Are we ready to shop yet? A quick pulse on consumer ideas around brick and mortar shopping during a pandemic

On June 22 Washington DC opened up under ‘Phase 2’ guidelines. At this point no one really knew how people would respond to reopening restaurants and retail while still in the throes of a pandemic. Let’s face it, American’s response to precautionary information throughout the pandemic has been…interesting, unpredictable, even shocking at times. No one knew whether people were going to show up in hordes (with or without masks) or avoid shopping altogether.

 Some ‘known’ factors were that most people were not going to the office, and few were heading to dine outdoors after four months of lock down. We also knew, vis-à-vis social media, that the average person had put on a few pounds (7-10 lbs), so yeah, maybe they want to shop even though they are not straying to far from home. The questions still remained unanswered; Did people need (or want) new clothes and were they willing to shop in a brick and mortar space?

As a stylist, I wanted to get a general understanding about what people were really feeling about physically leaving their homes to go shopping. I created a questionnaire to find out. It should also be stated that I have a background in research and love the stories that data can tell! That said, my data is representative of a very small sample, N=71.  This sample is hardly comprehensive but is one source to get a sense of how local people are feeling (currently).  I was careful to poll people that I assumed had disposable income to go shopping. Fifty-five percent of the sample had household incomes of at least $175 K/yr or greater. Lastly, It’s important to keep in mind that it’s a snapshot in time. As information changes almost daily, the results from this questionnaire can be obsolete tomorrow. I think that swift changes in opinions is indicative of the times (as you already know).

I needed to get a sense of whether people feared getting Coronavirus to better understand if they would leave their house during phase 2. On a scaled rating, 55% said they are ‘somewhat worried’ about contracting Coronavirus. The data skewed towards people being more worried; 25% said they are ‘very worried.’ This tells me that people may not be interested at this time to shop as fears are still running high.

At the time of this questionnaire only 15% of participants had been to a store to shop. Phase 2 recommendations suggested to reduce time in an indoor space, such as not browsing or lingering in stores to reduce the possibility of exposure to Coronavirus. Only 11% said they would likely browse in a store, while another 11% said they were “unlikely” and another 12% said “very unlikely” to browse. For those interested in shopping, they want to reduce the amount of time in a store- getting in and getting out of the store with what they want to buy.

I was interested in learning what safety precautions people perceived to be more important over others as stores began to open. I asked participants to rank the importance of five safety measures they want to see while shopping. Unsurprisingly, seventy-six percent said the most important precaution was seeking employees and other shoppers wearing masks. Social distancing on the sales floor ranked second at 55%. Third place was close. ‘One person at a time in the dressing room’ ranked slightly higher (34%) than ‘Option for contactless paying’ (27%). Fourth place was ‘On going cleaning touchable surfaces’ which ranked only slightly higher (33%) than ‘One person in the dressing room’ (31%). Last ranking was 55% for ‘Contactless paying.’  Looking at these rankings, I understand that while ‘one person in the dressing room’ ranked third, it also ranked very high as a fourth place, where I thought ‘Visually observing employees cleaning’ would have ranked. I am surprised seeing people cleaning didn’t rank higher because it is a visual confirmation that employees are abiding by safety precautions. People want to see masks on employees and other shoppers, social distancing in the stores and dressing rooms, on-going cleaning, and an option for contactless paying- in that order.   

My last question was open-ended, ‘What is your single greatest concern right now about shopping in a boutique/clothing store?’ I didn’t have any supporting baseline data to shape the questionnaire so asking an open-ended question allowed me to obtain more information. Most people said they don’t want to shop indoors because of limited ability to social distance, air ventilation, and other customers not consistently wearing a mask while shopping. However, given the opportunity, 55% of respondents said they would shop by appointment only. A few participants mentioned the experience would no longer be as fun as before the pandemic.     

In sum, people are not really shopping, but would do so by appointment only. Responses were consistent with Center for Disease Control’s two major Coronavirus safety recommendations: wear masks and practice social distancing. The sample believes in social distancing – whether in the dressing room or shop floor- after employee and customer mask wearing. The take away for shop owners is to remain flexible. Customers need to know that stores enforce mandatory mask wearing and the ‘5 customers per 1000 square feet’ CDC recommendation is enforced, and appointment only shopping is an option.