{"id":10333,"date":"2020-03-16T10:45:52","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T15:45:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.retailsystem.com\/za\/?p=10333"},"modified":"2020-03-16T14:02:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T19:02:47","slug":"retailers-working-to-adapt-and-make-a-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.retailsystem.com\/za\/blog\/retailers-working-to-adapt-and-make-a-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Retailers working to adapt and make a difference!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_10334\" style=\"width: 407px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-10334\" class=\"wp-image-10334 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.retailsystem.com\/za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2020\/03\/adapt.png\" alt=\"Adapt to trying times in retail\" width=\"397\" height=\"302\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-10334\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Retailers working to adapt to corona impacts<\/p><\/div>\n<p>With the trying and uncertain times \u2013 I wanted to share a few comments and excellent ideas from our dealers. (I promised not to mention any of them so I could share it all \u2013 in detail!!)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Communicate.<\/strong> \u201cWe have been in communications with our staff hourly. We are also communicating with our customers and community. We see a lot of businesses putting up similar corona messaging to every other business with general template info and links. Necessary but we want to convey even further at a personal level. We are also making sure we are telling our customers we are open. We are here. Everyone\u2019s safety and well-being are of utmost importance. (Adding there isn\u2019t a surface or door handle or credit card PIN pad that doesn\u2019t get scrubbed often!).\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Expectations.<\/strong> \u201cOur team is thin and we are doing what we can to help out team members as they adjust to changing conditions in their own personal lives. Childcare, schools \u2013 these things can flip daily routines upside down and it will take time to adjust. We are with them through this without hesitation. We are also making sure our customers know exactly what to expect and that we are doing what we can. That said, we are making sure the phone doesn\u2019t go unanswered. We have put a couple people solely on making sure we that the phone is answered the first ring and the person has all they need to be as attentive and knowledgeable as possible on what we are doing as a business during these trying and uncertain times. We are also proactively calling all our customers waiting on products and communicating the latest. People have been pretty understanding.\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>It is what it is \u2013 and we are doing our part.<\/strong> \u201cWe have instructed our team to give people space. When customers come in \u2013 make sure they understand that all they have do is yell a question and we can answer! Make some noise and we will come &#8211; but not within personal space. We are also making sure customers know where the hand sanitizer pumps are \u2013 and when those run out where the sinks are so they can wash their hands! We are not making it a game or a joke as this is serious \u2013 but we are making sure the current situation is not awkward while being mutually beneficial.\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>We are doing different things to help.<\/strong> \u201cSchools are closed here. Many families depend on those lunches. We are offering free bag lunches and bottled waters and juices to anyone that drives up. No need to get out of the car. Our team members are feeling really good that they are doing \u201cmore\u201d. We are always wondering what we can do in trying times \u2013 this is working wonderfully for us.\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Video!<\/strong> \u201cWe are giving our team the tools necessary so if a customer wants us to give them a virtual \u201cshow\u201d of a product they can make it happen. It\u2019s not pretty \u2013 but we are already seeing it in action. We subscribed to a Zoom meeting account and are using this if the customer doesn\u2019t have FaceTime which is getting used the most. We have it on an iPad and sales team can hold it, show the product, and talk to the customer just as if they are right here in the store!\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Our website has all our in-stock products.<\/strong> \u201cWe envision that customers will be doing even more research online. We spent all last week making sure our website has our current items we have in the warehouse labeled as in-stock. We should have been doing this all along&#8230; \u2013 but we are now making sure that if a customer does come in, they know exactly what we have. No wasted trip.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>The no-sweat delivery!<\/strong> \u201cWe are implementing absolutes during our product delivery process and communications. First is the team. We ask each delivery team member if they are at all sick or been around someone that has. The tough part is it is also allergy season, and this always raises havoc anyway! But we are trying to see through this and make sure our team is completely healthy. We also encourage them to be honest and forthright when asked. If they are not 100% healthy &#8211; we will find something for them to do. There is always work. Next, it is long shirts, gloves \u2013 booties, and safety glasses, every delivery \u2013 no exceptions. We are also making sure each truck has ample hand sanitizer and if\/when that runs out, soap and water and clean rags! When we schedule the delivery, we explain this process to the customer. We also ask if they are comfortable with this and letting the team in their house explaining with current uncertainties we are over communicating. We would love to ask the customer about their health\u2026 but staying away from that one for the time being. In our conversation If the customer has ANY concern, we work to make acceptable modifications. If we come to an impasse \u2013 we agree to leave the products in a suitable location or hold at our warehouse free of charge until we can facilitate a delivery acceptable to the climate at that time. We plan to review this process and procedure daily if need be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If you have any helpful suggestion or idea that you are trying in your store(s) and would like to share &#8211; please feel free to shoot me a note at <a href=\"mailto:jesse@retailsystem.com\">jesse@retailsystem.com<\/a>. As mentioned &#8211; I am NOT sharing who and where to hopefully gain as much insight as possible from our dealer community!<\/p>\n<p>Patience. Tolerance. Constant adaptability and agile change. We are in this together!<\/p>\n<p>Be safe and Retail On!<\/p>\n<p>Jesse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the trying and uncertain times \u2013 I wanted to share a few comments and excellent ideas from our dealers. (I promised not to mention any of them so I could share it all \u2013 in detail!!) Communicate. \u201cWe have&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10334,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,7],"tags":[74,75,45],"class_list":["post-10333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-retail-strategy","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-retail-strategy"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.11 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Retailers working to adapt and make a difference! - RetailSystem - South Africa | EPOS - Smart Software For Furniture Retailers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.retailsystem.com\/za\/blog\/retailers-working-to-adapt-and-make-a-difference\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Retailers working to adapt and make a difference! - RetailSystem - South Africa | EPOS - Smart Software For Furniture Retailers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the trying and uncertain times \u2013 I wanted to share a few comments and excellent ideas from our dealers. 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