Young woman working on a laptop with a dog next to her also looking at the screen, toast on the table and a smartphone on the table, bright room, large windows in back
Source: iStock | AleksandarNakic

The rise of remote working presents opportunities for local retail but may require adjustments to new shopping behaviors.

For c-stores, for instance, fewer workers heading back and forth from work is negatively impacting both the breakfast daypart (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.) as well as sales of beer and snacks during the after-work daypart (4 p.m. to 7 p.m.), according to traffic analysis by VideoMining.

The WFH (work-from-home) trend benefits grocers as remote workers rely on grocery purchases for more meals. A survey of employees working part-time or full-time at home from Skynova found the top five lunch methods while working remotely are homemade, cited by 49 percent; delivery, 42 percent; leftovers, 41 percent; random food or snacks in the house, 38 percent; and dine out, 30 percent.

Online grocery also appears to benefit from the WFH trend. A recent Morning Consult survey found remote (25 percent) and hybrid workers (31 percent) were about twice as likely as in-office workers (14 percent) to order groceries online at least weekly.

Recent reports indicate that increasing pressure from companies may encourage workers to be in the office more regularly despite surveys showing that many are reluctant to return. A Pew survey taken in February found 41 percent of workers with jobs that can be done remotely are working a hybrid schedule, up from 35 percent in January 2022.

“A lot of us no longer work nine to five, or commute into the office. Yet retail businesses seem stuck in a different era,” wrote Alexandra Samuel, co-author of “Remote, Inc: How To Thrive at Work….Wherever You Are,” in a recent column for The Wall Street Journal.

Her suggestions for retailers included running special weekday promotions outside peak shopping hours, adding local makeup counters catering to customers who want to look their best on Zoom sessions and setting up coffee shops for extended work sessions.

“My neighborhood is full of fellow work-from-home types, it’s time for local retailers to start thinking about hybrid workers’ needs, too,” wrote Ms. Samuel.

BrainTrust

“It’s been over three years since Covid-19 forced many of us to work remotely. We’re in a groove. Seriously, how much more can retailers do?”

Georganne Bender

Principal, KIZER & BENDER Speaking


Discussion Questions

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: Are retailers missing an opportunity to better cater to hybrid-working customers? What would you suggest retailers do to meet the unique needs of remote workers?

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How big an opportunity is the shift toward remote working creating for retail?

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18 responses to “Are Retailers Ready For Remote Workers?”

  1. Richard Hernandez Avatar
    Richard Hernandez

    A lot of eateries and C-stores have signed on to delivery services to accommodate WFH workers. This will be an interesting trend to see as some companies are beginning to require more days in the office heading toward pre-pandemic office attendance.

  2. Georganne Bender Avatar
    Georganne Bender

    BOPIS, drive-up, and delivery are the biggest retail benefits that come from the pandemic, at least these are the perks consumers are not willing to let go of any time soon.

    Most of us have figured out how to look our best on camera, and some of us don’t care, so I don’t see Zoom makeovers going crazy. Nor do I see afternoon promotions luring us to the store when we are supposed to be working.

    It’s been over three years since Covid-19 forced many of us to work remotely. We’re in a groove. Seriously, how much more can retailers do?

  3. Lucille DeHart Avatar
    Lucille DeHart

    Better messaging and merchandising is the answer here. C-stores should provide displays and communicate Sunday shopping offers to stock up on premade lunches for the week. What could be a miss in frequency can be made up in higher AOV for destination trips. Grocers can offer alternatives to salad bars with pre made or made to order offerings of: cheese plates/protein packs, sandwiches, salads, chicken and other stay fresh for 5 days options. As always, the key is to think out of the box and solve for challenges with innovation.

  4. David Spear Avatar
    David Spear

    Retailers should embrace these new hybrid office locations (WFH office or actual company office) because they are here to stay. I’d recommend curating a set of products/services that cater to worker’s needs. For instance, the coffee bars and cosmetic make-up stations are a smart move. I’d also think about offering quick-service healthy meal options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. These would be highly appealing, and as a hybrid worker myself, I’d take advantage of these services often.

  5. Lisa Goller Avatar
    Lisa Goller

    E-grocery ease, local specials and Zoom makeovers would appeal to remote and hybrid workers’ lifestyles.

    Home delivery, work-friendly cafes and social events support remote workers’ desire for flexibility and belonging.

  6. Gary Sankary Avatar
    Gary Sankary

    I believe there will be a lot of stickiness around curbside and home delivery, even for people back in the office. Saving time is a value prop that transcends the locations where people work. The Pandemic forced many retailers to stand up the omnichannel capabilities we had been discussing for ages. Still, due to slow development on the retailer’s part and slow adoption on the consumer’s part, they were sort of languishing. Now that consumers have new expectations, successful retailers must be able to deliver on those expectations by allowing them to buy, receive and return products where they are and how they want.

  7. Ryan Mathews Avatar
    Ryan Mathews

    Excuse me, for a moment I thought it was 2020 again. Remote workers have been a scaled phenomena since the COVID lockdown. If retailers haven’t figured that out yet, it’s probably a little too late to catch up. There are things retailers could be offering — breakfast, lunch and/or dinner in a box, etc. for supermarkets for example. But, most folks are creatures of habit and most of those habits were broken and reformed during the pandemic. Zoom calls are hardly new for instance so presumably anyone interested in looking better on them has already consulted their cosmetician. One final caveat. As the article mentions the jury is still out on where the work-from-home needle will finally land. More and more employers seem to want to corral their workers back on the physical job and a significant number of those workers are resisting.

  8. Jeff Sward Avatar
    Jeff Sward

    This isn’t a moment in time opportunity that requires a temporary adjustment. It’s a paradigm shift that requires some retail business models to be reconfigured. You don’t just dust and vacuum an out-of-date home, you remodel it, top to bottom. There are traffic patterns and shopping/buying habits that are forever changed. Wants and needs may be the same in many cases, but the timing and method of shopping/buying have evolved. The new market dynamics sound like they favor Target with the product range they offer and all the shopping/buying/pickup options they offer. Ditto Walmart. And of course Amazon. Mr. Mall, and Kohl’s…what are you waiting for?

  9. Brian Numainville Avatar
    Brian Numainville

    If a retailer hasn’t looked at traffic patterns and department shopping metrics at this point, not sure they’ve been paying attention. I’ve talked with some restaurants who are continually looking at how hybrid work patterns impact happy hour and dining time periods by day and time part. Missing an opportunity if not looking at this stuff, sure, if you are still in business.

  10. Brandon Rael Avatar
    Brandon Rael

    The hybrid and remote work operating model has been in place for over three years. This required retailers and brands to shift their business models to leverage the stores as micro fulfillment centers, with BOPIS, curbside, and lockers at the forefront of their strategies to serve remote workers. In a post-pandemic world, we should expect a mix of office work, hybrid workers, and remote professionals to remain the norm until there is a force majeure to make office work mandatory.

    If retailers and brands have yet to figure out a strategy to reduce the cost to serve and shift the ecommerce operating model from a dilutive to an accretive revenue stream, they are way behind the industry standards. Customer expectations are at an all-time high. For example, Kroger has led the micro fulfillment movement by setting the standard for home delivery windows within the 2-hour range.

    The market will always dictate how and when they want to engage with your brand and how they expect their products to be fulfilled. The customer experience has to be at the forefront of any commerce strategy.

  11. Mel Kleiman Avatar
    Mel Kleiman

    Savvy retailers have not missed the opportunity; they have already made the changes to adapt to the changing market. If a retailer has not made the changes, they will most likely be on the way out of business.

  12. Craig Sundstrom Avatar
    Craig Sundstrom

    I will confess when I first read the headline, I thought it meant an opportunity for retail workers to work remotely (What?!)
    Anyway, no, I don’t see this as any particular opportunity; there may be some incremental increase in “office” supplies, but people will simply expand their existing supplies thru their normal purchasing patterns (in my personal experience this is more likely to be with drug stores or discounters…i.e. where one normally shops).

  13. Mohammad Ahsen Avatar
    Mohammad Ahsen

    WFM (Work from Home) or Hybrid work hurts convenience stores in the business districts. There is a significant loss of commuter store trips, especially breakfast daypart (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.) as well as sales of beer and snacks during the after-work daypart (4 p.m. to 7 p.m.)as per the survey in this article.

    Work-from-Home trend provide opportunity for local small business to flourish. The demand for close-to-home commerce is driving the growth of small businesses, online pickup, local shopping districts, sports & local fitness center’s, delivery hubs, community center’s and new residential developments.

  14. Verlin Youd Avatar
    Verlin Youd

    Lots of good comments below. Retailers have made the vast majority of adjustments they can make. They now need to focus on segmentation and offers to specific segments through continuous experimentation, failing fast, and quickly rolling out successes. One thing COVID taught most retailers – there is less risk in moving quickly than was feared.

  15. Brian Cluster Avatar
    Brian Cluster

    The whole WFM shift has affected our eating patterns and also lessened our physical activity. When a WFM worker doesn’t leave the house, there is a higher chance of gaining weight. While we were talking about delivery speed, BOPIS, and return policies- Americans were becoming more obese.

    “The obesity rate in the U.S. continued to climb during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing by 3% between March 2020 and March 2021” (USDA, July 5, 2022)

    Opportunities for grocery retailers are: to understand the impact of their customer base, determine their needs of remote workers for help with diet, and nutrition, and design programs to help them which will also hopefully yield increased loyalty.

  16. Brad Halverson Avatar
    Brad Halverson

    Both WFH and company location/office based employees benefit from retailers doing more work in understanding their purchases and habits to drive sales, food discoveries, and education at various times of day. In many cases, customer platforms and digital loyalty can be a good point of providing this data to test marketing opportunities. There is always upside for food retailers to cater to loyal customers.

  17. Alex.Siskos Avatar
    Alex.Siskos

    Digital channels, flexible shopping options, curation of WFH-friendly products, virtual customer service, loyalty programs catered to WFH workers, collaborating with coworking spaces, showcasing all of the above through social media LEADS to engaging this new “customer segment”. These strategies and tactics need to be created as others were for segments before these ….and they will create a tailored shopping experience for remote workers.

  18. ScottJennings Avatar
    ScottJennings

    Workforce redeployment makes a lot of sense in retail. The food service companies, like Compass Group, have been driving toward an “internal gig economy” so that workers can pick up gigs across their different contracts to create flexibility in their schedule. This same concept applies to retail workers that have the freedom to work across different stores, last mile of delivery, CX & clienteling from home. It is a change in how labor is trained & deployed (and retailers don’t like change). However it will save money in hiring, training, & HR over time. It will also create a more loyal employee which will lead to an improved consumer shopping experience and all that goes with that.

18 Comments
oldest
newest
Richard Hernandez
Richard Hernandez
2 months ago

A lot of eateries and C-stores have signed on to delivery services to accommodate WFH workers. This will be an interesting trend to see as some companies are beginning to require more days in the office heading toward pre-pandemic office attendance.

Georganne Bender
Georganne Bender
2 months ago

BOPIS, drive-up, and delivery are the biggest retail benefits that come from the pandemic, at least these are the perks consumers are not willing to let go of any time soon.

Most of us have figured out how to look our best on camera, and some of us don’t care, so I don’t see Zoom makeovers going crazy. Nor do I see afternoon promotions luring us to the store when we are supposed to be working.

It’s been over three years since Covid-19 forced many of us to work remotely. We’re in a groove. Seriously, how much more can retailers do?

Lucille DeHart
Lucille DeHart
2 months ago

Better messaging and merchandising is the answer here. C-stores should provide displays and communicate Sunday shopping offers to stock up on premade lunches for the week. What could be a miss in frequency can be made up in higher AOV for destination trips. Grocers can offer alternatives to salad bars with pre made or made to order offerings of: cheese plates/protein packs, sandwiches, salads, chicken and other stay fresh for 5 days options. As always, the key is to think out of the box and solve for challenges with innovation.

David Spear
David Spear
2 months ago

Retailers should embrace these new hybrid office locations (WFH office or actual company office) because they are here to stay. I’d recommend curating a set of products/services that cater to worker’s needs. For instance, the coffee bars and cosmetic make-up stations are a smart move. I’d also think about offering quick-service healthy meal options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. These would be highly appealing, and as a hybrid worker myself, I’d take advantage of these services often.

Lisa Goller
Lisa Goller
2 months ago

E-grocery ease, local specials and Zoom makeovers would appeal to remote and hybrid workers’ lifestyles.

Home delivery, work-friendly cafes and social events support remote workers’ desire for flexibility and belonging.

Gary Sankary
Gary Sankary
2 months ago

I believe there will be a lot of stickiness around curbside and home delivery, even for people back in the office. Saving time is a value prop that transcends the locations where people work. The Pandemic forced many retailers to stand up the omnichannel capabilities we had been discussing for ages. Still, due to slow development on the retailer’s part and slow adoption on the consumer’s part, they were sort of languishing. Now that consumers have new expectations, successful retailers must be able to deliver on those expectations by allowing them to buy, receive and return products where they are and how they want.

Ryan Mathews
Ryan Mathews
2 months ago

Excuse me, for a moment I thought it was 2020 again. Remote workers have been a scaled phenomena since the COVID lockdown. If retailers haven’t figured that out yet, it’s probably a little too late to catch up. There are things retailers could be offering — breakfast, lunch and/or dinner in a box, etc. for supermarkets for example. But, most folks are creatures of habit and most of those habits were broken and reformed during the pandemic. Zoom calls are hardly new for instance so presumably anyone interested in looking better on them has already consulted their cosmetician. One final caveat. As the article mentions the jury is still out on where the work-from-home needle will finally land. More and more employers seem to want to corral their workers back on the physical job and a significant number of those workers are resisting.

Jeff Sward
Jeff Sward
2 months ago

This isn’t a moment in time opportunity that requires a temporary adjustment. It’s a paradigm shift that requires some retail business models to be reconfigured. You don’t just dust and vacuum an out-of-date home, you remodel it, top to bottom. There are traffic patterns and shopping/buying habits that are forever changed. Wants and needs may be the same in many cases, but the timing and method of shopping/buying have evolved. The new market dynamics sound like they favor Target with the product range they offer and all the shopping/buying/pickup options they offer. Ditto Walmart. And of course Amazon. Mr. Mall, and Kohl’s…what are you waiting for?

Brian Numainville
Brian Numainville
2 months ago

If a retailer hasn’t looked at traffic patterns and department shopping metrics at this point, not sure they’ve been paying attention. I’ve talked with some restaurants who are continually looking at how hybrid work patterns impact happy hour and dining time periods by day and time part. Missing an opportunity if not looking at this stuff, sure, if you are still in business.

Brandon Rael
Brandon Rael
2 months ago

The hybrid and remote work operating model has been in place for over three years. This required retailers and brands to shift their business models to leverage the stores as micro fulfillment centers, with BOPIS, curbside, and lockers at the forefront of their strategies to serve remote workers. In a post-pandemic world, we should expect a mix of office work, hybrid workers, and remote professionals to remain the norm until there is a force majeure to make office work mandatory.

If retailers and brands have yet to figure out a strategy to reduce the cost to serve and shift the ecommerce operating model from a dilutive to an accretive revenue stream, they are way behind the industry standards. Customer expectations are at an all-time high. For example, Kroger has led the micro fulfillment movement by setting the standard for home delivery windows within the 2-hour range.

The market will always dictate how and when they want to engage with your brand and how they expect their products to be fulfilled. The customer experience has to be at the forefront of any commerce strategy.

Mel Kleiman
Mel Kleiman
2 months ago

Savvy retailers have not missed the opportunity; they have already made the changes to adapt to the changing market. If a retailer has not made the changes, they will most likely be on the way out of business.

Craig Sundstrom
Craig Sundstrom
2 months ago

I will confess when I first read the headline, I thought it meant an opportunity for retail workers to work remotely (What?!)
Anyway, no, I don’t see this as any particular opportunity; there may be some incremental increase in “office” supplies, but people will simply expand their existing supplies thru their normal purchasing patterns (in my personal experience this is more likely to be with drug stores or discounters…i.e. where one normally shops).

Mohammad Ahsen
Mohammad Ahsen
2 months ago

WFM (Work from Home) or Hybrid work hurts convenience stores in the business districts. There is a significant loss of commuter store trips, especially breakfast daypart (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.) as well as sales of beer and snacks during the after-work daypart (4 p.m. to 7 p.m.)as per the survey in this article.

Work-from-Home trend provide opportunity for local small business to flourish. The demand for close-to-home commerce is driving the growth of small businesses, online pickup, local shopping districts, sports & local fitness center’s, delivery hubs, community center’s and new residential developments.

Verlin Youd
Verlin Youd
2 months ago

Lots of good comments below. Retailers have made the vast majority of adjustments they can make. They now need to focus on segmentation and offers to specific segments through continuous experimentation, failing fast, and quickly rolling out successes. One thing COVID taught most retailers – there is less risk in moving quickly than was feared.

Brian Cluster
Brian Cluster
2 months ago

The whole WFM shift has affected our eating patterns and also lessened our physical activity. When a WFM worker doesn’t leave the house, there is a higher chance of gaining weight. While we were talking about delivery speed, BOPIS, and return policies- Americans were becoming more obese.

“The obesity rate in the U.S. continued to climb during the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing by 3% between March 2020 and March 2021” (USDA, July 5, 2022)

Opportunities for grocery retailers are: to understand the impact of their customer base, determine their needs of remote workers for help with diet, and nutrition, and design programs to help them which will also hopefully yield increased loyalty.

Brad Halverson
Brad Halverson
2 months ago

Both WFH and company location/office based employees benefit from retailers doing more work in understanding their purchases and habits to drive sales, food discoveries, and education at various times of day. In many cases, customer platforms and digital loyalty can be a good point of providing this data to test marketing opportunities. There is always upside for food retailers to cater to loyal customers.

Alex.Siskos
Alex.Siskos
2 months ago

Digital channels, flexible shopping options, curation of WFH-friendly products, virtual customer service, loyalty programs catered to WFH workers, collaborating with coworking spaces, showcasing all of the above through social media LEADS to engaging this new “customer segment”. These strategies and tactics need to be created as others were for segments before these ….and they will create a tailored shopping experience for remote workers.

ScottJennings
ScottJennings
2 months ago

Workforce redeployment makes a lot of sense in retail. The food service companies, like Compass Group, have been driving toward an “internal gig economy” so that workers can pick up gigs across their different contracts to create flexibility in their schedule. This same concept applies to retail workers that have the freedom to work across different stores, last mile of delivery, CX & clienteling from home. It is a change in how labor is trained & deployed (and retailers don’t like change). However it will save money in hiring, training, & HR over time. It will also create a more loyal employee which will lead to an improved consumer shopping experience and all that goes with that.