Retail Resource Reopening

A Plan Geared Towards Moving Forward

For several decades, Retail Resource has been a leading provider of solutions in the retail space. In the past few weeks, we've turned our attention to crafting a plan of strategic suggestions, precautionary steps, and product solutions to ensure your staff, operations and customers are better prepared for changes in the industry. Our insights are carefully collected from every corner of the industry - from notable leaders like The National Retail Federation and the CDC, as well as gathered on a personal level - directly from our loyal customers.

The Retail Resource CHARGE Action Plan outlines four initiatives for retailers, and follows with strategic solutions for implementing these guidelines.

Employee safety

Reopening your doors, you'll notice there are many new expected safety standards to be met in the retail industry. While employee health and safety has always been set at a high standard for you, it's time to exceed expectations, and offer your employees an even safer workplace.

  • For employees working in customer-facing roles, safety shields are a quick and essential product solution to use at checkout lanes, registers, and anywhere else you want to create a safe protected space for employees. Retail Resource offers different shapes and sizes for the best fit for your environment.
  • We've found that many retailers offer personal protective equipment to employees who are handling product for improved food safety, working directly with customers, or just working in high-traffic areas of the store. We offer in-bulk quantities suggested below to make this possible.
  • Touchless, automatic products for retail operations also help to limit the spread of germs, and can reinforce the urgency behind many new practices (like wearing gloves) as your staff adjusts to new protocols.
  • It's essential that employees working each day are healthy and symptom free. Proactively ensure the health of your staff through precautionary measures such as taking temperatures before each employee begins their shift. Depending on state or local regulations, this may be mandated.

CHARGE Product Recommendations:

Disposable Face Mask

2-Ply Fabric Face Mask

CHARGE Initiatives:

Forehead Thermometer

Thermometers

CHARGE Initiatives:

Face Shield

Employee Safety Shields

CHARGE Initiatives:

Disposable Gloves

Protective Gloves

CHARGE Initiatives:

Consider this: As new regulations and laws may arise, stay up-to-date through subscribing to local and state health departments, along with informative industry experts—like us!

Credit: NFR: "Operation Open Doors Checklist"
Customer Safety

Making sure your shoppers feel valued and safe has always been a staple to the retail industry, now we're taking that one step further with more strategic options in safety and cleanliness.

  • Customer health and comfortability begins with increasing the availability of sanitation supplies around your store with products like hand sanitizer dispensers and hand wipes. We strongly recommend also providing disinfecting wipes to wipe down heavily used items like shopping carts and baskets.
  • Allowing a healthy 6 feet apart all starts with prompting more space between shoppers in creative, unobtrusive ways. Space-saving solutions like crowd management and regulating in-store capacity can make this possible.
  • For more shopper peace of mind, promote to-go shopping with curbside products to give consumers the choice to stay within the comforts of their own car and still get the products they came for.

CHARGE Product Recommendations:

Hydra Wipes

Hydra Rinse Single Use Wipes

CHARGE Initiatives:

Touch Free Dispenser

Touch Free Foam Dispensers

CHARGE Initiatives:

Crowd Control

Crowd Management

CHARGE Initiatives:

To-Go Bags

To-Go Shopping Products

CHARGE Initiatives:

Consider this: Do you have the proper grab-and-go products available for the increase in shoppers who now prefer a quicker shopping trip?

Credit: CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Cleaning and Sanitizing

While the new standards of cleanliness in public places have been established, it's time for retailers to adopt new best practices and courses of action.

  • During a time with shopper influx and a heightened emphasis on food and public sanitation, plan to increase your budget in more than usual on cleaning supplies. Adopt a new "all hands on deck" approach with your staff to truly make sure safety and sanitation measures are met at every corner of your store.
  • Shoppers and staff will begin to see sink stations in back-of-house for employee use, and placed on-floor for shoppers. Retail Resource portable sinks make hand washing convenient, quick, and affordable.
  • Refine your previously laid-out cleaning procedures. High-touch items like cash registers, price scanners, self-checkout screens, and changing rooms are expected to be sanitized every single day. For this reason, we have designed a collection of mobile backpack sanitize sprayers to create a clean and disinfected place to work and shop.
  • Consider totally removing fragrance and beauty testers, along with any other stations that previously prompted hands-on use. Invest in more eye-catching display fixtures to keep shoppers engaged and inspired.

CHARGE Product Recommendations:

Companion Mobile Cleaning And Sanitizing System Cart

Cleaning and Sanitizing Cart

CHARGE Initiatives:

Backpack Sprayer

Backpack Sanitize Sprayer

CHARGE Initiatives:

Portable Hand Sink

Portable Hand Sink

CHARGE Initiatives:

Display Fixtures

Display Fixtures

CHARGE Initiatives:

Consider this: Would altering your store hours give your staff more time to clean your store more efficiently and effectively?

Credit: NFR: "Operation Open Doors Checklist"
Signage

Signage is a non-obtrusive yet prominent way to remind everyone - from shoppers to staff - to practice sanitary guidelines and keep safe distances

  • Hand washing signage in bathrooms and back-of-house is an effective way to regularly remind employees to frequently wash their hands, especially during busy times when it might not be top of mind.
  • New signage relating to shopper flow, directing one-way-aisles, and limiting in-store capacity are highly recommended, and expected to be a part of the new shopping experience.
  • In-store signage keeps shoppers in-the-know and makes everyone feel a little more confident and cognizant during their shopping experience. Simple gestures like displaying floor stand signage (pictured below) help keep shoppers completely informed on the products around them.

CHARGE Product Recommendations:

Consider this: While signage dealing with sanitation and cleanliness is important, don't lose sight of the signs that were helpful before–think directional signage, store hours, and retail promotions.

Sales Rep

We're listening and want to hear from you.

If you have another unforeseen area of your business directly affected by the coronavirus, feel free to reach out to an on-call food service expert—we are here to help. We also encourage those with questions to please email our award-winning customer support team for assistance.

We will work through this together, and look forward to helping you in any way we can.

Great customer service—they even know my name when I call to place an order. Very, very friendly team.

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