Now more than ever, customers both expect and prefer spotlessly clean environments, whether it be stores, medical offices, daycare centers or malls. In fact, customers have grown to equate cleanliness with personal safety…so much so that hyper-sanitized retail spaces help build customer trust!
What caused the change: A renewed focus on health
Shoppers have a different attitude toward health, cleanliness and safety than they did a few years ago. Of course, the changed behavior and values came out of a worldwide focus on health and safety following the pandemic. Now, customers have come to look for retail environments that tout their commitment to cleanliness, social distancing and efforts to avoid close personal space with strangers.
Today’s tendency is for people in retail environments to no longer want to touch something that someone else touched, unless they know it has been cleaned. That extends to touchpads, door handles and even products, such as eyeglasses or shoes!
The evidence of a consciousness about cleanliness is everywhere. Witness the closing of restaurant buffets, the proliferation of sanitation stations, and the sprouting of partitions at the checkout area. Given the common nature of these changes, it appears they will be staying around.
Customers and Cleanliness: Some Statistics
- 92% say a clean, organized store increases the probability they will make a purchase.
- 78% of customers say a bad odor is the biggest reason to keep them from shopping at a store.
- 64% of shoppers have left a store without making a purchase due to its poor physical appearance.
Commercial cleaning services get onboard with the new cleanliness
Because of this trend where customers are sensitive to cleanliness, retail companies are stepping up their commitment to commercial cleaning of their spaces as a way to draw customers. The commercial cleaning companies are employing cleaning techniques and safe chemicals to sanitize floors, surfaces and furniture in addition to retail displays or retail interaction screens.
Customers especially look for:
- A clean entryway
- Sanitized waste containers
- Freshly polished floors
- Hygienic restrooms
- No spills
- Clean countertops and displays
- Clean shopping carts and baskets
A periodic deep cleaning has become popular among retail businesses and includes reaching high-ceiling areas, steam cleaning carpets, washing windows and sanitizing employee-only areas.
Another related new trend: Some companies are employing commercial cleaners to work somewhat unobtrusively in their stores during shopping hours, knowing customers will take comfort in seeing the cleaners working while customers transact business or services. Hotel workers, with their obtrusive cleaning carts, were once seen as an inconvenience. Now they are ambassadors of cleanliness.
Everywhere, business owners are finding that keeping their establishments clean not only pleases employees. It delights customers.