Retailing During COVID – 10 things to know

Here are a few practical tips to help retailers manage the impacts of COVID-19, while keeping their community of customers engaged with their business.

1. Avoid Direct Contact

Rethink your traditional service delivery approach to avoid or limit direct contact between people and with goods in your store. Try measures such as online or telephone orders, dedicated shopping hours for senior customers, and having staff dispense products.

2. Track Data

Stay relevant by keeping current with customer needs and increased in category demands. Leverage the latest POS solutions to track data and set up alerts that helps you better understand what your customers are concerned about.

3. Communicate Changes

Be proactive about providing up-to-date information to your customers. Transparent communication about changes in your business operations, product availability or shipping timelines can build lasting customer trust and loyalty.

4. Review Resources

Review your performance and metrics. Refocus your staffing, marketing or purchasing resources to respond proactively to a retail environment that is in constant fluctuation.

5. Offer Training

Ensure that your business and staff are properly to manage COVID-19 by providing access to training, education, and reliable information resources for staff on COVID-19 prevention.

6. Share Information

Keep your website updated to reflect any changes in your customer facing processes or business hours. Share information about extra services that your business may be providing to the community and keep your customer base informed if you are experiencing delays or dates when deliveries are expected.

7. Retrain

Retrain current staff to address changes to your service delivery model and to adapt their customer service practises, so they can interact more effectively with your shoppers.

8. Touchless Transactions

Promote touchless transactions using customer tap payments instead of a pin pad use and reduce staff handling of credit, debit and points cards, and cash.

9. Know your Inventory

Take a close look at your relationships with vendors and reorder intervals to make sure that you get the inventory you require when you need it and have get immediate access to new products.

10. Keep up with Trends

Ensure that you keep up with fast-paced changes. Fine-tune your offer and operations in real time to respond to customer trends, update product information and communicate with your customers across multiple channels.