Navigating Covid-19 retailer challenges with a holistic approach

In these unprecedented times of globally enforced shutdowns and social distancing, Hong Kong retailers are experiencing a record drop in sales as travel restrictions keep tourists away and fears of the coronavirus cause shoppers to avoid shopping centres. 

With this in mind, retailers are challenged to re-emerge from the pandemic with a plan to make the shopping experience safer and smarter for employees and customers. 

Retailer solutions for the “new normal”

Before the coronavirus, retailers were focused on challenges like asset protection, improving the shopper journey, driving efficiencies in the supply chain and supporting unified commerce.  These will continue to be important focuses for retailers but, in the near future, will be trumped by retailer concerns over reopening stores in a safe and compliant manner.  

Solutions allowing retailers to reopen stores and monitor shopper occupancy and distancing in-store will allow retailers to ensure a safer environment for customers and keep them compliant with governmental occupancy restrictions. Occupancy technology allows retailers to optimise staffing schedules as labour has been paired down for many stores as well as understand the best times for cleaning high-traffic, high-contamination areas.

Monitoring employee and customer temperatures will soon become the norm for many stores as well as warehouses and distribution centres. Denying entrance to customers or employees with elevated body temperatures will offer an additional safety measure in preventing further spread of the virus, especially for those retailers that are essential businesses and rely on their employees’ presence to serve their customers.

These solutions are just a few of the measures that will soon become table stakes for reopening and maintaining open retail stores in today’s “new normal”.

The importance of a holistic approach

A holistic approach addressing physical protections for employees and customers, real-time store-occupancy technology, inventory-intelligence solutions and newer technologies confirming elevated body temperatures are a retailer’s best plan for success as they reopen their doors and plan for the future. Planning for these new tools not only lies in budgeting and logistics, but also in finding a partner who centrally offers the toolkit of solutions a retailer will need to drive safe in-store shopper traffic, comply with governmental occupancy regulations and continue to improve their unified commerce as retail moves into the future.

Sensormatic Solutions, an industry leader for more than 55 years, offers these solutions in the Covid-19 Toolkit and more to assist retailers in navigating coronavirus related impacts to inventory, staff, customers and operations – now.

 Physical partitions to protect health of customers and employees

  • Asset protection of high-theft items
  • Thermal cameras to detect elevated body temperatures in employees and shoppers
  • In-store occupancy real-time alerts for social distancing requirements
  • Inventory accuracy to support BOPIS and curb-side pickup

Discover Sensormatic Solutions’ full Covid-19 Toolkit.

You have 7 articles remaining. Unlock 15 free articles a month, it’s free.