Prepare to reopen your retail store: COVID-19 | Retail Appointment Scheduling Guide

One of the most recent challenges being faced by all retail businesses during the global pandemic has been the need to ensure retail environments are safe and COVID secure.
Based on the recent experiences BookingLive has had with assisting over 1000 businesses across 62+ countries, we have a few points laid out within this guide that may help you to open your store, as well as provide innovative digital solutions such as free online retail appointment scheduling app and booking system to your customers.

Overview | Social Distancing With Retail Scheduling Software

COVID-SECURE Retail Experiences

With Bookinglive’s retail scheduling software, you can give customers confidence, security and peace of mind whilst avoiding long queuing times both in and outside of your store, by offering customers the ability to book store visits in advance, online, 24/7, on any device and from any location.

This gives you a key tool to ensure you do not go above recommended instore capacity and ensure social distancing is adhered to. With BookingLive’s online retail appointment scheduling, you can better manage your staffing rotas around pre-booked shopping experiences.

Retail consumers can now book and shop with peace of mind. They can avoid off-putting and time-consuming queues and have a great experience with guaranteed social distancing. Provide both in-advance bookings and walk-ins by offering specific ‘visit by appointment only’ times, for example, at the start and end of the day or specific time slots.

You could also offer virtual appointments such as bespoke one on one pre-shopping consultations or video customer service.

Get started today with BookingLive for free retail appointments.

Best Practices For Reopening Your Retail Store After COVID-19

Even during an extremely uncertain time like this pandemic, only you really know what’s best for your specific business. But it makes sense to get fresh guidance and insights as you think about reopening your store in a way that’s safe, COVID-secure and most of all feels right for you.

• Get safety and sanitation right – Government guidance is at hand
• Go contactless, go cashless – Safer COVID-secure solutions
• Utilise your online appointment booking system – BookingLive
• Have a plan for managing returns safely – Structured assessments
• Communicate your reopening plans – Customer emails, and posters
• Keep investing in e-commerce – BookingLive
• Train your staff – Government guidance, and risk assessing

Government Guidance

Retailers will need to take certain steps to protect customers and staff, including limiting the number of customers allowed inside at one time, placing protective coverings on large items such as sofas which may be touched by passing shoppers, and frequently checking and cleaning objects and surfaces.

Employers should also display a notice visibly in their shop windows or outside their store to show their employees, customers and other visitors that they have followed this guidance.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said recently:

“Shops, department stores and shopping centres that have been closed since March will be able to reopen from Monday 15 June, provided they put in place the necessary steps to keep their workers and customers safe. This is the latest step in the careful restarting of the economy and will enable high streets up and down the country to spring back to life.”

“I would like to thank workers at supermarkets, pharmacies, post offices and other essential retailers who have introduced social distancing to keep the public and their staff safe. Now is the time to apply these principles to even more shops to allow workers safely back into stores and welcome back shoppers, as we look to get the economy going again.”

The 5 Areas

The five areas to cover from the UK Government which you will be signing up to are listed below:

• We have carried out a COVID-19 risk assessment and
  shared the results with the people who work here
• We have cleaning, handwashing and hygiene procedures
  inline with guidance
• We have taken all reasonable steps to help people work from home
• We have taken all reasonable steps to maintain a 2m distance in the workplace
• Where people cannot be 2m apart, we have done everything practical to manage transmission risk

How To Use An Online Retail Appointment System

Retail appointment scheduling and booking system solutions and apps provide a large variety of benefits. Allowing your customers to choose specific services and experiences, encourages onsite visits, and grows your service offering.

Below are just a few of the ways that retail businesses are embracing online scheduling:

• Personal shopping experiences, fittings, and alterations
• Salons and makeup application experiences
• Automotive service and repair/tire services
• Computer service and repair / technical support
• Makeovers/makeups
• Training, events, and seminars
• Sales appointments
• Customer scheduling
• Retail staff scheduling
• and many many more!

What Features Can Online Scheduling Offer Me?

• Date & Time Slot Allocation: Simple and intuitive appointment management solution
• Embed Or Standalone: Booking pages placed directly within your website or as a standalone booking page url
• Calendar View Management: Next-generation calendar & schedule management, simple and intuitive appointment management
• Cleaning & Sanitation Scheduling: Intersect appointment slots with cleaning buffer times
• Providing Service & Safety: Provide specialised time slots for specific customer groups

BookingLive: Find Out More

Find out more about BookingLive’s scheduling system and its partnership with organisations going through digital transformation, and how BookingLive can bring its 10+ years of successfully servicing the public sector to support you with your department’s digital goals, Signup HERE: www.bookinglive.io/signup or contact us via email, sales@bookinglive.com or call +1 (0)117 933 8632 to speak with one of our public sector solutions specialists.