COVID-19 UPDATE

RETAIL UNION URGES SAFETY FIRST WHEN RE-OPENING STORES

USDAW IS CALLING ON RETAILERS TO PUT SAFETY FIRST WHEN REOPENING STORES AS BRITAIN BEGINS EASING OUT OF LOCKDOWN.

Usdaw is urging retailers to work with the union to do thorough risk assessments and ensure stores are safe for staff and customers before they are re-opened to the public. Usdaw has also called on the Government for tougher guidance and more rigorous enforcement of safety. Paddy Lillis, Usdaw General Secretary, said: “Usdaw is concerned that businesses will pay little attention to Government advice as they rush to reopen.

“Risk assessments and the necessary safety measures must be completed prior to any public announcement that stores are reopening. The Government must make it absolutely clear that a business can be closed down if they fail to comply.”

The union also wants the Government’s risk assessment guidance to go further and focus on reducing coronavirus in the workplace with enhanced policies around sickness absence to ensure people with symptoms can stay off work.

CENTRAL ENGLAND CO-OP LAUNCHES ‘CALL AND COLLECT’ SERVICE

Central England Co-op has launched a call and collect service for its Members to provide help for those who need support with their shopping. The Society has over 240 food stores across 16 counties and the service allows Members to call a dedicated number and place their order; their local store will then pick and pack the order that day, before having the order ready to be collected in the afternoon the day after.

The Member or a nominated person will then visit the store and collect the shopping. Payment for the food and essentials will be taken over the phone from the retailer’s head office.

BUYMIE HITS UK WITH CO-OP

The Co-op has teamed up withIreland-based Buymie to offersame-day grocery deliveriesand personal shoppingservices across Bristol, thefirst partnership in the UK forBuymie. Users of its mobileapp can select from around4,000 Co-op products, andchoose a convenient deliveryslot. The fee is £6.99 for samedaydelivery.

£50M SAFETY FUND

The UK Government hasunveiled a £50m ‘Re-openingHigh Streets Safely Fund’,to enable local authorities InEngland introduce physicaldistancing and other safetymeasures to help prepare highstreets and shoppers for there-opening of shops.

250K CASHOUT VOUCHERS

More than 250,000 vouchersfor disadvantaged people havebeen redeemed since 1 Aprilthrough PayPoint’s CashOutservice, totalling more than£8.5m of support. PayPoint isnow working with more than 70local councils.

STURGEON ISSUES ‘ROUTE MAP’ OUT OF LOCKDOWN

THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT HAS PUBLISHED A ‘ROUTE MAP’ FORHOW IT PLANS TO PHASE SCOTLAND OUT OF LOCKDOWN.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government have published a ‘route map’ for how lockdown will being eased over the coming months, subject to a number of conditions being met.

The route map includes details of a gradual four-phase move out of the current state of lockdown while still suppressing coronavirus. A conditional plan to re-open schools from 11 August was also published.

The plan also emphasises some of the lockdown guidance that won’t change for a while, including “the continuing need for enhanced public health measures such as physical distancing”.

If the evidence shows transmission of Covid-19 is under control and the number of infectious cases is starting to decline, the Scottish Government will consider moving to Phase 1 of the route map tomorrow.

NISA ENGINEERS COMPLETE FIRST EVER ‘REMOTE’ INSTALL

Nisa’s Epos engineers have completed their first remote installation of a self-check-out till set up in Cornwall at the store of Nisa retailer Gary Batten. The equipment was ordered, delivered and installed seamlessly and with zero face-to-face contact.

Nisa’s senior engineer Chris Vose said: “A contactless environment is now perceived as the new normal and our self-service checkouts aid in keeping both staff and customers safe.”

Gary added: “Self-scan is the future with rising staff costs and the younger generation preferring less contact. This is a way to keep our customers safer while shopping and they have welcomed this change.”

TARGET FIRST WITH INSTAGRAM CHECKOUT

US retail giant Target is claiming to be the first mass retailer to make its products available through Instagram Checkout.

Its customers can now buy products by tapping on the items they wish to buy that are featured in ‘shoppable’ posts and then modify their order (colour, size etc) without leaving the social media platform.

The entire purchase process can be made in just two clicks.

FOR ALL THE LATEST CORONAVIRUS NEWS, HEAD TO WWW.SLRMAG.CO.UK/CATEGORY/NEWS/