Technology Ensuring a Safer Shopping in Public Spaces in Times of COVID-19
Vatsal Jain
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With public places, including restaurants, malls, and shopping complexes, getting back on track in India and across the globe, safety protocols both for sellers and buyers have become a top priority. Measures are being taken to assure contactless or minimal-contact interaction. Even though it seems awfully hard, tech companies and startups have come to the fore to propel this process.
Scientists in Israel have devised a technique to develop a tap water-based, pathogen-removal disinfectant, and have teamed up with RD Pack – a domestic industrial automation solutions firm - to launch a ‘sanitation tunnel’ that will ensure a safer entrance to public spaces.
The tunnel consists of the disinfectant formulation and adds an additional layer of protection by sprinkling it on people looking to enter any space, neutralizing potential droplets on clothing, skin, and other objects including, handbags, the scientists claim. The sanitation tunnel is equipped with sensors to detect when a person is passing through it.
While markets, shops, malls, and gyms have been permitted to restart activities under specific instructions, these places have been urged to ensure that employees and customers put on the necessary gear and have their temperatures checked before entering.
‘Contactless’ has become a buzzword in these tough times. And in the shopping domain too, contactless retailing is the path to normalcy. For instance, take checkout-free retail; customers walk into a shop, take out their smartphones, scan items on the shelves with the retailers’ mobile app, bag the items themselves and then make the payment electronically by scanning the QR code inside of the mobile app as they walk out. A couple of stores in the US have already begun leveraging this technology.
In India, the government has enacted a set of guidelines for people deciding to head to restaurants and malls. While the guidelines strictly advise takeaways in the case of food outlets and suggest people to not go out unless necessary, yet still if a person has to, the concerned authority asks him/her to follow a multitude of rules.
Physical distancing, hand hygiene, masks, thermal screening, and sanitizers at the entrance are all a must. In fact, the number of people allowed to shop inside stores or malls at a particular time will be confined. Also, people working inside the shopping spaces will be screened on an hourly basis.
Apps are the Way to Do it
Not only inside stores and malls, but companies are also working to assure safety in parking lots, wherein swarms of people can come in contact with each other. Park+ - a Delhi-based smart parking start-up - has rolled out physical distancing solutions for malls.
The Park+ mobile app will allow mall workers to check in and check out customers while tracing and registering their temperatures to handle footfall and follow government safety regulations. Customers can scan a distinct QR code and register before entering a mall or a store, allowing real-time updates of the number of customers in all the stores.
With stores demarcated as ‘green’ or ‘red’ as per customer count, customers can reserve shopping slots and enjoy a safe purchasing experience. Also, Park+ delivers digital payment means via which customers will be able to input their license plate number, link their e-wallets, and make payments anytime while they are at the malls.
Consequently, customers can verify their payments via the app for a sleek and trouble-free exit from the malls. While doing so, the startup is assuring a contactless and ticketless parking model to further magnify the focus on curbing the virus contagion.
While malls have been given the green signal to reopen, it is likely that regular mall-goers might develop a negative sentiment due to the absence of safety assurance and fear of community transmission. Park+ offerings for malls have been developed keeping public health and convenience at topmost priority.
The solutions do not require the installation of the app for customers, enhancing the ease of adoption. Also, it does not entail cost-intensive hardware installation for malls, making for a straightforward solution that assures operational continuity in times of physical distancing.
Moving forward, the solution enables customers to plan their shopping journeys and skip long queues outside shops and contact tracing in case of a confirmed COVID-19 case within the premises of the malls.
While a majority of the malls have mandated the use of the Aarogya Setu app for entrance, others are resorting to a QR-based download system. Some malls have even created their own apps such as the DLF Malls Lookout App, which would aid in following physical distancing regimen.
VAMS Global - a prominent provider of visitor management systems - is also offering retail solutions to assure effective, secured, and swift visitor processing. The firm has introduced ‘SafeGuard’, the first visitor management system in the world, to screen body temperature and check for mask conformity, thus, assuring a ‘no touch, no queue’ check-in procedure.
A startup based in Kerala - Asimov Robotics - has put robots in service at entrances to office facilities and other public spaces to spray hand sanitizer and spread public health messages about the coronavirus. Marut Dronetech has also teamed up with state authorities to inspect the adoption of drones to monitor compliance to physical distancing norms. Moreover, drones are being deployed to deliver supplies within the mall premises, as well as scan customers’ temperature using thermal imaging.
With all efforts in motion, it is also really crucial for customers and retailers alike to make the real world they work in safer. That is the only path ahead.
Image Credits:
https://chainstoreage.com/food-wholesale-co-op-enables-members-offer-contactless-shopping
https://zoovu.com/blog/bringing-online-retail-experiences-offline/