8 Best Ideas to Protect your Grocery Business in Coronavirus Epidemic

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There has been an unprecedented impact on the
global economy due to the Coronavirus Epidemic.
The pandemic has infused fear among the
consumers, making them prefer online grocery
shopping over visiting the stores physically. As
a result, e-grocery platforms have recorded an
upsurge in the average daily user rate by 40000
during the pandemic period According to Google
trends, the number of searches for grocery
delivery services has increased dramatically.
Similarly, a significant surge in the average
daily download rate of the grocery delivery app
has been noticed. Therefore, it is important to
hire the best on-demand grocery delivery app
development company in New York, USA for any
grocery business owner to survive this
epidemic. As a result, the need for on-demand
grocery delivery apps is gradually becoming
popular. It is predicted that this pattern of
grocery consumption is going to last longer even
when the pandemic wont exist anymore. Now lets
discuss some best ideas to protect your grocery
business in this epidemic 1. Act as a
Responsible Retailer With ample technological
solutions, the headquarter staff can work
remotely defining contingency plans along with
maintaining morale. But field staff like
cashiers, shelf stockers, the drivers, the
warehouse workers, etc.
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are more vulnerable and prone to infection,
therefore proper protective measures should be
taken. Also, retailers must upgrade hygiene
measures and limit human contact with the use of
an on-demand grocery delivery app as much as
possible. Moreover, grocery business owners
should introduce self-check-out, minimize cash
payments, and stock up the shelves only before or
after store hours. Plastic tents can also be put
around the cashier for extra precautionary
measures in some cases. Also, there is a need to
appoint a driver to drop off deliveries at
doorsteps rather than handing them to the
customers. 2. Protect Employees It is also
important to foster social distancing or
isolation to protect the vulnerable. Implement
paid sick leave for the affected employees,
arrange free-testing, and provide stay-at-home
policies for those who have a cold or feeling
ill. Instead of pressurizing the employees to
work proactively, backup plans need to be created
for them. They can try working in A/B teams and
even hiring an additional support team to make
the workforce flexible can be a good option. 3.
Lead the Market by Setting up an Example Another
best strategy to protect the grocery business in
the coronavirus epidemic can be setting up some
positive examples for the customers and the
community. Some of the steps taken by other
grocery business owners are
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? Customer app The application designed for the
customers must have features like push
notifications, real-time tracking of order,
different payment options, review ratings, and
customer support. ? Service provider app The
service provider application is the one that is
used by the delivery agent. Hence, the features
should be designed accordingly. These involve
push notifications, options to reject and accept
orders, track earnings, contacting the support,
and work flexibility ? Admin Panel This is the
one that is going to be used by the owner of the
business. Hence, the features are going to be
quite different. It should involve the dashboard
to see details in one place, managing users,
analysis and reports, and flexibility of
payments. 4. Testing the application Launching
an unfinished product means giving your customers
a bad image of your business ethics and services.
To eliminate any chance of such mistakes, proper
testing of an application becomes an important
step. Before launching your final on-demand
product publicly, you should get a group of
trusted people i.e. early adopters to test an
MVP.
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• Some retailers set examples by sending
  coronavirus testing kit and protective equipment
  to other countries,
• Some are setting aside particular store hours to
  serve the elderly exclusively to lessen the
  customers risk of infection, and
• Some retailers are donating food and essential
  items to the needy people in the community and
  some are offering free meals for the healthcare
  workers and the emergency responders.
• 4. Identification of Customers Acute Needs
• Grocery business owners must analyze the
  customers acute needs and come up with new ways
  to serve them in the long run. They have to be
  flexible about space allocation as the demand
  concentrates on certain items such as toilet
  paper and sanitizers. Also, there should be more
  dedicated space to accommodate them. Moreover,
  the selected stores can switch to
  click-and-collect format to protect both the
  customers and employees.
• 5. Collaboration with Government
• The grocery business owners must collaborate with
  local governments, suppliers, etc. to formulate a
  minimum set of operating norms during this
  epidemic.

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Also, they may ask the local authorities to keep
daycare centers open for the essential workers
such as the food-supply-chain employees are
certainly one of them.They can also collaborate
with the government to promote advertisements
that advise the consumers to avoid panic buying
and hoarding. Review your marketing and
promotional strategies and maintain this practice
regularly to smooth out the unexpected peak in
the supply chain. 6. Strike a Balance between
Demand and Supply The crisis has changed the
appearance of an average grocery basket. Many
retailers are unable to maintain the balance
between demand and supply. To restore this
balance pay some closer attention to critical
steps in the supply chain. Providing supplier
credits, finding alternate sources of supply,
pulling in extra shifts, and safeguarding
in-store replacements as well as warehouses may
help in sorting the things out. Also, to secure
the flexible capacity of managing the peaks,
extra wages can be paid to manage consumer demand
proactively. 7. Ensure Grocery Business
Continuity Food retailers must secure the
continuity of their business. It can be
challenging but equally important to keep the
stores and distribution centers open. The steps
to ensure the same includes
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• Making home deliveries,
• Meeting enormous spikes in demand via grocery
  delivery apps,
• Maintaining accurate delivery time slots, and
• Running the IT systems perfectly with the help of
  an on-demand grocery delivery app development
  company in New York.
• 8. Business Remodeling
• The last strategy which the grocery business
  owners can follow is to go in for complete
  transformation of the business model and make it
  tech enable and future-proof. Remote-working,
  online shopping, tech-enabled retail, and
  localized supply chains are just the common
  trends that have been accelerated by the
  coronavirus epidemic. So, there is a need to
  review and remodel the business to minimize
  exposure to shock.
• Conclusion
• Food retailers worldwide can handle the crisis
  smartly and with full confidence. However,
  handling the situation properly is completely
  area specific. The health and well-being of the
  population generally depend on the food industry,
  both today and tomorrow.

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Hopefully, the ideas outlined in this article
will help your grocery business to navigate the
current crisis and strengthen it in the long
run. Article Resource - https//zimblecode.com/8-
best-ideas-to-protect-your-grocery-business-in-cor
onavirus-epidemic/