Last March 19, it was decreed the order of closure of shopping malls in our country, with the main aim to prevent situations of contagion of COVID-19. This situation has put itself in a bind to many (not all) companies from retail, which have been reduced sale completely, in most of the cases.
How long will the closure of premises? Some make attempts to project based on the reality of China, where we have seen shops that re-operate after 8 weeks average of quarantine (which would mean a re-opening to the mid of May), while there are companies that are prepared to have the premises shut down for more than 4 months. The truth is that the re-opening date is still uncertain, and depends on many factors outside of our control.
Independent of when that moment there is something that it is accurate: the return to “normalcy” it will not be as we are used to. The crisis has generated a shock in people has caused significant changes in the behavior, which will be reflected in the buying decisions of the customers.
In this article we detail 3 key points to consider in order to be prepared to this “back to shopping”.
1) Focus on the profitability
The concept of profitability, even though it may seem obvious, it will take on more importance than ever. Take care of the results of last line will be key to the survival of businesses, so keeping it stores more profitable will be the top priority. The premises that are not profitable (and have little chance of ever becoming one), you probably will be sacrificed.
A simple way to decipher if a store has the potential to increase profitability is by watching their opportunity and their efficiency. A branch with low demand (traffic) and high performance (conversion), it implies that you are running at top capacity, so it has less chance to increase their income.
2) Changes in the Customer Journey
The movement of people within the premises will not be the same giving primary emphasis and importance to spaces dedicated to the concepts omnicales of “buy-online, retiring in store” and “purchase in store, we deliver it to your home”.
” 56% of the retailers most successful in the united States, has a space optimized for the “Click and Collect” within the premises, while only 4% of the rest of the companies (less successful) has one. (Source: IHL Group).
On the other hand, it is quite likely that the extent of social distancing to stay still in force when the stores re-operate, as we have seen in the reopening of retail in China. In this sense, it takes a lot of importance know and track how many people they are inside of a store or space at the same timeto ensure the compliance of the regulations.
3) staff Planning
Optimize the team in store will be key in order to maintain the balance in terms of profitability for many companies in the retail industry. To make a projection of the demand once it is back in line with the flow will be a challenge, however, are already being developed tools that allow us to isolate the effects, in order to adapt the prediction models.
In addition, the flexibility to have this planning will be critical for the co-workers, because, with schools closed and means of transport limited (to avoid crowds of people), workers will need more tolerance on the constraints on the part of the companies.
It is evident that this crisis has had a hard impact on the retail industry, forcing companies to find ways to stay afloat with a complex scenario. At the time of the reopening of local, companies must use all their tools to be able to reinvent itself and adapt to the “new normal”, which will bring with it many challenges, but will also provide new opportunities for innovation and revolution of the shopping experience.s