Retail Isn’t Dying — It’s Evolving, Elevating the Role for Partners

Kyle DeWitt

Tony D’Onofrio

Research indicates that forming an automatic habit takes 66 days or roughly two months. That’s the minimum time that most countries were in various lockdown phases because of COVID-19.

As a result, consumers and retailers are coming out of the pandemic with new attitudes, behaviors and expectations, and what was once feared to be the end of brick-and-mortar retail is merely an evolution – a new form of retail that straddles the lines between pre-pandemic and the months we spent quarantined.

However, the speed at which retailers had to adopt these changes to safeguard their customers’ shopping experience introduced a tremendous amount of risk, making the role of resellers more important than ever before. —

Spike in Buy Online, Pick Up Curbside

Quarantined at home and discouraged from venturing out, consumers at the start of the pandemic turned to online shopping for most of their needs. Often they faced significant delays in shipping, an unrecognizable situation for many.

Yet with 74% of consumers still not comfortable going back to “normal” out-of-home activities, retailers had to get creative if they wanted to keep up. The solution for many was forgoing in-store shopping and instead offering consumers the ability to buy online and pick up curbside.

This change was relatively simple for retailers with a significant digital presence prior to the pandemic. Resellers could help build upon that digital presence to implement solutions such as upgraded wireless infrastructure, greater network connectivity, handheld devices and even headsets to ensure employees were able to communicate with their colleagues and meet the customer upon arrival.

Rise of Contactless Payments

Prior to the pandemic, contactless payments – while widespread in Europe – were still in their nascent stages in the United States. Yet as consumers began purchasing curbside and were actively seeking out more sanitary alternatives to the traditional shopping experience, adoption of contactless payments spiked, requiring the expertise of resellers to navigate the transition.

What most retailers may not know is that going wireless for payments has PCI compliance implications. Once a payment terminal is unmounted from the POS system and handed out a drive-through window, for example, that retailer is at risk. Moreover, without a secure wireless infrastructure, retailers are putting themselves – and their customers – at risk for cyber attacks.

Greater Focus on Sanitation

In the first month of quarantine, more than 90% of people said they were washing their hands more thoroughly and frequently than before. It’s now a habit for many of us, and we’re more cognizant of the surfaces we touch and the measures around us meant to keep us safe. Retailers able to offer customers peace of mind are most likely to see repeat business.

The sudden boom in demand for proper sanitation introduced a long-term opportunity for resellers to provide services to their customers to ensure heavily touched devices are sterilized, and consumables such as cleaning supplies are constantly stocked. More than ever, retailers need …