Going to the supermarket has certainly been stressful during the coronavirus lockdown, and for some it still is. But luckily, a new report reveals which retailers are doing the best job when it comes to COVID-19 safety measures, which could ease your mind a bit.
- Ipsos’ new Consumer Health & Safety Index evaluates how retailers across seven industries are operating when it comes to health a safety measures.
- The first part of their study asked 2,000 Americans to identify which health and safety attributes were most important to them when it came to shopping.
- The most important practices for consumers include:
- Consistent use of company-issued face coverings.
- Managing the number of customers entering the store.
- Six-foot social distancing markers at checkout.
- Employees wiping down high traffic areas.
- Plexiglass dividers at checkout.
- Even with that, 61% of consumers say they still aren’t going to brick-and-mortar stores because they fear they’ll get sick.
So, which stores did the best job of meeting consumers health and safety needs?
- Whole Foods tops the list overall, with the report finding:
- 98% of their associates wear facemasks.
- 91% respect six-foot boundaries with customers.
- 95% of stores provide plexiglass at checkout.
- 87% offer contactless payment.
- Costco came in second, with 95% of employees wearing facemasks inside the store and 94% of stores having social distancing markets.
- Finally Trader Joe’s came in third, with the chain doing the overall best job of monitoring traffic and guest volume, with 94% of stores doing so.
Interestingly, the report found that
- In 25% of stores they visited employees wore facemasks improperly or not at all inside the store.
- 51% of employees at stores did not wear gloves inside the store.
- 77% of stores didn’t offer any hand sanitizing or hand washing inside the entrance, while 82% didn’t have them at checkout
- 64% of stores didn’t have staff actively cleaning high-traffic areas like carts/baskets, counters, etc.
- 58% of stores didn’t manage the number of customers inside.
Source:Ipsos