The coronavirus outbreak has had a significant impact on the process of shopping for groceries that goes far beyond empty shelves and mask-wearing consumers.
Supermarket retailers across the globe have employed a number of innovative strategies to protect shoppers, many of which focus on exclusive offerings for their older and most vulnerable customers.
US supermarket giant Sam’s Club has been at the forefront of new initiatives throughout the coronavirus period and their newest service offering will provide elderly and immunocompromised shoppers with an exclusive concierge grocery shopping service.
Select shoppers now have the opportunity to pull up at the front of a Sam’s Club supermarket and present their grocery list to a store employee who will assist in entering their wanted items into the Sam’s Club shopping app.
The customer’s order is then sent through to staff members on the inside of the store who collects the items and loads them into the customer’s car.
While the majority of people still choose to do their shopping physically, the increased risk of infection has prompted many customers to explore the realms of grocery shopping online.
However, the prospecting of utilising technology is still a daunting one for many.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Sam’s Club concierge shopping service is the role that it plays in bridging the technology gap for elderly and vulnerable consumers by having a staff member on hand to assist with entering the grocery items onto an online platform.
A large number of people who avoid online services and platforms do so because they have never been shown how to use them.
Hopefully, this version of assisted online shopping can remove the fear of technology for some of the less tech-savvy customers and prompt them to embrace getting socially connected via the world wide web.
Photo Credit – iStock – SDI Productions
