Retail department store and shopping centre washrooms can see thousands of facility users each week. Keeping these spaces clean is crucial for user health and safety, as well as building operations.

Research by ServiceChannel found that 69% of shoppers claim they would not return to a store with low hygiene levels. In this blog, we discuss why attention to detail can avoid statistics like this.

 

The Benefits of Washroom Hygiene for Store Operation

Washroom hygiene can benefit your store operations by increasing sales, enhancing loyalty and improving brand image. Often, shoppers will judge stores based off their hygiene levels and attention to detail.

Enhanced Brand Image

Brand image can be strengthened in several ways, and your cleaning provider plays an important role in this.

• Building customer trust

• Demonstrating professionalism and attention to detail

• Generating positive word of mouth and online recommendations

• Maintaining consistent standards

High hygiene levels support all these areas. When cleaning solutions enhance the visual appearance of stores, shoppers often associate this with professionalism and attention to detail.

A study conducted by CMM found that 56% of shop visitors are left with a tarnished opinion of the business if their hygiene levels are low. Showing how these store visitors will not become customers.

Increased Loyalty and Sales

Shoppers are unlikely to return and purchase from a store that they have a negative perception of. Through better washroom hygiene, shoppers will feel comfortable and valued, encouraging them to stay longer and increase the possibility of a sale.

Bathroom hygiene levels are a high priority for shoppers. NKCS found that 88% of shoppers state clean toilet facilities are a key factor when choosing where to shop. This statistic proves why it is crucial for hygiene levels stay consistent and maintained.

If these standards are not maintained and customer needs are not met, your shop will be affected by a decrease of store footfall and a drop in product and service sales. Research by Gallop showed that if a shopper’s needs are met, stores can see up to 23% more profit, revenue and growth.

Improved Health, Safety and Well-being

Retail washrooms that lack attention to detail and hygiene can significantly impact customer health, safety, and well-being. As bathrooms can be a breeding ground for bacteria such as E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus (staph), and Streptococcus (strep A), they can act as a major source of illness transmission.

Implementing cleaning solutions that protect your customers from bacteria such as this is crucial for health and safety standards.

Compliance Standard	Cleaning Prevention
Health	Following the right prevention methods, cleaning can reduce the spread of bacteria and illness for retail staff, on-site operatives and facility users.
Safety	Cleaning is crucial for limiting the risk of slips, trips and falls, as well as maintaining clear footpaths in case of fire emergencies.
Wellbeing	Illness can affect mental health and well-being. By adhering to health and safety regulations through cleaning, this risk can be reduced.

Key Washroom Hygiene Solutions

Retail facilities managers can improve washroom hygiene by communicating clearly with their cleaning teams. This collaboration helps them track and monitor hygiene levels in real time.

Consumable Stock Tracking

Consumable items such as soap, toilet roll and paper towels give a clear indication of washroom hygiene. If stock levels do not fall as expected during the day, facility users may not be using these items.

You can gain real-time insight in two ways. Cleaning operatives can check consumable levels after each visit, or you can install consumable level sensors to provide consistent data throughout the day.

Here are a few common types of washroom consumable level technology systems:

Consumable Type	Sensor Technology	Typical Use Cases
Liquids (soap and hand sanitiser)	· Float Level Switches – On/Off switch detection.   · Ultrasonic – Uses sound pulses to measure distance of liquid to surface.	Monitors dispenser levels, preventing overflows, and ensuring pumps don’t run out.
Solid Consumables (paper hand towels toilet roll)	· Float Level Switches – On/Off switch detection.   · Time-of-Flight (ToF) – measures the fill level within a dispenser.	Optimising facility management by providing alerts for timely restocking, ensuring a seamless user experience in retail washrooms.

 

Interactive Proof-of-Presence Systems

Proof-of-presence systems can track washroom footfall through time, date, location, and identity of cleaning staff. Through this tracking, facility managers can see whether cleaning tasks have been completed, to what extent and when.

We use systems such as Taqt and Flexicount on our client sites to provide real-time data to optimise cleaning standards and results.

Smart Waste Solutions

Smart waste solutions such as Weightron and ReLearn’s Nando system can provide true data on waste output, to a granular level. This data can be used to ensure bins are being used correctly by shoppers and employees in order to reach environmental targets.

Smart waste systems have been shown to have an average increase of 60% in recycling rates over a 12 month period and increase landfill diversion.

Live Communication Dashboards

We have successfully rolled out Facility Apps, this enables our teams to manage cleaning services in real-time. With this implementation, you are able monitor to predictive cleaning tasks, service scheduling and quality management. This data gives facilities managers true accuracy and ensures store washrooms are cleaned to the highest standard.

Reporting dashboards such as Facility Apps also provide a live communication platform for quick response escalation processes in case any emergency services are required on site. With systems such as these, sites minimise the risk of damage and health and safety risk.

 

Enhance your retail washrooms with DOC Cleaning

Washroom hygiene data tracking can transform your spaces. We can utilise smart cleaning solutions that can help you monitor cleanliness in real time.

Our friendly support team is ready to help you get started on your journey. Contact us today.