Changing behaviours post lockdown

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Retailers and other service businesses planning to reopen after lockdown have lots to think about and do before they can open their doors on or after 15th June. And those who have been open throughout the crisis will also need to prepare for a different situation as neighbouring businesses start to reopen.

The top two concerns for businesses ahead of reopening are probably:

How much demand will there be initially and then how much over the coming months?

How does my operation have to change to observe social distancing and keep staff and customers feeling safe?

We’ll start to get a feel for demand from 15th June as non-essential retailers start to re-open. To what extent have habits and loyalties changed? Will people who switched to online switch back? Pent-up demand could cause an early surge – but may be counter-balanced by a proportion of shoppers feeling very cautious after lockdown, reluctant to re-establish non-essential human contact. And – don’t laugh – concerned that the loos may all be closed.

The operational changes will be driven by the rules of social distancing applied to the physical space and flow of the shopper experience; buying clothing is different to buying a book – and both are different to buying a kitchen.

Whatever the new realities are – and however they change over the months ahead – all businesses will need to ensure they do everything they can to capture every possible sale.

You’re asking people to put up with a lot of new, weird and potentially scary stuff to buy from you. One of the biggest potential barriers to that purchase is getting customers in through the door.

If queues look too long or unsafe, an already twitchy customer may decide “not now” – or to shop somewhere else.

Until now, your friendly welcome was at the door. It was a given that most customers could come in when they wanted.

In the new world, that welcome needs to be earlier – as customers are considering how easy a visit will be. Offering a safe and fair queueing system is part of this. If just one customer a day chooses to go elsewhere, how much does that cost you?

Adactus have developed SmartQ to help businesses organise the entry to their premises in a safe and fair way; to prevent those “walk-a ways”. We’d love to talk to you about how SmartQ can do the same for your business.