Exteriors Are the New Interiors
With curbside pick-up booming, maintaining curb appeal is simply good business.
by Bryan Presutti, Operations Manager, ECIS
Your business makes its first impression the moment customers drive onto your parking lot and see your storefront. Business owners and property managers need to always be thinking: How clean are my lot and my facility? Is my lot well-marked? Is the environment I’m creating for my customers inviting and safe right now?
What your property looks like always matters, but the COVID-19 pandemic has made this truer than ever!
The way people shop has changed.
Curbside pickup has become a preferred alternative to in-store shopping for shoppers, and businesses, who want to minimize contact between individuals to help stop the spread. As more and more customers began requesting safer shopping experiences in the earliest days of quarantine, retailers listened. Now, more than 120 of the Top 500 retailers nationwide now offer curbside pick-up for items purchased online – an increase of 536% increase, all between the end of 2019 and August 2020.
Local retailers and restaurants everywhere have followed suit, offering the option to buy online and pick-up curbside at a brick-and-mortar location. CNBC has reported that at the onset of quarantine, online sales in the United States jumped 49% in just one month – March 12, 2020 to April 11, 2020. This compared to a baseline set between March 1, 2020 and March 11, 2020. And, as shoppers planned for the atypical 2020 holiday shopping season, many said they would be seeking out businesses offering curbside pickup, to avoid possible exposure to COVID-19.
Cleaning up during COVID.
At ECIS, our range of services includes everything to make sure your lot and buildings are looking their best for your drive-up customers. Our team can make sure your building is power washed, your lot is washed, lined and swept, and that your property is clean, inviting and as easy to navigate.
Additionally, we handle picking up all pandemic-specific litter you might otherwise find collecting in your lots. Property managers have told us that items such as masks, rubber gloves, hand wipes and other personal safety items – things that have become everyday necessities – are being regularly left behind. Everyone understands the need for them, but no one wants to see them on the ground at your store.
Of course, as a business owner or property manager you already know that regular lot maintenance delivers significant return on investment even during the most normal of times. In fact, our team can design your property – from building washing to landscaping to painting lot lines – and maintain it on a regular schedule that will extend its life.
If you are experiencing increased traffic to your business for curbside pick-up, now’s definitely NOT the time to cut back on these services. Instead, put your best foot forward. Customers may not be getting out of their cars, but they still expect to enjoy a positive retail experience.
Why spend money to get set up for something that may be going away?
Why spend money on something that’s going away after the pandemic?
Simply put, establishing a program of routine facility maintenance with ECIS is a great way to establish and maintain a clean property at a great return on investment, but we understand your immediate concern.
It turns out the trend of curbside pick-up doesn’t appear to be going away any time soon. Shoppers have largely found their curbside experiences to be positive, and most say they will choose the curbside pick-up option as often as possible during the pandemic and beyond. They don’t just appreciate the public health safety of curbside pick-up; they love the convenience and efficiency of it.
That’s why some experts are predicting this trend to extend well beyond the pandemic. With that in mind, think about taking your curb appeal to the next level.
Give the pros at ECIS a call to discuss our solutions to your property needs. We can help you… a lot.
Are you planning ahead yet?
Spring is less than two months away. Remember ECIS when it comes time for a seasonal spruce up, including our full slate of power washing and landscaping services. Looking for customized property design and maintenance? We do that, too!