Redesigning Retail

It’s time to get ready. It will be an understatement to state that the COVID-19 pandemic has created havoc. The retail industry has been hit especially hard. Humans respond to crises in different ways. When faced with an uncertain, risky situation over which they have no control, they tend to try whatever they can to feel like they have some control besides the need to convince them for the same.

- Lavipal Singh

“Covid-19 won’t change the way people choose products but change the way they shop”

There was no playbook, a new norm needs to be defined: In normal times customer looks for 3 key things from retailers - product, price and service. As it becomes even more clear just how infectious COVID-19 is, some shoppers will raise questions about how safe it is to shop in-store.

In these challenging times a bigger factor which is more psychological would play the most important role i.e. Trust for a safe shopping experience.

Building brand trust isn’t easy. Trust can be earned through transparency, communication and engagement, understanding customers and consistently meeting their expectations to assure and re-assure on measures taken and being executed with serious effort for their safety.

Online retail, which is facing challenges and limitations related to delivery, safety and commitments, offers an opportunity to physical retail to convey readiness and assure shoppers a sense of security for their in-store shopping experience, and helps the industry to get back to business faster. Retailers need to plan and adapt quickly to these challenging times by implementing new approaches and being ready with new fundamentals which would define retail.

“Keeping Customers and Workforce Safe… and communicating how retails doing It”.

GETTING THE SHOPPING ZONE READY: DEMONSTRATE COMMITMENT TO SAFETY

Adopt measures to prove that threat is taken seriously and customers can trust that they are safe.

The basics: across the retail

• Shopping area protocols for store zones – parking, entry, display, billing, stock rooms, restrooms, trial rooms (for apparels), water drinking stations, etc.