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Chamber members NETTL of Weymouth have produced an interesting article on this important part of retail, especially now.
You could say so.
As if turning a penny wasn’t already tough enough. We’re all wrestling with limitations on how our business can operate. You might have even been asked to shut up shop. Temporarily, of course. But as James Daunt, chief executive of Waterstones, mentioned in The Times “You can’t turn off a retail business, flick it back on and expect it to work seamlessly”.
And yet here we are. In national or local ‘level 5’ lockdowns, only ‘essential’ retailers are allowed to open. That’s basically shops selling food or medicine. Or other healthcare essentials like booze. Everyone else, considered non-essential, has been asked to close. However, one very attainable strategy could offer any small or medium-sized retail business a lifeline.
Almost any business can proactively opt-in to being ‘essential’ in the eyes of the legislation makers. How? By offering click and collect.
The UK Gov guidelines, for example, state that ‘essential retail’ can include “any other retail outlet that operates an online or other remote system of ordering goods for purposes of collection at the retail outlet”. Bingo.
So even if click-and-collect is too late to your party for this lockdown window, your future self will thank you for it. Even the most optimistic among us will expect businesses to remain vigilent. Click-and-collect is not just safe, it’s reassuring for our covid-nervous clientele. What’s more, it’s simply convenient.
See the full 8 min article here.
