It is clear that we cannot escape, the Coronavirus brings us a crisis that will last a few weeks, even months. Yesterday evening, instructions were given by the French and Belgian governments and they have an impact on the opening of your points of sale. Whether you are active in a chain of restaurants, supermarkets or pharmaceutical agencies or your network offers bank branches or telecom shops, you must react to this crisis.
Here are a few tips 5 tips to help multi-point retailers manage the Covid-19 crisis on the Internet
Tip1: think about your customer’s experience
ideal for you, unfortunately you will not be able to change it other than by following the government instructions. Be careful and pull your weight in order to stop the contamination. Then think about your customers. They will seek information on your openings and / or closings. Indeed, life does not stop and consumers will need to continue to eat, dress, buy medication etc.
So think about the experience you can bring them and what solutions are open to you:
- You are a restaurant brand, can you operate in drive-in mode? Does it make sense from your customers’ point of view and from an operational point of view for you?
- You are a supermarket brand, for the moment, you can stay open, remember to put disinfectant gels at the entrance of your points of sale.
- Do you have bank branches? Why not offer to make appointments by teleconference? if documents need to be signed, can they be signed electronically or how can you limit actual physical interactions? Can a “drive-in” mode be considered?
- As for pharmacies, you will probably continue to have an influx of patients in your pharmacies, how can you help them while limiting the chances of spreading? With the closure of schools, is a delivery service by students possible? Could you also offer a drive-in mode?
- In other stores (clothing, telecoms, etc.), try to limit the number of people in your points of sale, offer disinfectant gels at the entrance of the point of sale and fitting rooms, disinfect them. demonstration devices, etc …
By doing so, you can play your role in the society that needs you while working to limit the spread of the disease.
Tip 2 – Adapt your opening hours on the web
The first thing consumers will see is your hours of operation. To do this, they will go to the Internet (Google, your website and Facebook are the media offering the best real-time services to display your hours). Adapt these on your pages to present your best hours to serve your customers. For example, if you are a restaurant chain that offers a drive or delivery service, but your rooms are closed, indicate the hours of the drive. In this way consumers can always benefit from your products and services. On the other hand, inform him/her of the adaptation of your mode of service in relation to the current crisis.
Tip 3 – Communicate on the continuity (or not) of your activities
If you are reading this article, you are working in a network that encompasses a certain number of outlets. If your digital configuration is correct, you have, for each point of sale at least one page on Google, on a Store Locator and on Facebook. This makes at least 3 local pages for each shop / agency / restaurant / store. These pages offer you the possibility of publishing local content in order to highlight your activities. So publish posts that will highlight the adaptations you are making to continue delivering your products and services. If unfortunately you are not able to do so, please state this clearly as well.
For example:
- your restaurant is closed, but you offer a drive in, share this information.
- you prefer the orders on tools as “drive” and to favor this mode of purchase, you offer coupons, share this information. Take the opportunity to provide impeccable service, you will gain new customers.
- your stores are open during the week and not on weekends and you decide to open a little later in the week to limit the number of people at your points of sale at the same time, communicate this.
- if you prefer people not to travel, you can promote your delivery service
Tip 4: be careful about managing reviews
In a time of crisis, consumers may be more aggressive or violent if something goes wrong. So follow the advice received closely and respond with empathy. Try to avoid another crisis …
TiP 5 : remember retailers, we are here to help
If you have comments or questions, don’t hesitate to contact your data manager or account at Mobilosoft. As you know, we have management procedures that allow us to react quickly enough for you in the event of a crisis, we can replace your digital teams. However, this situation is different from others experienced in recent years, it will affect all our customers and all our points of sale. We will therefore do the maximum to provide you with the best help.
