The Australian Retail COVID-19 Crisis Briefing

This live event starts starts Thursday 23rd April at 9am (AEST)

To register click here…

Drawing on the actual experiences of retailers across five continents, this COVID-19 Crisis Briefing has been specifically created to meet the health, safety and risk management challenges Australian Retailers are facing or are about to face.

The Crisis Briefing agenda covers the four key stages of the COVID-19 crisis set out below. Each stage is introduced by an internationally respected member of the risk management community, currently heading-up a team whose business has already gone through the stage they are speaking about, somewhere in the world. Then a hand-picked panel of Australian risk managers lead the discussions about what lessons can be learned and applied to the Australian market, with questions being taken live from delegates joining the virtual event.

What to do when you shut your shops

Most retail outlets close for Christmas Day. But shutting shop for 24 hours is a very different proposition to shutting shops for six weeks! Security is usually designed to work in tandem with regularly staffed or patrolled premises. Suddenly everything from keyholding to CCTV and staff engagement to landlord relations gets toppled upside down! And what are dangers from adjacent units, even if you stay open?

How to stay open for business

Not all stores will shut. Some will have to stay open to supply essential needs. How do you operate for the safety of your staff and avoidance of class litigation actions after the crisis? What is a safe social distance – 1m, 1.5m or 2m? Are all face masks and hand gels created equal? And how do you manage the risks associated with interim solutions to logistics and sales problems such as direct to store deliveries and ship from store fulfilment? How is consumer demand likely to peak and by how much over what period of time? How will social behavior change and what do you need to protect your staff from physical threats and verbal abuse?

Dealing with the E-Commerce online challenge

Many expect online sales to grow exponentially as people stay home and shop. However, whilst some businesses can expect an immediate drop in sales, others will peak briefly before a big fall. But then others manage huge, sustained growth. Which begs the question, how can you decide if an increase in demand will be sustained or temporary and how do you meet demand when increases in orders can actually work against you! Then there are challenges with Distribution Centers, which can become your greatest asset or biggest health, safety and brand liability! What are the lessons learned from those who maintained their online offering without any amendments, versus those who adapted dynamically to the evolving retail landscape? Should you shut immediately and make fundamental changes to infrastructure, or reduce numbers of workers and your SLA’s?

Get ready… Planning to re-open

No matter how challenging you may find the COVID-19 crisis as it develops, many are finding that emerging from the Crisis is posing some of the biggest challenges of the whole pandemic. How do you engage with staff throughout the epidemic and how will that help get them back to work? What are the biggest fears of those returning to work? How do you get customers to come back in store? What government imposed constraints are you likely to have to work within? What operational restructuring is that going to demand? Can people touch products or try on garments when shopping? Do those items then need to be quarantined if not purchased, and for how long? What about store returns? How can they be sanitized? Are you going to experience a returns peak? And does the first store to reopen look valiant or avaricious?

For full agenda click here…

The Digital Retail Risk – Australia COVID-19 Crisis Briefing will give you answers to all of the above key questions and many, many more.

Learn. Check. Follow…

Learn what to expect.
Check you have not overlooked anything in your own planning.
Follow the examples of those who have and are successfully working through this crisis and who have often learnt the hard way.

Remember. Mistakes cost lives. This COVID-19 Crisis Briefing will help you avoid making mistakes. And why wouldn’t you set aside the time to access this vast wealth of experience when it is FREE to all.*

No Press. No recording.

*To participate you MUST register. This virtual conference is open to bona fide health, safety and risk management professionals only. It is being conducted under the Chatham House Rule.

Vendors wishing to be involved should contact Paul Bessant at [email protected]

To register click here…

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