THERE was an unsettling sense of déjà vu when the latest restrictions on households meeting were announced.

After a summer when it, slowly, felt as if Scotland was reopening it was an unpleasant reminder coronavirus is still present and not yet beaten. The feeling of the world closing down a little bit is something we are all adjusting to again.

However, things are not the same as March. We have all learnt a lot more about how to live with the virus – both organisations and people. The retail industry demonstrates this as well as any. At the start of the national lockdown most shops were closed to help prevent the spread of the virus – whilst those who remained had to bring in new measures to keep workers and customers safe.

Things are different now. There is little evidence shops are a vector for viral transmission. Retail has largely been excluded from recent measures, including local lockdowns. That’s for good reasons. Wearing face coverings, using hand sanitiser, extensive cleaning, one-way aisles and the myriad other social distancing and hygiene measures, and of course massively expanding digital services, mean retailers can trade without appreciable risk to customers or staff. Those measures, the result of collaboration between businesses, trades unions, and government, have so far stood up to the resurgent virus.

Yet we also know many customers are less willing, or less able, to come out and shop. That’s driven an enormous shift in the way retailers operate.

Two fifths of non-food shopping is now done online. The biggest percentage rise has been in grocery, with supermarkets doubling their capacity for home delivery over the last few months. That’s terribly convenient for those who would rather have the weekly groceries arrive on a Saturday morning. For people who are unable to come into shops, because they are shielding or vulnerable, it can be a lifeline.

But these measures come at a cost. Buying gallons of sanitiser, millions of masks, and installing sheets of plexiglass is a new expense which didn’t exist a year ago. Reconfiguring your business to operate virtually and investing in the logistics to deliver greater online capacity is incredibly expensive. And all of this at a time where retail sales have generally been weaker. Even grocery businesses who have stayed open throughout the crisis are now managing becalmed revenues and significantly higher costs.

These facts are not always recognised. The desire to deliver as seamless a customer experience as possible means the average shopper is probably unaware of the immense cost and complexity of retooling a business for the new normal.

Thankfully the UK and Scottish Governments have been alert to the reality of retail trading during a pandemic. The decisions to provide temporary rates relief, grants, furlough payments, and so forth has given many shops the breathing space to adapt their business models whilst maximising the chances of their survival. The money saved through that assistance has been used to adapt and overcome the enormous challenges coronavirus has placed on the industry.

Sadly it looks like we are not yet out of the woods. Retailers will be very concerned at the challenges of Christmas trading under the current, or possibly even more restrictive, regulations. Whilst it’s essential to prioritise public health, if businesses are unable to trade effectively as a result then it’s only right they continue to be supported by Government. However, the steps already taken by retailers mean they are in a much better place than at the start of the year to support their customers.

By David Lonsdale, Director, Scottish Retail Consortium