Some of the rules since the COVID-19 pandemic began have started to relax over the past month, and while it’s totally trial and error as to what will work and what won’t, businesses are tentatively sniffing the air ready to reopen their doors to customers. While some stayed open during the Coronavirus threat, others have stayed closed and moved their business to an online space while the threat was a big one.
Retailers know that customers are itching to get back into their usual buying habits, but the key here is to be prepared. If you’re not prepared properly, you’re going to fail and have to close down again until the threat is truly gone. So, with that in mind, we’ve put together some tips to help you to get your store ready for a successful reopening.
- Communicating with your customers is going to be the first thing that you do to test the water. You need to get your brick and mortar store opened again, but if your customers are largely saying that they won’t come to your store for fear of the virus spreading, then there is no point in opening. So, you need to communicate your plan properly. Talk to the customers and speak to a Sanitizing Service so that you can get the right teams in place to support your business through opening once more. The key is to communicate your plan to everyone so that they can be reassured that you have everything under control.
- Anticipating what your customers need and want is a must. Go contactless with your cash system to reduce virus spread, and use the data from your customers previous purchasing decisions to put out the right stock for this time around.
- Upgrading your business where you can is going to stand you in good stead for the reopening. You need people to come through your doors, and you need to excite them enough to do it if you’re offering Apple Pay now where you didn’t previously, you’re going to impress people and make them feel safe when they come into your store.
- You are still a business, which means that you need to look at how you can make sales. People are going to be itching to buy in a shop once more when they are allowed out of lockdown, so think about how you can draw them in with offers. Look at BOGOF offers and coupons that you can give out before your opening date. Run a competition and remind people that you were a brilliant business before COVID and you intend to stay that way afterwards!
No one could really appreciate how a business handles themselves during a pandemic, and no business could anticipate it coming. How you handle reopening during this time is going to dictate what people think of you, and you have to make sure that you are getting this right from day one. Take your time and prepare, research and plan for success.
