Since the coronavirus pandemic, socially distanced shopping is a necessity. But how can stores operate safely without impinging on experience?

  • Modular furniture allows retailers to make more space within stores and adhere to social distancing guidelines
  • With queuing now a fact of life, retailers are looking at ways to make this aspect safe, easy and even entertaining 
  • Repurposing checkout space and making new use of currently redundant changing rooms are on the agenda

From perspex screens to hand sanitiser stations, store operations and design have quickly been altered to meet government regulations and to keep customers safe during the pandemic. 

The government recommends that retailers limit the number of shoppers in-store at any one time to ensure two metres of social distancing (one metre from this weekend), while contactless processes are encouraged for everything from purchases to click-and-collect to minimise contact between staff and customers. 

Retailers have had to adapt their stores to accommodate this, and for many, reconfiguration has been needed to enable social distancing.

Rails and shelving units have been moved to create wider aisles and product has been spaced out more to avoid overcrowding or the need to browse through multiple items. 

“If we can only have three members of staff on the shop floor at a time, self discovery of products by our shoppers becomes really important”

Kat Hannible, Lush

Health and beauty retailer Lush is investing in modular furniture so it can alter the store layout as it sees fit post-lockdown.

Lush Oberhausen

Lush is investing in modular furniture

“We are looking at modular, adaptable furniture, so shops are able to set up counters to serve people in a socially distanced way that feels a bit more natural than just standing two metres apart,” says Lush UK retail director Kat Hannible.

“The future is modular so we can adapt to what the customer wants to see when they come into a store in order to feel comfortable.”

Enabling self-discovery

Hannible says visual merchandising will be increasingly important in the era of social distancing.

“We are looking at how we move stock around the store to enable self-discovery.

“If social distance dictates that we can only have three members of staff on the shop floor at a time that means we cannot offer the level of service we would like to, which means self-discovery of products by our shoppers becomes really important. 

“We are looking at how we can enable that through our in-store furnishing, product range and inclusive signage, which means that you could speak any language and understand from our signage which product range you are looking at.”

Superdry has transformed three stores in its portfolio to help customers who might be on a very different shopping mission in the era of social distancing. 

The fashion retailer’s stores in Cheltenham, Birmingham and Oxford have been reconfigured to group products based on aesthetic and style, rather than by product type or gender split.

“We are grouping style choices together, rather than doing a product or gender split, and it makes for a much more interesting mix”

Julian Dunkerton, Superdry

Superdry chief executive Julian Dunkerton says these stores have “outperformed” since reopening.

Superdry display

Superdry has grouped products based on aesthetic and style in some stores

“We are grouping what we call style choices together – we identify a look and feel for a consumer and group together all the products that fall into that category, rather than doing a product or gender split, and it makes for a much more interesting mix,” he explains.

“We are becoming much more sophisticated in terms of identifying which customers we are targeting and with what.”

The reconfiguration recognises that customers may not spend as much time browsing as they did before, instead opting for more targeted visits to limit exposure to the virus. 

David Dalziel, creative director of design agency Dalziel & Pow, believes store design should reflect the new way customers are shopping.

”Today’s early returning shoppers are very focused, not browsing but targeting stock they’ve missed out on in the last three months.

“Help them through that journey – clear and targeted signage, easy and efficient click-and-collect; take the pain away from the functional and reignite the passion for a small indulgence.”

Making use of redundant space

With fashion retailers unable to open fitting rooms in the short term, businesses should repurpose that space to display products, says former Arcadia design director Guy Smith, founder of design agency Cosu.

There is also an opportunity to repurpose checkout space. Shoppers have been encouraged to use contactless payment over the past three months, and the contactless limit was raised from £30 to £45 in April. This payment behaviour is set to remain in the post-Covid world.

“Square footage given to cash desks could be significantly reduced in favour of mobile or self-checkouts, which will take contactless-only payments”

Guy Smith, Cosu

Retailers such as Lush and Apple were already phasing out standard checkouts in favour of mobile solutions, such as staff with handheld devices, or self-checkouts. This could provide more space for products and remove friction from payments. 

“I think we’re going to notice that square footage currently given to the cash desks could be significantly reduced in favour of mobile or self-checkouts, which will take contactless-only payments that customers are now used to,” says Smith.

“The square footage we retain can then be used to either reach the same product density there ordinarily would have been without social distancing regulations by spreading it out, or give more space over to larger fitting rooms, should retailers choose to keep them.”

Smith gives the example of Primark, which is typically a high-density store with “close to 100 tills” in its larger stores. Primark has been forced to reduce the number of SKUs on the shop floor, but removing fitting rooms or reducing the number of tills could help.

Making queues bearable

In this new era, queues are an inevitability. Retailers need to carefully manage these queues, with the government recommending using a separate entrance and exit point to stores where possible, as well as floor markings to help people keep their distance.

Supermarkets such as Tesco implemented a one-way system, which has been replicated in non-essential stores such as Next, while Aldi introduced a traffic-light system at the door to automatically inform customers when they are allowed to enter.

Retailers also need to think about how their queue impacts that of their neighbours.

Waterstones chief executive James Daunt explains: ”We’re in the first wave of shops being reopened, so we expect things to get a little busier and perhaps a little trickier outside our shops as more of our neighbours open.

“When stores are all open, how much queuing will be necessary and how will the queues fit together? We’re mindful that we need to work with our neighbours and that it’s a collective retail challenge.

To solve this problem, Primark has created multiple separate queuing areas outside its Westfield store, meaning passing shoppers can get by easily.

Staff are on hand to direct queuing customers to the next area when space becomes available until they reach the section directly outside the main entrance. This ensures queues do not stretch down the street or block off other stores.

Primark social distancing

Primark has created multiple separate queuing areas

Dalziel says some fresh thinking will be required to make queuing palatable to shoppers.

“Retailers need to think like a theme park by informing and entertaining in the queue,” he explains. 

Dalziel says that retailers should ensure window displays and fascias are clean, inspiring and fun.

He also suggests that rain covers or sunshades should be added outside stores to protect queuing customers from the elements. Live music could also help create better queuing experiences. 

Fitch chief creative officer Tim Greenhalgh adds that the queue is now a “captive audience rather than passing traffic”, so there is an opportunity to boost sales through interactive window displays.

Brands such as Kate Spade and Adidas have trialled shoppable interactive windows, and Greenhalgh thinks this idea may take off post-coronavirus.

Shoppers waiting in queues could essentially set up a click-and-collect order, which could be ready by the time they enter the store, using the window display to make orders. 

A similar idea has already emerged at The Entertainer, where customers can make orders from their phones while queuing that can be picked up within 10 minutes, but this would take it one step further.

Investing in design

Retailers have been forced to swiftly make changes in order to reopen, but with coronavirus likely to be around for some time, longer-term investments may be necessary to make sure socially distanced stores provide an enjoyable shopping experience.

“The temporary changes that are being put in place now will most likely fundamentally change shopping as we know it”

Tim Greenhalgh, Fitch

Greenhalgh says: “Obviously right now retailers are spending on stickers and perspex, but in the near future, they need to think about more cost-effective ways to make the store safe, useful and inspiring, no matter which regulations are in place. 

“Realistically, the virus is going to play a big role for at least another 12 months according to [chief medical officer] Chris Whitty, so the temporary changes that are being put in place now will most likely fundamentally change shopping as we know it.”

“Retailers should, therefore, be thinking about longer-term aids to shopping if these new behaviours stick and making investments in their future.”

Investments in modular, removable furniture to allow for wider aisles, contactless experiences and queuing solutions will, therefore, be prudent to prepare for a longer-term change to how we shop.