First, the CDC said not to mask. Then they said to voluntarily mask. Then they mandated masks. Then they closed us down for months. Then we reopened with masks. Then we vaccinated and went to no masks. Now we’re back to masks again.
These last 18 months have been a whirlwind, for sure! In January 2020, nobody had even heard of COVID. Now we can’t even get through a day without discussing or, in many cases, arguing about it. No matter what your politics, COVID is a polarizing issue. Everyone has an opinion and no one is afraid to express it. Particularly in the brick-and-mortar store sphere, retailing in the time of COVID can become a minefield. As a retailer, you want to serve your staff, your customers and yourself. Can you make everyone happy without making yourself unhappy?
Surviving 2020 was difficult enough and it appears that 2021 may not be easy either. During 2020, adult stores were hit particularly hard as many of us were forced to close, which drove many customers to the Internet. Small businesses that did not have their own websites, or that relied on third-party websites, may have gone months without a sale. We all struggled to continue to pay rents and salaries while being closed. The gradual reopening last summer was helpful, but for many, it was still not enough to put us in the black. When businesses finally began to open their doors and customers began receiving stimulus money, the floodgates opened! Suddenly, we all had plenty of customers — but not enough product or staff to meet the demand.
One thing we do know is that this pandemic has changed the face of retail, and its effects will be far-reaching and long-lasting. If brick-and-mortar adult stores want to survive not just the pandemic but the next unknown crisis, we can look back on the lessons learned and take a few simple steps to make sure we’re ready for whatever the future brings.
Figure out what your new normal is.
We all had to adjust in our brick-and-mortar stores and some changes can be permanent. As an adult store, natural “physical distancing” occurs as customers shop for personal items. We’ve chosen to maintain our plexi shields as it made our employees feel more comfortable and our cold/ flu season was non-existent. Regarding masks, our policy is basically to follow our state’s mandate. We remain completely neutral as to whether we agree with a policy or not. If our state requires masks, so do we. If they do not, we don’t either. By taking the control out of our hands and putting it into the state’s, we are removing personal opinions and disagreements from our interactions with the public.
Embrace ecommerce.
For many adult stores, our websites were outdated, poorly maintained, or didn’t present an ideal customer experience. It can bedifficult for a small business to compete in the very crowded (and expensive) arena of adult ecommerce. But having a good website is no longer a luxury; it is a necessity. Because we already offered 90 percent of our inventory on our website, it was relatively simple to pivot to BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up In-Store). This literally saved us during the pandemic, and since then, we have found it’s a convenience many customers don’t want to give up. We did not offer BOPIS pre-pandemic — now it’s over 50 percent of our sales. Our customers love the ease of shopping in the safety of their own homes and then picking up their order without ever leaving their car. Keep your site current and up-to-date and then optimize as much as possible for local traffic. You may not be able to compete with the big players, but you will keep many of your local customers.
Make your store a destination.
One of the fortunate side effects of COVID is that we experienced a tremendous increase in foot traffic once stores reopened, simply because there was nowhere else to go. With museums, theaters and restaurants closed or open with only limited capacity, suddenly we were everyone’s night-out entertainment. Now that things are reopening, there’s no reason to lose all of that foot traffic. Keep your stores at capacity by offering the best customer experience. Make sure the music is always pumping and keep your staff pumped up too. Service is more than greeting customers and ringing up sales. We train our staff to be more than just sales clerks by focusing on sexual health and wellness so they can offer our customers better purchasing suggestions. We offered “thank you” gifts to all customers after we reopened and our monthly events have recently returned. If you are going to allow testers and fitting rooms, make sure they are visibly cleaned after every customer’s use. The future remains uncertain, but by taking proactive steps now, retailers can do more than simply ride out the storm. Take a more progressive approach to the customer experience in-store and online.
Dee Bertino is the owner of Fantasy Gifts in New Jersey.
