Walmart is encouraging social distancing with tactics like one-way aisles
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The retailer is making aisles in some of its stores one-direction only, meaning shoppers can only travel down an aisle on a predetermined path, per Yahoo Finance.
This is meant to help shoppers follow social distancing recommendations in-store by not passing each other in order to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Walmart is adding these aisles at stores in the UK and Canada and considering doing the same in the US. One location in Canada appears to feature arrows to direct consumers as well as a sign informing shoppers to not enter an aisle going the incorrect direction.
One-way aisles are one of the many adjustments physical retailers have made to their stores in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Retailers including Walmart, Costco, and Kroger have introduced changes like plexiglass shields at registers and markers that show consumers how far to stand away from each other - six feet to meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) recommendation for practicing social distancing - according to Business Insider.
These efforts may limit the spread of the virus in-store, but retailers including Costco and Trader Joe's are reportedly going a step further by limiting the number of people allowed in some of their stores at one time.
Retailers may be making these tweaks to their stores in an effort to boost traffic, in addition to combating the spread of the virus, but they could make in-store shopping inconvenient and push more consumers online.
Consumers are keeping away from stores during the pandemic, but it's possible that precautions like one-way aisles could coax concerned consumers to visit stores. Of the US internet users who said they would avoid public spaces and travel if the coronavirus got worse, 53% said they would avoid shops in general when surveyed in February 2019, per a report from Coresight Research sent to Business Insider Intelligence.
Consumers probably feel the situation has gotten worse, considering the outbreak has since been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and their concerns have likely contributed to the steep drop in traffic retailers are seeing now - a decline that's been exacerbated by the closing of many nonessential retailers. But consumers may be more willing to visit retailers that are taking actions to make their locations safer to visit, so adding plexiglass shields and floor markers might improve store traffic in the near term.
On the other hand, some of these precautionary measures will slow down the in-store shopping experience, which could lead more consumers to shop online. Only being able to walk one way down aisles and having to stay six feet away from other shoppers could frustrate consumers because it disrupts and potentially lengthens their shopping experiences, even if the measures are justified.
And limiting the number of people allowed in a store would likely make shopping trips take longer, potentially encouraging consumers seeking convenience to abandon in-store shopping for the time being in favor of e-commerce.
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