The Epidemic Will Have Eight Major Impacts On The US Retail Industry.

Due to the global outbreak of the new crown disease, all countries have issued a closed shop policy to reduce the spread of the epidemic, which has a significant impact on the retail industry. The United States is also the case. The sudden outbreak of the disease has greatly promoted the sale of daily necessities, but also caused many businesses to be forced to suspend business.

Industry experts, commercial real estate landlords and retailers are paying attention to the development of the epidemic while preparing for the recovery period after the outbreak. They generally believe that the epidemic will have a far-reaching impact on the future retail business mode.

"We are actively thinking about how we can get out of the predicament," Greg Maloney, head of JLL Retail, an American commercial real estate service company, said. The future business model of the retail industry and how to make consumers have a good shopping experience when shopping online is a matter of greatest concern to us. Compared with the 9-11 terrorist attacks, the epidemic will cause greater changes in the daily operation of retailers.

The following is the retail industry experts believe that the impact of this epidemic on the U.S. retail industry, the United States website Business Insider summary: Eight

First, maintain social distance forever.

Shops such as grocery stores, drugstores and other people's needs shops, which are kept in business during the epidemic season, have strictly followed the flow control measures. For example, it is suggested that consumers should maintain further social distance, limit the number of people entering the shop, arrange special personnel to check suspected sick consumers, etc. As the impact of the epidemic continues to expand, experts believe that in order to avoid repeated cases, some control measures will continue to be used after the outbreak.

Greg Maloney said that they were discussing with people who had a large number of stores, such as Apple, who wanted to reduce the possibility of epidemic transmission by changing the layout of stores and limiting the number of consumers. Besides, many cinemas also hope to reduce the number of people by expanding the distance of seats and restricting the number of vacant seats.

Two, distribute free masks, pay more attention to daily cleaning.

During the epidemic period, the cleanliness of the shopping environment is the foundation to ensure the health of consumers. Experts suggest that shopping malls can reduce the spread of viruses by providing more free hand sanitizers and providing free masks for consumers. In addition, retailers need to pay more attention to cleaning in the store, and pay attention to the operation of the central air conditioning system, so as to reduce the virus transmission caused by the internal air circulation.

　　 Three, stores only receive appointment customers.

Kelly Stickel, the founder and chief executive officer of Remodista, said that before the outbreak, only some high-end boutiques and the bridal shops had made an appointment to enter the store. However, due to the epidemic situation, there may be more stores in order to control the flow of passengers to make an appointment to enter the store. There are many stores that may be open every day for thorough disinfection.

Four, contactless payment

Because cash may carry germs, many retailers advise consumers to use bank cards when purchasing goods.

Neil Saunders, general manager of GlobalData Retail, a market research firm, believes that the development of contactless payment has been promoted by the epidemic. The application of sweep code payment service will also be more and more to help consumers reduce the risk of infection when paying.

Five, store pick up to become daily

Before the outbreak of the new crown, many large retailers opened online ordering and store picking services for the convenience of consumers. But because of the epidemic situation, grocery stores and large storage supermarkets have increased this service.

Chengyi Lin, a professor in the Department of strategic studies at INSEAD, said more shops and drinks shops would start offering meals to restaurants or restaurants in online ordering shops besides shops. Online ordering / ordering, in store pick up / pick up, not only save time, but also reduce people's contact and avoid the spread of the epidemic. In addition, the way to pick up stores can also help people track the spread of the epidemic. When virus carriers are found, people can easily trace their daily activities through these online data and find people who have close contact with infected persons.

Six, expand the business of e-commerce, optimize online shopping experience.

The policy of self isolation has changed the shopping habits of consumers, and more and more people have begun to satisfy their daily needs through online shopping. Experts believe that even if the epidemic is over, this will continue.

Professor Chengyi Lin uses examples from China. He pointed out that after the stabilization of China's epidemic situation, many offline stores failed to recover their original traffic quickly, but their e-commerce platform shopping situation was still hot. He believes that the United States may encounter the same situation. During the epidemic period, to ensure daily business, American retailers have "electric shock" and set up online platforms. After the epidemic is stable, the passenger flow of the physical stores will slowly recover, but the sales situation of the online platform will still be very good. After the end of the epidemic, diners will go to their favorite restaurants to feast their appetite, but the number of takeaway will continue to grow.

If the flow of people in physical stores decreases, retailers need to use their brains to make online shopping channels reproduce the store's shopping experience through various technologies. Chengyi Lin said that AI (AI) and VR (virtual reality) can help retailers to provide personalized products recommendation, photo search function, virtual personal stylist and other functions for consumers, and will play an important role in future online store optimization.

Seven. Robots take the place of human work.

Because of low cost and no risk of infection, robots will become more and more important in the physical stores. They may replace human beings in cleaning and inventory management. Chengyi Lin said that in addition to doing some simple work in the online store, delivery robots and UAVs can also replace drugs when they are in the long curfew or when the epidemic is repeated.

Eight, Guan Dianchao

Changes in consumer shopping habits brought about by the epidemic are likely to continue to crack down on the development of the retail industry in the United States, leading to the closing of the tide.

Experts said that due to the long slump in the retail industry, the number of entities in the United States decreased gradually before the outbreak, but due to the impact of the epidemic, the speed of physical stores closing may continue to accelerate.

Neil Saunders believes that the epidemic is also an opportunity for retailers to reassess their product mix. Many retailers are reducing the types of goods in stores because of reduced consumer demand.

According to a recent report by United Bank of Switzerland, analysts expect that 100 thousand stores in the US will be closed in the next 5 years. The impact of the epidemic and changes in consumer habits is the main reason for this phenomenon.