MRA says retailers need to show their stores are taking measures to keep customers, employees safe.
Annapolis, Md (KM) With Maryland’s entry into Stage of Its “Road Map to Recovery,” many retailers have been allowed to open their stores, although with limits on the number of people allowed inside.
But Maryland Retailers Association President Cailley Locklair says some consumers my be reluctance to come back, fearing they may contact the coronavirus. She emphasized that retailers are taking measures to keep customer and employees safe. “And they’re not going to take risks,” she says. “That’s just not what you’re going see. You’re not going to see businesses ignoring CDC guidance, or ignoring recommendations that our association put out, or the Governor put out.”
Locklair says some of the safety measures include installation of plastic barriers between customers and cashiers at checkout counters, requiring customers and employees to wear face coverings, placing markers on the floors showing the six-feet of separation and limiting the number of people in a store at one time. “If anything, they’ll be going above and beyond to make sure there’s a completely different experience happening where people feel and know they are safe,” she says.
If retailers want to answer the fears of these customers, Locklair says they could bring back “click and pick.” That’s where customers purchase a product on line or over the phone, and come to a local store and pick it up. She says before the COVID-19 pandemic, “click and pick” was helping to make brick-and-mortar stores more competitive with on-line merchants, she says.
By Kevin McManus