Now is the Time to Prioritize Grocery Store Retail Facility Maintenance
As a Grocery Store Brand, Your Stores are Community Pillars
Thousands of people visit and order from your stores to keep their lives moving. More and more, grocery stores are also becoming community hotspots, with brands upgrading top-performing stores to include dining (beyond the usual cafes or small eateries), live entertainment and rental spaces, areas for other brands to open in-store locations, and more. These investments help grocery store brands compete with one another and add value for their patrons who want more from their weekly grocery store trip.
With this expansion comes a greater need for grocery store retail facility maintenance. While you likely already have a retail facility maintenance solution in place (because most retail brands outsource this), more investment in your stores or a larger number of stores overall requires a greater investment in facility maintenance. However, these are not the only reasons that a stronger facilities maintenance strategy is important today.
Below, we’ll explore several more reasons why a grocery store retail facility maintenance solution is so pressing. And when we say facilities maintenance, we are not referring to janitorial, cleaning, or disinfection services. We’re referring to the upkeep and maintenance of brand assets such as signage, lighting systems, and building exteriors and interiors. Within these high-level categories are countless other assets and brand touchpoints that must be maintained in order to deliver the experience that your customers expect.
Why Facilities Maintenance is Critical for Brands Today
Customer Experiences — Perhaps the greatest reason why a grocery store retail facility maintenance program is needed is to protect and enhance the customer experience. Well-maintained stores equate to delightful shopping experiences — in turn strengthening loyalty and helping you protect revenue from going to a competitor.
Brand Image — Equally important as the customer experience is protecting your grocery store brand image. Again, grocery stores are pillars in their communities with extremely recognizable brands. By keeping all assets that customers experience on a daily basis looking their best through a facilities maintenance strategy, the equity you’ve built in your brand with your customers is preserved and your brand is strengthened and protected.
Reduced Costs — Consistently maintaining brand assets throughout all of your stores ensures that you avoid potentially costly future replacements or other unexpected repair costs. Brand assets are kept looking their best and functioning properly on a cycle that works best for you. This consistent approach prevents wasted resources and asset failures.
Increased Competition — More grocery store brands are opening more locations nationwide. We’re not talking about just a few here and there. We’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of new planned locations throughout the rest of this year and the next few years. At some point, it’s likely that a competitor will open nearby. You don’t want to be the brand that looks old, under-performing, and unwelcoming by having brand assets in poor operating condition and appearance.
Compliance — Your stores have to meet various health and safety regulations. While the brand assets themselves don’t always directly influence this, their condition affects whether someone will want to use them and whether they feel safe. Bathroom and building interior features, the design of certain spaces, the brightness and distribution of lighting, and more all play a meaningful role in helping you meet compliance requirements.
Build the Program You Need to Deliver the Best Experience
If you are a grocery store brand and have a plan to open up more locations, or if you simply need to reinvest in your existing footprint, Stratus is the team you’ve been looking for. As a brand implementation company, we provide nationwide facilities maintenance solutions for grocery stores, restaurants, retailers, and countless other industries. We can help you through a grocery store retail facility maintenance program as well.
Through our dedicated program management team, in-house signage manufacturing capabilities, advanced technology solutions, and network of more than 4,000 field partners across the country, our team is ready to help you build the program you need to deliver meaningful lasting experiences for your customers as they shop with your brand.