at theme parks that allow customers to show up at the door and then get a time to come back so they don’t have to wait in line.

“This would facilitate distancing and let people leave if the line is really long and come back at their assigned time.”

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