Proceedings of the 34th Chinese Control Conference

July 28-30, 2015, Hangzhou, China

Simulation Model of Supermarket Queuing System

XING Wenjie1 , LI Senbiao1 , HE Lihong2
1. School of M anagement, Guizhou University, Guiyang 550000, China;
E-mail: lisb10@lzu.edu.cn
2. School of M anagement, Lanzhou Un iversity, Lanzhou 730000, China;
E-mail: helh@lzu.edu.cn

Abstract: Based on the M /M /1 queuing model and the numbers of goods purchased by each customer, this paper persents a
simulation model of supermarket queuing system.We compared two queuing systems under different numbers of goods, one is
single-queuing system, the other one is double-queuing system. Then, the optimal cut-off number of goods is developed
according to the analysis of economic cost and the optimal casher numbers in both queuing systems. The simulation results show
that the double-queuing system further shortens the staying time of customers, significantly reduces the operating cost and
improves the operational efficiency of the supermarket.
Key words: Queuing theory, Simulation, Supermarket, Casher number

customer satisfaction [1]. Jiang et al. selected the staying

1 Introduction
In recent years, with the rapid economic develop ment and
the spread awareness of time cost, imp roving service
efficiency in queuing is mo re and mo re valued by people.
However, the queuing problem often exists in the life, such
as in banks, toll stations, shopping malls and supermarkets,
especially on weekends, in evening and some other peak
periods, the problem is even more serious. Although many
companies utilize the current available resources to take
measures to optimize the service rate of queuing systems,
for example, the banks divide the service windows into
personal service window and enterprise service window;
according to vehicles’ length and weight, h ighway toll
stations set up truck booth and car booth; the supermarkets
open "fast casher" in the peak periods. However, generally
speaking, the establishment of queuing system, the number
of service window (including toll booth, casher and such
others) and the number of service window opened in
different periods usually depends on the long-term practical
experience of managements, which lacks of reasonable and
scientific analysis.
Using the supermarket queuing system as an example, we
can always see such phenomenon: due to the different
number of customers in d ifferent periods, many supermarket
managers make decisions of the number of open cashes by
their own experience, lead ing to the situation that there are
many idle cashers when the supermarket has very few
customers, and there are less cashers opened when
customers line up in the long queues. Although in the peak
time, some supermarkets open "fast cashers" to serve
customers who buy relatively few goods, the managers can
not provide a complete solution to effectively deal with such
problem in different situations, which results in the scene
that we can see in the evenings, on weekends or in some
holidays, a long queue that can not see its end.
Based on queuing theory to optimize management of
casher number of supermarket, scholars have put forward a
variety of ideas. Xi considered this problem with the
time in the queuing system as the objective function [2].
Under the constraints of the average wait ing time that the
customer can accept, the paper gave the casher number in
the minimu m service cost [3]. Li et al. co mpared the M / M
/ S model and mu ltip le M / M / 1 model to determine the
optimal casher number [4]. In addition, through combining
service operator theory, consumer behavior theory and
queuing theory, the paper optimized the supermarket layout
fro m the in let to the outlet [5]. This art icle used SPSS
software to analyze the correlation step settlement and
proposed the independent settlement to optimize checkout
efficiency [6]. Huang et al. calculated the mean and variance
of the flow of guests by stable equation and made out a
standard to select the number of the cash table [7]. Fro m the
view of customer loss, Chen imp roved operational
efficiency of the present settling accounts method about one
hypermarket[8].
However, the above papers are limited to the study on
optimizing casher number in one queuing system. In fact,
they ignore the other queuing systems such as "fast casher"
queuing system serving to customers who only purchase few
goods. This paper, taking into account the "fast casher",
based on the number of goods that different customers
purchase, adjusts single-queuing system to double-queuing
system under the current existing resources of the
supermarket, and gives optimal cut-off nu mber of goods to
reduce customer staying time , imp rove the supermarket's
operational efficiency and decrease the operational cost of
the supermarket.
2 Supermarkets’ Single-queuing System and
Double-queuing System
In this paper, the whole queuing system consists of three
parts: the customer waits in the queue, the customer pays for
goods and the customer leaves.The whole queuing system
has n cashers ( n >0, integer ), and each casher whether in the
single-queuing system or double-queuing system regards as
an M / M / 1 queuing model.

This work is supported by National Soft Science Research Program
under Grant 2010GXS5D258 .

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 According to the requirements of single-queuing system,
regardless of the number of goods purchased, all custome
receive service at one casher in random, single -queuing
system is shown as in Figure 1. But in double-queuing
system, customers who buy goods less than (including equal
to) X goods ( X >0, integer ) receive service in one queuing
system which has n1 cashers ( n1 >0, integer ), and
customers who buy goods more than X goods receive
services in the other queuing system wh ich has n 2 cashers
( n 2 >0, integer ), double-queuing system is shown as in
Figure 2. This paper established these two simu lation
models.
Figure 1. Supermarket Single-queuing System
this paper is set to 1 hour.
3.1 the Number of Goods and the Number of
Customers
The number of goods in the supermarket that each
customer buy is random, so the number of goods as a
variable q (based on actual statistics, it shows that the
number o f goods in general that a customer once purchases
is less than 20, so 1 d q d 20 ,integer ). By collecting and
analyzing the numbers of customers and the numbers of
goods that every customer buy in the same period, we
acquired the numbers of customers under different nu mber
of goods. In this paper, we used 30 days’ data to get the
average daily arrival rate of customers and cumu lative
probability d istribution under different number of goods. In
the actual supermarket, since the nu mber of goods q that a
customer buy is uncertain, using random function in Excel
software generates random number U (between 0 and 1),
and compared with the cumulative probability distribution,
the number of goods that each customer buy randomly is
obtained. Depend on the position of U in the cu mulative
probability distribution, its two adjacent values in the
cumulat ive probability d istribution are as argu ments, and
the two nu mbers of goods that correspond to its two adjacent
values in the cu mulat ive probability distribution are the
dependent variable, then we get a function. Putting U into
the function, we get the corresponding number of goods that
a customer once buy randomly. Meanwh ile, according to the
average arrival rate of 30 days’ data in supermarket in the
same period, the nu mber of generated random number each
time is determined.

3.2 Opti mal Casher Number of single-queuing

System
In the single-queuing system there are five
parameters TCǃnǃOǃC sǃC w . TC is the cost of entire
single-queuing system's per unit time, wh ich consists of the
operating cost of cashers and the waiting cost of customers
in single-queuing system per unit of time , that is,
­ ª § O ·2 º ½
° « ¨¨ ¸¸ » °
° « © nP ¹ O » °
TC n ®C w «  »  Cs ¾
° § O · nP °
« 2¨¨1  ¸¸ »
° « © n P ¹ » °
¯ ¬ ¼ ¿
(n ! 0, integers ) (1)
n is the total number of opening cashers. In the
single-queuing system, He et al. gave the optimal number o f
cashers, that is,

Cs
O O
Cw [9] (2)
Figure 2. Supermarket Double-queuing System n
P
3 Model Parameters and Assumptions O is the total arrival rate of customers in a unit t ime in the
supermarket to accept service , C s is the cost of operating a
In real life, opening and closing a casher in the
supermarket are more flexible and convenient, due to the casher per unit time, C w is waiting cost of a customer for
stability of the staff work in a period, so whether in service per unit time .
single-queuing or double-queuing system, the unit of time in

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 managers. P i is respective mean service rate of two queuing
3.3 Opti mal Casher Number of Double-queue
systems in double-queuing system per unit time, and
System
different X also leads to different P i . Because two
In double-queuing system there are five parameters queuing systems in double-queuing system per unit time
TǃTC1ǃniǃOiǃPi ( i = 1 or 2,mean two respective have respective average number of goods under different
queuing systems in double-queue system). T is the X , and based on the survey of the actual situation, the
difference between the cost of single-queue system and process of scanning a good ( including picking up, scanning
double-queue system in a unit t ime, and that is and putting down a good ) takes approximately 2 seconds,
T TC  TC1 . TC1 is the entire double-queue system's and the process of paying (in real life, most customers use
credit card ) takes appro ximately 8seconds. Then the
cost per unit t ime, wh ich consist of the operating cost of average number of goods mult iplied by 2 seconds plus 8
cashers and the waiting cost of customers in double-queue
seconds, and we can get the average service t ime that per
system per unit of t ime. that is, customer takes. A unit time div ided by the average service
­ ª § O ·2 º ½
° « ¨¨ 1 ¸¸ » ° time, and P i is given under different X .
° « © n1 ¹ O1 » °
TC1 (n1ˈn2 ) n1 ®C w «  »  Cs ¾
° « P §¨ P  O1 ·¸ n1 P1 » ° 4 Simulation Design
° « 1 ¨© 1 n1 ¸¹ » °
¯ ¬ ¼ ¿ We hope to get a direct optimal solution X , but X can
­ ª § O ·2 º ½ not be represented by four parameters O1ǃO2ǃP1ǃP 2 .
° « ¨¨ 2 ¸¸ » ° So we can only get the solution X through simu lation.
° « © n2 ¹ O2 » °
 n2 ®C w «  »  Cs ¾ After the establishment of the simulat ion model and the
§
° «P ¨P  2 ¸ O · n P °
2 2
» acquirement all parameters, simulation experiments are
° « 2 ¨© 2 n2 ¸¹ » °
¯ ¬ ¼ ¿ designed. The simulat ion takes into account the effect of
(n1 , n2 ! 0, integers ) (3) random circu mstances, and we collect and analyze 100
random simulat ion experiments’ data results to make the
ni means respective number of casher open of two queuing final solution mo re universal and reliab le.
systems in double-queuing system. and put Simu lation experiment steps:
n2 n - n1 into (2), take T with respect to independent (1) generate random number, and get corresponding
number of goods that per customer buy, the number of
variable n1 , and make it equal to zero, the optimal nu mber generated random number is determined by 30 days’
of cashers in double-queuing system is given, that is, average arrival rate of customers;
O1 P 2 n . (2) based on random number and the number o f rando m
n1 numbers, get the arrival rates and service rates of
O1 P 2  O2 P1
single-queuing system and double-queuing system;
Due to (3) by equation (2) and (5), obtain respectively optimal
w 2T n1  2C w P1O12 2C w P 2 O22 casher numbers of single -queuing system and
   0 (4)
n12 >  
P1n1  O1 3 P 2 n  n1  O2 3 @ double-queuing system;
(4) acquire the cost of single-queuing system and
O1 P 2 n double-queuing system respectively.
so, n1 is the maxima solution of this (5) under different X , co mpare the saving cost that
O1 P 2  O2 P1 double-queuing system is less than single-queuing
function, at the same time n2
O 2 P1 n . system, and get the optimal X ;
O1 P 2  O2 P1 (6) acquire the average staying time of per customer in the
single-queuing system and double-queuing system
And respective optimal nu mber of casher opened of two
respectively;
queuing systems in double-queuing system is
O1 P 2 n O2 P1 n 5 Simulation Results
n1 , n (5)
O1 P 2  O2 P1 2 O1 P 2  O2 P1 Before simulat ion experiment, we collected 30 days’ data
Oi is respective mean arrival rate of customers of two ( fro m November 1st to November 30th in 2014, the period
time is 18:00 to 19:00 ) o f the nu mber of customers and the
queuing systems in double-queuing system per unit time.
number o f goods that every customer buy in the supermarket
According to different X (integer, and
CR Vanguard on Tianshui Road in Lan zhou. Based on the
1 d X d 20 ,because 1 d q d 20 ), we adjust data, the average number o f customer is 420 in the period
single-queuing system of supermarket to double-queuing time, and we also get the average number of customers and
system. Different X leads to different Oi , and because in a the cumulative probability distribution of the number o f
customers under different number o f goods , as is shown in
unit time there are limited customers and number of goods
Table 1.
that customers buy, we get d ifferent Oi
under different X
through collecting in the supermarket and the survey to Table 1.the Average Numbers and the Cumulative Probability
Distribution

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 the Number the Number Probability Cumulative
of Goods of Customers Distribution Probability
Distribution
1 1 0.002380952 0.002380952
2 3 0.007142857 0.009523810
3 7 0.016666667 0.026190476
4 12 0.028571429 0.054761905
5 17 0.040476190 0.095238095
6 24 0.057142857 0.152380952
7 30 0.071428571 0.223809524
8 35 0.083333333 0.307142857
9 43 0.102380952 0.409523810
10 52 0.123809524 0.533333333
11 46 0.109523810 0.642857143
12 39 0.092857143 0.735714286 Figure 4. the Cost Savings Under Different X ( n ǃn1 ǃn2
13 34 0.080952381 0.816666667
are taken to integers)
14 27 0.064285714 0.880952381
15 20 0.047619048 0.928571429
16 14 0.033333333 0.961904762 At the same time, it can be seen fro m Figure 4, through
17 9 0.021428571 0.983333333 adjusting single-queuing system of supermarket to
18 4 0.009523810 0.992857143 double-queuing system under different X ( 4 d X d 17 ),
19 2 0.004761905 0.997619048 the saving cost are positive, and the graphic is increasing
20 1 0.002380952 1 fro m both ends toward the middle , which appro ximates
Total 420 1 normal distribution. And when X = 10, at the same time,
Taking the value of C w =11.64 Yuan/hour ( which is the n 7ǃn1 3ǃn2 4 ,the cost saving achieves
ratio of the average GDP per capita in Gansu Province in maximu m savings, T 16.31 .
2013 to the legal working hours per year ), the value of C s = Further analysis of the simulat ion results, when X = 10,
the average staying time savings of each customer in
10.34 Yuan/hour ( which is the ratio of the average monthly double-queuing system, as is shown in Table 2.
wage to working hours per month ), every experiment has
420 random nu mbers and we get 420 corresponding Table 2.the Average Staying Time Saving
customers that buy different number of goods, and we
implement 100 simulat ion experiments.
Through analyzing the optimal results of n ǃn1 ǃn2 Average Staying Time
of 100 simu lation experiments, we find that all the optimal (second )
results of n ǃn1 ǃn2 are almost equal under d ifferent X. Single-queue 57.57
For examp le X=10, n ǃn1 ǃn2 are shown in figure 3. System
Double-queuing 54.84
System
Saving 2.73

6 Conclusions
Based on a real-world case, through s imu lation
experiment we have studied the issue of how to improve the
operational efficiency of the supermarket. Due to different
number of goods that per customer purchases, we adjust
single-queuing system of supermarket to double-queuing
Figure 3.the Optimal Results of n ǃn1 ǃn2 of 100 Simulation system. After establishing simu lation models of
Experiments Under X =10 single-queuing system of supermarket and double-queuing
system, based on the empirical data, we obtained the saving
Then, we acquire the average saving cost of costs under different number of goods and found the optimal
double-queuing system under different X . Since in the real number of goods to adjust single-queuing system of
life, the number of cashers opened must be an integer, supermarket to double-queuing system. It has been shown
then n ǃn1 ǃn2 are taken to integers, the result of costs that a very significant cost reduction and customers’ staying
time reduction can be achieved with the solutions obtained
savings under different X is given ( the numbers of in this study. According to different nu mber o f goods, the
customers who buy 18-20 and 1-3 goods are very small, and single queue system is adjusted to double-queuing system,
when X is 1-3 or 18-20, n1 ǃn2 are taken to integers , the which is essentially use of different service time every
cost savings are negative, so they are excluded ), as is shown customer takes. So based on different service time, our
in Figure 4. results of this paper apply to not only in the supermarket, but

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also in other queuing systems such as banks, highway
stations and border-crossing stations.

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