As we head into December, is your retail store ready to battle the whirlwind of Christmas shoppers and make the most of the busiest shopping time of the year?
For a professional cleaning company, supporting retail clients during this period means delivering extra care and meticulous execution when delivering our cleaning services , particularly in high foot-traffic areas. The Christmas season also brings peak season for colds and flu. With the help of our cleaning team, we help reduce the risk of illness for your shoppers and staff alike, creating a safer and more welcoming environment.
Why It Is Important to Prepare
With the holiday season lasting up to 3 months, this will be the busiest time period for your retail businesses. With findings from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s annual Christmas survey, a third of Christmas shoppers expect to still be shopping in December.
Preparing for Christmas shoppers can be a very fast-past and stressful time for your staff . Allowing extra time for training, recruitment, cleaning, and decorating is crucial for customer experience, especially as visitor volume increases.
Without proper preparation, businesses risk facing several challenges, including hygiene and safety issues, poor customer service, overwhelmed staff, increased operational strain, and missed sales opportunities.
How To Prepare
With our expertise and experience, we understand the importance of creating a hygienic and safe environment for both staff and visitors. We work with a bespoke approach, tailoring each service and schedule to each client.
Here are our top 5 suggestions for ensuring a seamless experience for your Christmas shoppers.
Staff Training & Recruitment
The holiday season will increase the number of in-store customers your business will receive compared to the usual off-peak seasons. Hiring additional staff for the festive period can significantly ease the holiday rush, by ensuring your team is well-equipped to handle increased customer traffic.
Within the staff training, it is important to ensure that you have a flexible plan of action. This will allow staff members to adhere their tasks to any changes that may need to be made, in response to any spillages, shop floors closures or last-minute staff illnesses. We take extra care when recruiting our staff, making sure we have rapid-response teams for spills or other incidents, flexible adaptive team members and cover staff on call.
Cleaning & Hygiene
Having a clean and safe environment is a non-negotiable during the holidays. With high-touch areas requiring frequent sanitisation, it is crucial to ensure all steps are taken to minimise the spread of bacteria and maintain peak season hygiene.
During this season, we adapt our cleaning services by increasing the amount of deep cleans, rubbish bins collections, and shared area visits. With our cleaning service, we are conscious to not disrupt the visitor experience by blending in with your staff members and approaching any customers with care. As Christmas shoppers visit your store, it is likely they will track in dirt onto the floors. With this we will then increase the number of times the floors are swept in a day to ensure customer safety is kept at a high.
Store Layout
To accommodate holiday crowds, it is essential to arrange the store in a way that allows for easy navigation and strategic product placement. Creating wider aisles will allow customers to be able to move freely, reducing the risk of congestion and obstacles.
Having correct and strategic signage placed around for customers will improve customer experience. These signs will act as pathways, directing them to key areas such as waste disposal points. Having an open floor plan will allow free movement for visitors, ensuring that staff and cleaning operatives can move efficiently without disrupting the customer journey.
Post-holiday Planning
As the festive season concludes, you must prepare for the increase of returns, exchanges, and even more Christmas shoppers. For many, the primary reason for their visit will be to return or exchange items or new product purchases, with this comes further planning. By analysing the data collected from the early holiday rush, you can then adapt services accordingly. For instance, setting up dedicated areas for returns and new purchases to allow ease of customer experience.
Preparing your retail store for the holiday shopping rush is a multifaceted process that requires strategic planning and execution. Working with your cleaning partner and taking these steps will help prepare your retail store for the holiday shopping rush without interruption of operations or customer visits. These steps will create a clean, welcoming and well-organised environment for Christmas shoppers. Reach out today to discuss how we can support your retail business during the peak holiday season.
Speak With Our Team
As a leading provider of commercial cleaning services with more than 50 years of dedicated experience, we understand the importance of maintaining a polished store appearance. Our retail cleaning expertise spans from corporate headquarters to independent high street stores.
We take great pride in maintaining our clients’ premises to the highest standards. Through clear communication and the promotion of traditional values, we work collaboratively and transparently to help our clients reach their goals and achieve an elevated experience for their staff, customers and guests.
If you’re looking for a professional cleaning company to take care of your retail store, get in touch with our friendly support team today. You can give us a call on 01279 944332 or email helpdesk@doccleaning.com and we will get back to you within 48 hours.
Don’t settle for less when it comes to your store’s appearance. Reach out today and let us provide cleaning solutions that help your retail space shine, inside and out.