To help combat the spread of COVID-19 and maintain business as (close to) usual, many retailers and restaurants have implemented a curbside pickup option for customers. If you have contemplated doing the same, but aren’t exactly sure where to start, you’re in luck. In this post, we are going to dig into the mechanics of curbside pickup and give you the tools you need to get started or improve your current curbside pickup process!
The What and Why of Curbside Pickup
Some retailers have already been doing curbside pickup to help customers with limited time, disabilities, or illness. That last reason has really come into light with the spread of COVID-19. Curbside pickup has become a go-to way to limit human interaction, by allowing customers to get the products they need without having to go into your store with dozens (or hundreds) of other customers—some of whom may have COVID-19 and not even know it.
By letting your customers order online or over the phone and picking up their order at your store, the entire process can be limited to direct interaction with just one person, which can greatly reduce the risk of spreading illness.
Getting Started with Curbside Pickup
There are several steps to take into consideration when getting started with curbside pickup. While none of these steps are particularly difficult, overlooking any of them could undermine your efforts to limit the spread of COVID-19 as much as possible.
The steps are:
- Devise a process and train your staff on the procedures of the process
- Create a pickup station with shelving storage racks
- Pack orders with paper or plastic bags
- Use signage to direct customers to the pickup area
- Deliver orders with rolling carts or shopping carts
Each of these steps carry their own individual importance, so we are going to get into a little more detail regarding each step.
Devise a Process and Train Staff
One of the reasons for curbside pickup is to get as close to a no-contact process as possible. This means you want the least amount of people possible touching each order. When orders come in, they should be assigned to a designated in-store shopper/picker. You may be inclined to designate shoppers/pickers for different section of the store. This would be a mistake. While it might save some time, it increases the number of people—any one of which could be asymptomatic—who are touching a single order.
The shopper/picker can then take the order right to the pickup station.
Your process might have unique elements that are relevant to your business. Whatever your process includes, be sure that all staff is trained in the process to avoid confusion. This will create an efficient and safe execution of the process.
Create a Pickup Station with Shelving Storage Racks
Once the order items have been collected, they should be delivered to a pickup station. Depending upon your location and/or the weather, this pickup station can be located indoors or outdoors. This may come down to how much room you have for setting up a pickup station in your store or what the weather situation is like outside of your store.
Regardless of indoors or outdoors, have storage racks in place for the orders to be set while the shopper/picker gets started with the next order is critical. Because you will have multiple orders on the rack, make sure that each order is clearly labelled. This will help avoid confusion at pickup, which can be a great time saver.
Pack Orders with Paper or Plastic Bags
Even if there is only one product, it should be packed in a paper or plastic bag. This is because some people are still shopping in some stores. They are touching products to read labels or instructions, then often putting those items back on the shelf.
By packing orders in bags, you give your curbside pickup customers the ability to sanitize products, if they wish, without having to touch the actual products when bringing them to the into their home from their vehicle.
Use Signage to Direct Customers to Your Pickup Area
With anything new, there is a learning curve. If you are implementing curbside pickup for the first time, it’s very likely that your customers won’t be 100% sure about where to pick up their order—or even which direction to approach the pickup station. This can lead to serious traffic jams in your parking lot, which will be frustrating for everybody. Frustrated shoppers are less likely to stick with curbside pickup in the future.
Clear signage at parking lot entrances that lead users along a path to pickup can avoid some serious headaches.
Deliver Orders with Rolling Carts or Shopping Carts
With multiple vehicles in the pickup queue, rolling carts and shopping carts are a great way to service multiple customers at the same time. This will keep the lines moving and limit frustration.
If your pickup section is a designated area of your parking lot, you’ll need carts to transport orders to vehicles.
Some businesses skip the pickup station racks and just park loaded carts at the pickup location so that they can be pushed right to customer vehicles. You many want to experiment to see which approach works best for you. Either way, carts are an indispensable part of the process.
We Have What You Need
While a change like this can seem like quite a bit to take in all at once, we’re here to help as much as we can. At Specialty Store Services, we have many of the products you need to get started with curbside pickup. To save you time and possible confusion, we have consolidated many of these products into one convenient page, so that you can pick what you need with ease.
We encourage you to spend a few minutes browsing our selection of Must-Have Retail Supply Products to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19. It’s out sincere hope that you’ll find what you need to help your business endure this unprecedented challenge.
If you don’t see something you need, please feel free to contact us and we’ll do everything we can to help.
In Conclusion
We all know how serious this pandemic is. It’s changing the way we do business now and how we will do business in the future. Many of us have been figuring out how to keep our doors open as we go. At Specialty Store Services, we can promise you that we will leverage all our experience, resources, and products to help you and your business get through this and ready to thrive on the other side.
For now, that starts with finding ways to keep fulfilling orders in a way that keeps you and your customers as safe as possible. As this whole process evolves, so will we. And we will continue to find ways to help you succeed.
If you are interested in purchasing Retail Store displays and accessories for your retail store, shop our website, Specialty Store Services. We have everything you need to be a profitable retailer. If you have a question that you would like answered immediately, you can Live Chat, or phone us at 800-999-0771.