Understanding the Importance of Cleanliness in Retail
Thereās always something to be said about first impressions. Weāve all been there - you walk into a store and the entire space is untidy. It doesnāt matter if itās a high-end retail establishment or a more affordable one, the impact is still the same. Sort of.
The vibe of the place feels off, staff seem disengaged, and you quickly make your way out and onto the next one. After all, it doesnāt quite matter if thereās an attractive deal going on at the store, if it looks unkempt then it just doesn't feel like itās worth it. A clean store goes beyond just looking good.
It does wonders for the first impressions a customer makes when entering the store. People look for a welcoming environment when shopping for products and donāt want their shopping experience to be interrupted by an unsanitary space with clutter strewn about. A clean space also puts your customers at ease, allowing them to take their time and truly enjoy exploring your products. The right kind of cleanliness ensures that customers can focus on your products and not how dirty the place looks.
Itās also important to remember that an untidy store can reflect poorly on your brand identity. Your brand is allegedly much more than your logo, colours, and aesthetic - itās also about how customers perceive you as a business. Cleanliness can possibly go a long way in ensuring that your customers see you as trustworthy and reliable retailers who take pride in providing the best products and experience to your clientele.
I do feel like brands sometimes get caught up in making everything look great from the outside and forget about how important that first impression can potentially be as well. Having a clean store seems fairly straightforward on paper - get everyone in to clean every once in a while before opening or after closing up for the day. But in practice, it can require a little more planning than that.
A dirty store doesn't just feel off to customers but also makes employees feel uncomfortable - resulting in them being less productive at work due to feeling disgruntled by messy spaces. Taking care of your retail spaces with regular and thorough cleaning ensures happier customers who become loyal supporters of your brand as well as productive employees who are happy to represent your company.
Step 1: Assessing Your Store's Current Cleanliness Standards
It's a scene most retail managers know. The clock strikes one, and there's a mad dash to the shop, not for anything in particular, but because it's time. It seems like a rather mundane observation, but then the realisation hits ā cleaning isn't always up there on every storeās list of priorities.
The truth is possibly that it absolutely needs to be. If you want people coming back for more (and we assume you do), customers need to feel comfortable in your store. It sounds fairly straightforward, but not everyone's into the whole "cleanliness is next to godliness" mantra. It's about a lot more than just making sure the bins are emptied out and the floors are swept.
You need to assess every single part of your store and check if itās up to code. Sort of. Is that little bit of dust going to scare someone off.
Are there any more sticky notes than usual on your counter. Does the floor look dodgy. The way I see it, take a step back and take it all in before getting into a routine with it all ā assessment is key. That seemingly minor mess could be enough reason for someone to choose another store over yours.
I'm not saying you should go Marie Kondo on your shelves by any means; you donāt have to create any unnecessary drama while clearing things up. Have a more measured approach and start by analysing current cleanliness standards in your shop. Store cleanliness can go far beyond creating an inviting environment for everyone who walks in ā it can also let customers know just how much pride you take in your brand and products. Itās probably wise not to rely solely on subjective measures or skip this step altogether ā these standards set a benchmark for everything else that comes after.
Step 2: Developing a Cleaning Schedule and Checklist
Iām sure weāve all been there. You walk into a store and everything seems pretty much in order at first. It isnāt until you spend a while in the store that you start to see the subtle signs - dust on the top of the refrigerator, an errant receipt on the floor, and stains on an exposed surface behind the counter that a cleaner missed.
You immediately donāt feel as comfortable as when you first walked in. As business owners, thereās an added pressure to maintain absolute cleanliness for this very reason. It seems like no one really knows how strict (or terribly relaxed) a business is with cleaning until they really get into it. Thatās when schedules and checklists come in handy - your first step towards creating accountability among your cleaning staff or maintenance crew so everyone is clear about what needs to be done.
Itās easy to do this by simply creating an Excel sheet and printing it out if youād like something basic, but most teams these days prefer more modern approaches involving tablets and phones so that they can tick off tasks more easily. Not only does technology allow for higher accuracy of reports, but managers can also stay up-to-date with cleaning schedule completions in real-time when using some of the top tools available today. While these tools are extremely helpful, it does help if you create a hierarchy of priority when it comes to daily, weekly and monthly tasks for staff or even different departments - especially if your checklist ends up being longer than 20-odd tasks.
Maintenance of machines and equipment should ideally be filed under monthly tasks while removing inventory items from shelves, disinfecting frequently touched surfaces and clearing out rubbish should take priority daily. Given that team members may come and go or work in shifts, a good schedule ensures that everyone cleans all areas equally thoroughly without interruption.
Step 3: Training Staff on Cleanliness Practices
Brings To Mind picture this. You have just built a beautiful store, spent good money on the interiors and fixtures and even designed a special uniform for your staff. The doors open to let in happy customers, and soon enough, business is thriving. A couple of months later, you realise that some corners of your seemingly beautiful store are beginning to look a tad bit dirty and worn out.
Chances are, these are areas that donāt get cleaned too often - like the shelves behind the registers or maybe even behind the store windows. In my experience, no matter how efficient you think your staff is or how strong you believe your cleaning protocols are, thereās always room for improvement. Maybe your team cleans the shelves once a week but they skip the bottom shelves because it takes more time. Or perhaps they leave cleaning to a professional service which only comes in once every other month.
And maybe thereās sometimes confusion about what needs to be cleaned, when it needs to be done and who needs to do it. In many cases, I find that thorough training can help bridge this gap significantly. For example: providing comprehensive training on cleanliness practices helps create awareness among retail staff about the importance of maintaining cleanliness in all areas of the store. This includes not just the sales floor but also high-traffic areas such as restrooms and break rooms, as well as less visible spots like storage closets and stockrooms.
Once your staff understands that cleanliness (including their personal hygiene) can help create a welcoming environment that attracts more customers and boosts sales, they're likely to be more diligent in adhering to daily cleaning routines so the entire store is well-organised at all times. This also encourages accountability among team members who might otherwise forget their responsibilities or rely on others to get things done. Regular training sessions - where you can identify lapses in cleanliness and have honest conversations with your staff about how these issues can be addressed - usually work best in ensuring everyone is on board with keeping things clean.
And if you lead by example, your team will often follow suit without much resistance.
Step 4: Engaging Customers in Maintaining Cleanliness
I donāt know about you, but my blood runs cold when I hear the sound of glass shattering. Like that one time a childās mother dropped a bottle of Sriracha sauce at my table. Or when a whole bench collapsed when someone sat on it.
If youāve been in this industry long enough youāll hear the horror stories ā customers burning down entire kitchens to make a TikTok video about fire safety. Oh, this isnāt to say that customers canāt be trusted to behave like adults, quite the opposite actually. But every now and then people make mistakes they didnāt mean to make or they do something selfish they want to get away with.
And while thereās no foolproof way to stop them from making these choices, there is one way out ā engaging customers in maintaining cleanliness without putting the responsibility entirely on their shoulders. For instance, Iāve found gentle reminders without being condescending works wonders. Signs asking customers to put things back where they found them, or even fun little āThis is why we canāt have nice thingsā strategically placed near fragile items help drive home the message and build rapport with your audience.
Giving them access to hand sanitisers and basic cleaning equipment around the store also goes a long way towards keeping shared spaces hygienic and creating a more positive environment for everyone involved. It might seem like thereās only so much you can do as store owners but these little nudges are quite impactful in terms of results. It shows that you care about your customer experience, and it also allows guests who frequent your store regularly feel like theyāre part of your community too.
Step 5: Evaluating and Adapting Your Clean Store Strategy
We can all probably remember that awkward time, during the first global lockdowns, when supermarkets scrambled to figure out new ways of keeping stores clean. One-way arrows on the floor, people jumping out of the way of one another, and hand sanitiser everywhere. And as we slowly returned to shopping, for some reason, it just felt different. This might be down to how often shops have started evaluating and adapting their clean store strategies.
Trying new methods, seeing what works, and what doesn't. Their failure was a success for the next experiment - if that makes sense. It wasn't just supermarkets that had to adapt either - every retail store had to find its own way of doing things.
It meant fewer sales staff on the floor or managers making decisions about how many people should be in the store at any given time - using wifi heatmaps to ensure no one area was overwhelmed with shoppers and workers. Sometimes it's hard to remember things as they were before all this happened - we sort of take clean stores as a given. But so much goes into them. It's not just having cleaning staff do surface cleaning or supervisors constantly being on their toes regarding safety standards.
It's everyone's responsibility: managers, staff, and even the customers who walk through the doors (and respect social distancing). A lot has changed since then - but if anything is certain - it's that today there is an almost clinical pressure on creating clean shopping environments that people want to come back to.
Gone are the days when you just wiped down the benches and washed your hands after using the toilet. And shopping has become a whole different experience because of it - but I must admit - I don't really mind. It feels safer somehow.
Maybe that's how supermarkets need us all to feel so we keep coming back. But itās working and I like it.