You might be thinking “When this is over, I can’t wait to get rid of ‘contactless carryout’ and the hurriedly-implemented delivery that’s keeping us afloat right now.”
Don’t.
At some point, people will resume visiting your business in person. Some will wait longer than you expect. Some may never return, but not necessarily because they don’t need what you sell.
People have seen how a delivery-mostly world changes their lives – in particular, what it gives back to them: time, fuel, and maybe a little sanity. Even the most selective shoppers have been shopping online while supporting local businesses – without spending time in the aisles.
They see the benefits of discarding the recurring, time-consuming effort that used to consume part of their precious off-hours and weekends. Ever get home from a busy afternoon in grocery stores (etc) and wondered where your trail, bike, river, kid, grandkid time went?
Now, there seems to be more of that time. Yes, I’m talking about the time that was previously consumed by navigating parking lots, tolerating crowded stores, and standing in checkout lines because some stores have fewer checkers than ever.
Of course, some will resume “normal” shopping because it’s what they’ve always done, and because they enjoy getting out. Some never stopped. And some will never go back to their old normal.
People are picky
“Yes, but people are picky”, you might say. “They want to choose their tomatoes and broccoli.”
Yes, they are. Yes, they do. There’s room for that.
Delivery can focus on things like commodities, cans, jars, and bags of national, regional, and generic brand items that can easily be specified in their online order. This allows a delivery/carryout customer to get exactly what they’d choose without the time & hassle. After all, a can of DelMonte corn is a can of DelMonte corn.
With delivery, there’s no parking lots, no traffic, no aisles, no checkout line – and all that time can be spent doing something else. With carryout, you still avoid the aisles, checkout lines and parking lots since stores with carryout typically have designated areas for those activities.
For the things they’re choosy about, people can shop the farmer’s market, pick up their CSA allotment from a local farm, order from their favorite local butcher, and pick up their favorite “I’ve gotta choose” items from their favorite grocer. CSAs are already available for contactless pickup. Butcher shops and farmers markets will adapt as the market indicates.
Not everything is groceries
“Simple” situations like getting our groceries make the impact of these changes easier to see, but there’s one group this isn’t simple for: the businesses themselves. Their systems must be adapted. Their people must be trained for these new functions. The physical organization of a grocery store that’s ideal for a hundred or so simultaneous retail food shoppers is not ideally laid out for a crew of workers picking orders for grocery carryout and delivery. Your business may have a retail shopping vs. delivery/carryout order picking organizational challenge to work through.
But not every business is selling groceries.
I’m reminded of my mom and my grandmother. Both widowed, both avid gardeners and yard workers. They have their mowers serviced every spring and in grandma’s case, winterized every fall. Neither of them have a pickup. I don’t live near them. Somehow, their mowers get to the shop.
Obviously, someone picks up their mowers, takes them to the shop, services them, and delivers them to their home. Service.
Service: Still stylish
This isn’t only about older customers, nor is it only about mower shops.
Everyone has responsibilities, wants, & needs pulling them in different directions. It might be a month before someone can do the prerequisite tasks required of them to prepare to give you money. Pickup, delivery, & carryout can eliminate that delay. You get your money faster. The customer gets the work done earlier than they expected. Fewer people enter your business. Your employees are exposed to fewer people without impacting sales.
Even for those who are able to get their equipment (or whatever) into their vehicle, then drive to your shop, lift it out, & take it inside to get it worked on… Why should they ever have to do that again?
As economies reopen, you have a unique opportunity to create a new relationship with your existing customers, and build one with new customers that’s better than what they’re accustomed to.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site, contact him on LinkedIn or Twitter, or email him at [email protected].