Retail Store Industrial Supply Sales During Covid-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 altered operations around the world, affecting buy costs and delivery times. For the Santa Clara outlet of Tritan Stores in Silicon Valley, a store dedicated to industrial supply sales, the warning lights turned on in January 2020. Consumption of masks, overalls and gloves skyrocketed. From the beginning of the pandemic to the present date, the branch continues working to satisfy customer needs, especially for the health and government sectors. Before the pandemic, the store worked with open doors and self-service. Now the sales agents absorbed those tasks and customers experience involves increased waiting time. This article presents five essential points that retail stores need to evaluate, to insure a safer and dynamic environment for employees and customers during thepandemic. We use sales data extracted from financial systems as a reference, to identify sales patterns, customer type and product’s rotation. We conduct a motion study ich allowed us to identify one bottleneck and two risks. The goal of this research is to set a precedent on how to manage activities of retail stores during pandemics. The new reality changes the store's vision. “And change is the only constant†Heraclitus 500 B.C.