“While many shoppers seem ready to go back in-store, particularly to buy clothing, the experience is anything but business-as-usual”, stated Greg Petro, CEO of First Insight, a customer-driven digital product testing solution for brands and retailers. “The Coronavirus has moved the industry away from high-touch to low-touch. The ‘new normal’ for retailers will be to work with shoppers in a hands-free way to help them to find what they need while also giving them the space to feel comfortable, particularly with high-risk groups like Baby Boomers. Not feeling safe trying on clothing also begs many questions on how retailers and brands will need to adapt their return and exchange policy in the coming weeks.”

As stores reopen across the US, the study by First Insight found that most consumers (54%) are ready to buy apparel in-store, followed by home improvement (36%) and footwear (32%). 65% of women say they will not feel safe trying on clothes in dressing rooms, 78% would not feel safe testing beauty products and 66% would not feel safe working with a sales associate. By comparison, 54% of men said they would not feel safe trying on clothes in dressing rooms, 64% would not feel safe testing beauty products and 54% would not be comfortable working with a sales associate.

The study also found that, of the generations, Millennials feel the safest returning to the shopping environment overall.  Only 49% of Millennials surveyed said they would not feel safe trying on clothes in dressing rooms compared to 71% of Baby Boomers. Similarly, 58% would not feel safe testing beauty products compared to 86% of Baby Boomers, and 48% of Millennials would not feel safe working with a sales associate (72% in the Baby Boomers case).

Respondents felt that hand sanitizer and limiting the amount of people in-store (80%) and wearing a facemask (79%) would make them feel safest. Temperature checks (69%), self-checkout (69%) and farther distances between product racks or shelving (68%) ranked less important to consumers when considering safety of shopping experiences in-store.