6 Facts About Technology, That Make Shopping Safer During Covid- 19

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With the release of Covid-19 rules and regulations worldwide, many consumers and buyers are concerned about the safety of store visits. These are some examples of technology providers offering great solutions to improve social distance and improve buyer safety during this Covid-19.

ATHUL C K, Nesar Dsouza

Jul 14, 2020 — 7 min read

With the release of Covid-19 rules and regulations worldwide, many consumers and buyers are concerned about the safety of store visits. Busy streets and peak roads can be a concern for many. Governments around the world are recommending that people stay in their homes and disrupt the corona virus spreading network. According to some media, most people prefer to stay indoors. However, we need to shop for our essential things.

It may be the most urgent basic need (except for medical care), which can increase the risk of Contact the infected people. The corona virus threat is changing the order of the retail sector. It is limiting the number of shoppers, who can enter store at any time. Following societal segregation through guidelines, customers and employees focus on technology and to help make purchases more secure. Technology has great impact on shopping.

Now our society uses more beacons, pointers, security cameras and payment solutions in an unprecedented way. Retailers are changing their offerings, or in some key cases, to better serve the retail market in the current epidemic. These are some examples of technology providers offering great solutions to improve social distance and improve buyer safety during this Covid-19. They are given below.

1. Robot deliveries and online shopping

The emergence of SARS in late 2002 led to an increase in the number of online business platforms for businesses and consumers. Some Beijing bars offer online shipping and ordering. Online shopping requires a robust logistics system. In the United States, many companies and restaurants in China have launched unconditional delivery services.

For taking inventory, they use robots instead of the person. China's e-commerce giants are developing to send robots. However, before the distribution of robot delivery services, shipping companies must make a clear protocol to protect the sanitary condition of shipping materials.

2. Digital payment system

The money transfer through physical contact could be a reason for spreading of virus. So the Central Bank has taken several steps to clean up China, the United States and South Korea. Digital wireless payment is the best payment method today, extending on cards or electronic wallets.

Digital payments promotes people to shop online, pay for goods, services and utilities, and get promotions faster. But there are more than 1.7 billion peoples who have no bank account for digital payments. The availability of digital payments depends on the availability of the Internet, equipment, and the network to convert money in to a digital format.

a. Walmart pay – promoting touch-less payments

As ATM's become major employers at the time of the epidemic, stores are looking for ways to reduce contact on payments. Walmart has introduced several ways to improve secure controls. For shoppers, the Walmart application encourages Touch-less paying by using Shoppers. The peoples, who download the application, can scan it with a built-in QR app for wireless purchases. Recent changes are that shoppers who make additional payment through the app are forced to touch the screen while making transactions.

3. Queue location technology - Sensors are used to limit store traffic

Supermarket giants "kroger" made headlines when the announced that it would use technology in the queue of the system to limit traffic within the store. Kroger now decided to limit the number of shoppers into only 50% of capacity in a store. Rather than relying on their workers to manually calculate how many people log in and log out, the company is using queue location technology. It is also used to count customers automatically and speed up exit lines.

4. Indyme – warning buyers when they are close to each other

With the participation of buyers, Indyme is working on tools to raise awareness of the social space at the points of sale in real time. Called the Smart Dome, the device looks like such as a security camera. However, Smart Domes can really see where the buyers are and inform the messages to shoppers when lot of people around. Indyme says his specialty is Intense Speed, designed to work in grocery and stores and used in improvement stores.

5. Using robotics for auditing lists with computer perspective

People are weak. But robots are not. A robot named "Tally", a self-propelled robot scanner, is used in places like Markets, big stores, inventory via camera, computer vision, and machine learning. Tally can set prices, product location and availability. It can also detect items that are out of stock or incorrect. The robot that performs these tasks will pull employees out of the store aisles and promote social distancing practices in supermarkets.

Tally Robot - Simpe Robotics — **Tally Robot made by Simpe Robotics**

6. Pathr - Activate spatial intelligence to rearrange fields

In the current crisis, Pathr has found a way to use his platform to increase the level of retail security. Pather's special intelligence platform encourages machine learning and data analysis to discover how customers move in stores. The things like social distance, AI are influenced by the company's current technology. It will help operators in large areas understand how diseases spread under specific conditions. The company reported that it was in contact with retailers to give brief description about the social distance.

Is it safe shopping during Covid-19?

The extent to which COVID-19 is contagious is clear, and some shoppers raise questions about the safety of online orders. Experts believe the virus can live three hours, depending on the materials. (It is difficult to make decision about the life of the virus, and as experts continue to study these, these numbers may change.). That is, COVID-19 will not be survived on product until you receive the items you purchased.

It also creates a difficult shipping environment because of COVID-19, so you may not be able to leave the package. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said that taking COVID-19 packets is safe. Commercial products are less contaminated under the influence of different conditions and temperatures. Organized food retail services, such as Big Bazaar, zomato, Swiggy will increase the door-to-door shipments.

Courier companies, logistics companies, etc. are supporting storage and purchasing services. In logistics and goods, the role of local stalls, banks, cooperatives, market tops and entrepreneurs is important. Stages Organized retail companies / corporations can regulate the retail sector in terms of sanitation, awareness raising, close communication, performance, health and safety.