Solving the Sanitation Challenge

BEST PRACTICES AND NEW SOLUTIONS FOR FOOD RETAILING DURING A PANDEMIC.

- Gina Acosta

Scientists all over the world are scrambling to expedite vaccine trials, launch antiviral drugs, and create new diagnostic tests to help end the COVID-19 pandemic. But there’s another assailant threatening to disrupt global society, and especially food retail. The name of that enemy isn’t coronavirus. It’s fear.

If you are a food retailer, you might think that your No. 1 priority right now should be e-commerce or supply chain efficiency. While those certainly are important operational challenges to address, the most critical challenge in food retail today might just be finding a way to keep shoppers from being terrified of your store.

According to a new report from C+R Research, a Chicago-based market insights firm, 60% of American consumers are now too scared — yes, scared — to shop at a grocery store due to the coronavirus. C+R Research recently surveyed more than 2,000 consumers to find out how the pandemic has changed their grocery shopping habits. More than 60% of consumers feel a sense of panic or anxiety about germs when they shop at a grocery store, and around 45% said that they disinfect their groceries when they bring them home. Even more concerning, a big chunk of respondents (73%) said that they’re shopping less in physical stores than ever before, and more than one-third of shoppers said that they think food retailers should be doing more to protect consumers and employees from COVID-19.