Startup interview: Matteo Lentini, Managing Director, ufirst
Italian venture, ufirst, recently launched in the UK. RTIH caught up with its MD, Matteo Lentini, to discuss startup life, the coronavirus outbreak and the importance of queue management.
RTIH: Tell us about ufirst and how you got involved
ML: ufirst is a digital platform, available via app or web, designed to manage queues across retail outlets and anywhere where queueing might be an issue.
Covid-19 measures and the onset of winter mean queues are increasingly likely to be an everyday reality in retail. ufirst allows customers to avoid them and to save time. For retailers, it is a way of improving the customer experience and allowing retailers to communicate effectively and provide useful information.
Tesco’s newly appointed Chief Executive Ken Murphy recently said that “80% of brand perception is driven from the store experience or from the online experience”. That’s why we believe getting queue management right is so important.
We now operate in five countries across more than 2,000 outlets and have three million users. We played a vital role in helping manage queues in Italy during the first wave of the pandemic.
I decided to join ufirst as MD because there’s a massive opportunity in helping retailers run their businesses better. We’re on a mission to become the Uber of queues and I’m really excited by that.
RTIH: What was the inspiration behind setting the company up?
ML: The common perception in the UK is that we Italians are not very good at queuing. So it’s quite ironic that here we are, an Italian company, bringing a queueing solution to the UK.
The truth though is that because Italians are poor queuers, there was an opportunity – well before the pandemic - to come up with a way to book a place in a queue and therefore to manage the process.
Research shows that people waste up to 400 hours a year waiting in line so there is a very clear need for what we do - helping people to queue remotely, using technology to improve everyday life.
RTIH: What has been the industry reaction thus far?
ML: The reaction has been really positive. We’re in a really fortunate position as there is little or no education that needs to be done around the ufirst benefits.
Every retailer in the UK saw first hand the nightmare of panic buying as the lockdown took hold. No one wants to go back to massive queues snaking along high streets and in supermarket car parks.
This time round, the urgency around manging queues is so much more pressing and the public will be much less forgiving. No one wants to queue in the cold and the rain and everyone is really jaded by Covid restrictions.
It’s also about keeping people safe and retailers who manage their queues properly will inspire much more confidence.
“I decided to join ufirst as MD because there’s a massive opportunity in helping retailers run their businesses better. We’re on a mission to become the Uber of queues and I’m really excited by that”
RTIH: What has been your biggest challenge/setback?
ML: In March 2020, Italy was the first country to experience first hand the chaos caused by Covid. The TV showed images of massive queues as people stocked up on basic items at their local shops.
In the early days of the pandemic, it wasn’t unusual to queue for up to four hours to gain access to a shop or supermarket. As a result, we saw over 800 new retailers sign up to ufirst in less than a month.
ufirst had existed for several years at this point, used mainly at tourist venues, but we quickly saw the role that we could play in supporting local communities and the retail sector.
It was of course a massive undertaking for us and we worked fast to ensure the technology was able to cope with the surge in demand. We managed to scale successfully and were able to support an additional 300,000 people queuing at any given time.
RTIH: What are the biggest challenges facing the retail sector right now?
ML: Retailers are facing a perfect storm - the challenges of operating safely under Covid restrictions, the acceleration of online shopping during lockdown and the looming Brexit changes which could well cause significant disruption in the supply chain.
Black Friday is also likely to be a pressure point. Click and Collect is a primary means of delivery and that will require a robust queue management approach as more and more people arrive in store.
RTIH: What's the best question about your company or the market asked of you recently by a.) an investor and b.) a customer?
ML: We’re not the only solution in this space, and one of the best questions is; “What's ufirst got that others don't?” Our response is that while our competitors just have an app, we are more.
We provide a platform that allows easy access to everyone, from the most tech savvy to the person who doesn’t even have a mobile phone, thanks to our complete suite to manage customer flow management.
Our business clients usually ask about implementation. The great thing about ufirst is that you can switch it on, in a store, in less than 24 hours. It’s a plug and play solution which is already used already by more than three million people.
RTIH: What can we expect to see from ufirst over the next 12 months?
ML: We’ve already run a trial with Sainsbury’s here in the UK and you can expect to see our name popping up in more retail news in the coming months.
Our ambition is to become the leading platform for managing high volume customer flow into locations – not only stores, but places such as offices, restaurants, cafes, post offices to name but a few.
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