Brick-and-mortar food retailers’ challenges ran the gamut this year as the coronavirus pandemic forced new procedures and some innovation.
Classified as front-line essential businesses allowed to remain open as the first wave of COVID hit, supermarkets and grocery stores faced an onslaught of surge buying that emptied shelves and pushed supply chains to their limits, a factor that sometimes made room for smaller specialty brands or local products on the shelves. As safety procedures, sanitation protocols, and crowd control became paramount, the industry made emergency pivots to curbside pick up, online shopping, and other innovations like senior hours, when the most at-risk age groups could shop in less-crowded, safer conditions.
Many of the changes remain in place and are mandatory as COVID cases continue to climb (6-foot spacing for customers, plexiglass barriers, and face covering enforcement are the new normal), and some, like more online and click-and-collect options, and new rules around sampling, are here to stay. Now with experience to draw on, retailers are facing how to handle their supply chain as a second COVID wave grows. Many have taken an opportunity since the spring surge to re-evaluate their strategies and do full category reviews.
Despite all the challenges, not to mention the online shopping boom, brick-and-mortar grocers regained a space as a community necessity during all the chaos, providing critical service and with many, especially smaller specialty stores, establishing events like virtual classes to keep customers engaged and connected. “What’s coming up is just how, maybe even without retailers [initially] recognizing it, they’re an essential service for their community. That’s really coming to the forefront,” said a retail services manager for a natural/specialty retailer cooperative, interviewed as part of SFA’s annual State of the Specialty Food industry research.
