Gone are the days of leisurely browsing the aisles of grocery stores.
Instead, customers are getting used to new grocery store fixtures: Mask-wearing employees, plexiglass barriers at cash registers, one-way aisles and antibacterial wipe dispensers. Some of those will become the norm. Others will fade away as coronavirus cases decline. But many analysts predict the pandemic will change how customers stock their fridges and pantries and shape their expectations in the months or years ahead.
Here’s a round-up of five changes sparked by the pandemic:
No touching, please
Customers are more squeamish about germs — and that could linger.
Grocers and other retailers have touted new and expanded contactless approaches to shop or check out. Walmart, for example, added a new feature to its smartphone app that allows customers to scan a QR code instead of touching a screen at the cash register. Other apps, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, also allow customers to skip the credit card…
