Safeguarding Social Distancing

In a time when a trip to the store requires military-grade project management and a flexibility of schedule that can cater for fellow shoppers who have less than a full day of laundry, conference calls and teenage angst to juggle, shopping is no longer the enjoyable distraction that it once was. Social distancing has been introduced to protect store staff and give customers confidence in retail and hospitality environments.

Contactless payment limits are raised for safety of shoppers

For retailers, the distractions are far greater and increasingly, far reaching: Time used to be that contactless payment transactions were confined to the brand-sensitive choice of coffee that enthusiastic amateurs used to indulge in at the local train station or city-swinging baristas – now limits have changed to accommodate emerging populist habits, security and safeguarding the well-being of shoppers.

Customer experience pivots to focus on customer confidence

It now appears that some of the characteristics of shopping are about to change for both retailers and shoppers and if we are to believe some commentators, for the long term too. As with any successful retail story, at the center of the changes lies customer experience and more than ever customer confidence.

In response to Covid-19, the policies of governments around the world have severely impacted retail in a variety of sectors in many ways depending upon their geographies, but universally, the one constant element of measurement that will influence retailers’ decision-making and speed of response will be customer confidence.

From the shopper’s perspective, the return of a feeling of confidence will be based on a variety of indicators including their belief in the reported numbers, in the sentiment of trusted, public figures, the recovery of personal disposable income, a potential sway away from what we have to what we experience and total confidence that the eradication of the virus is final.

That feeling may still have a long way to come.

Retailers now must provide a safe working and purchasing environment

Customer confidence took a real hit in the early days of the pandemic with the panic buying of such random items such as toilet rolls. We now seem to be transitioning to “the new normal” with social distancing taking place outside the store and clearly marked sections and directions for movement, and safeguarding once inside. Whether the public can sustain these new behaviors to follow those guidelines remains to be seen.

The staff-customer interaction at the point of sale is where the current situation has created the opportunity to re-evaluate the personal well being and security of the checkout assistants and their customers.

Providing a safe working and purchasing environment will provide peace of mind for all, should enable social distancing, and demonstrate to both customers and employees that the store takes their well being very seriously. After all, its where the loyalty of the future may well reside. With increasing options, customers’ treatment by retailers in these extraordinary times is unlikely to be forgotten and will influence their destinations of choice and where they spend their money, with confidence when normal life resumes.

Introducing the low cost, easy to fit
SafeGuard Screen

Ergonomic Solutions, creators of the SpacePole^® range of technology mounting solutions are offering the SafeGuard Screen to Safeguard Social Distancing.

The Safeguard Screen is a low cost and simple to install acrylic screen which creates a timely safety barrier for everyone at the point of sale. The screen can easily retrofit to existing SpacePole installations or complement existing hardware without taking up any transactional space either in the packing or payment areas.

Safeguard Screens for all point of sale areas

SafeGuard Screens are perfect for all types of food and non-food retail as well as in hospitality and healthcare environments.

It’s an unobtrusive safeguarding solution which does not affect the current operator/customer interface creating consumer confidence. For example, the customer display can be on the customer side of the screen, along with the payment terminal and loyalty scanner. As with all SpacePole products, the screen can be customized to fit your requirements, as part of an existing or new installation.

Cleanliness is paramount and the acrylic surface can be easily cleaned and disinfected with wipes or bleach without causing any damage or degradation to the surface.