As the COVID-19 pandemic slows across the nation, more retail businesses are moving away from online sales as they consider reopening their brick-and-mortar facilities to the public.

To help businesses make this transition with minimal risk, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has provided guidance for businesses and the workplace that reinforce safe reopening procedures and reinforce the need for proper communication.

And that’s where physical advertising like in-store signage can be a helpful adjunct to your reopening plan.

Let’s take a closer look at how your business can use signage to help reduce the potential spread of infection, keep your staff and customers safer, and contribute to successful — and profitable — store reopening.

Using In-Store Signage to Facilitate a Safe Reopening

Retail businesses are some of the hardest-hit brick-and-mortar establishments when it comes to the impact of the novel coronavirus. As more businesses shift back from online to in-store sales, there is a strong focus on reopening safely to avoid risk and encourage customer trust and patronage.

One of the most critical issues for a reopening business is the provision of clear, concise communication to both employees and customers. In assisting businesses with communication, the CDC has advocated for signage to encourage better adherence to social distancing and other COVID-19 protocols.

Here are some useful ways your business can use in-store signage to help facilitate a safer reopening.

1. Use Signs to Encourage Social Distancing

Social distancing, or staying at least six feet away from another person, is a critical part of ensuring safety in your retail establishment.

To encourage customers to adhere to physical distancing guidelines, you can use large, colorful signs or even floor stickers placed at six-foot intervals. Signage will alert people to the appropriate spacing to ensure everyone feels comfortable — and protected — while shopping at your store.

2. Use Signs to Reduce Risk in All Areas of Your Store

Bright, eye-catching signs can alert customers to sales events and specials, making them less reliant on interaction with your staff for information while signs at individual work stations can help remind employees to sanitize credit card kiosks or cash registers after every transaction.

Determining patterns of behavior in your store by area — before entry, in a lobby, during shopping, in common areas, and at checkout — can help you keep everyone safer.

Signs can be posted regarding the wearing of face masks upon entry, the tracking of social distancing throughout the store, and reminders for enhanced hygiene in common areas.

3. Use Signs to Post Your Protocols

Once your state or your local government has given you the okay to reopen, it is up to your business to develop protocols for infection control and deploy them.

It is a good idea to follow the CDC guidance for social distancing, hand washing and sanitizing but you can also put any guidelines in place that you feel would work best in your business. For example, you can ask that employees avoid collecting signatures during deliveries or that they do not accept cash for payments.

These rules should be clearly posted in all areas of your business so both employees and customers can see them.

Blue Technologies Offers Wide-Format Printers for Exceptional Signage

When you are considering signage for reopening your business, an 8.5 x 11 letter-sized sign printed from your desktop printer just will not do.

You need high-profile, easy-to-read signage in brilliant color or sharp black and white to capture attention and reduce misunderstandings among staff and visitors regarding your reopening protocols.

At Blue Technologies, we have high quality and high-volume-capable printers that can empower your retail business to reopen safely. Our wide-format printers offer stunning full-color capabilities in sizes up to 47” banners and more to cover all areas of your business — from your storefront to the cash register to your employees’ break room.

In addition, our printers can provide output on many materials such as thick papers, vinyl, and even embossed materials so you can get truly creative with your output. Plus, a wide-format printer will serve you well in the future, producing eye-catching marketing collateral like sales-generating flyers and brilliant banners for special events.

Discover the many ways a wide-format printer can serve your business during reopening — and beyond. Contact a Blue Technologies consultant today and get familiar with our wide selection of high-performing wide-format printers.