The global pandemic has brought about a massive transformation in how people normally live their daily lives. Because of the outbreak that plagued several countries all over the globe, planes have been grounded and travel was restricted, with the borders of different countries closed temporarily. This was all to contain the outbreak and prevent the virus from further spreading.
Aside from this, the governments of many nations encouraged their citizens to stay home, with some even imposing fines and penalties to those who will insist on going out without any specific and essential reason to do so. Because of this, schools and many business establishments were closed, some temporarily, others permanently perhaps because they already faced bankruptcy. This is true for some of the local stores all around the world.
Transition to Digital Platforms
With people mostly staying at home, most local stores have lost a significant amount of revenue, without their customers being able to come and visit. In Australia, Melbourne is one of the cities that received the worst hit and negative impact from the global pandemic. The number of positive cases in the city made people scared of going out for fear of contracting the virus.
Because of this, more and more local stores in several parts of the world exerted the extra effort to transition into digital platforms to keep their businesses afloat. This entailed the need for them to come up with a website that their users can visit to purchase the items that they need. Aside from a website, they also needed to integrate payment gateways to accept online payments rather than having to transact with cash. Alongside the transition to digital platforms, delivery service was also one of the main things that they need to implement since people need to stay home.
Hygienic Measures
Some of the local stores that remained open, or the brick and mortar shops that intend to open needed to implement hygienic measures to prevent contagion as soon as their customers start coming in. To be allowed inside the store, customers need to wear a face mask. Wearing one ensures that an individual minimizes the spread of the virus in case he is a carrier but he doesn’t show any symptoms.
Before customers can even enter the store, they need to step in a foot bath and sanitize their hands using the available hygienic solutions provided by the local store. Some even check the temperature of their customers using a handheld thermometer before allowing them inside the establishment. Others ask their visiting customers to scan a barcode which leads them to a site with a form that they need to fill out for contact tracing purposes. It is only after completing all these hygienic measures that patrons are allowed inside the local store.
On the other hand, the staff of the store also implements measures and protocols to mitigate the spread of the virus. You are most likely to find the crew wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and they are constantly sanitizing the surfaces in the store as well. Aside from this, they are also conscious of their hand hygiene.
Social Distancing
Aside from the hygienic measures that need to be implemented in the local stores that have opened up, it is also imperative that they follow strict social distancing measures. In line with this, the management of carpetmelbournedirect.com.au adhered to this protocol to stay open for business although they request their staff and customers to refrain from visiting their store in case they are suffering from any of the symptoms of Covid-19. This is to minimize the risk of other people from being exposed to the virus.
Some local establishments utilize markers to make the distance apparent for their customers and to avoid any crowding. Some also encourage advanced bookings for the store to control the number of people coming into their stores. For instance, if in the past, a hundred people can enter their store simultaneously, because of social distancing measures, only 30 people can now be accommodated. This can still take a toll on their revenue, but at least they are open for business.
To wrap things up, as soon as there is no vaccine for the virus that plagued the globe, or any medicine that will cure those who get infected, then people need to adapt to the new measures to gain back even a bit of the normalcy that they have once experienced before the pandemic. This means that people need to be more conscious of their hand hygiene, as well as how the virus is spread to ensure that they exert the extra effort to prevent contagion even if businesses start opening up once again. It also means that in the meantime, people need to stay physically far from each other as much as possible, though not necessarily far in each other’s thoughts and hearts.