The latest COVID-19 pandemic has brought once in a lifetime situation, forcing people to stay indoors and going out of home is now more about surviving rather than enjoying. People are now using face masks, shields, and following social distancing rules while going outside to buy essentials, jobs, or any other need. Coronavirus has changed the way business transactions are conducted. Especially with payment, Zero-touch methods such as QR codes and Near-field communication (NFC) are at an all-time high showing a tremendous shift from its earlier cash exchange. And this trend is likely to continue with businesses looking to serve customers with all the pandemic protocols.

Foremost Priority: Communicating Hygiene Standards
After six months, Coronavirus is still showing peaks and will take at least 1-2 years to overcome even with the vaccine. With more than six months since Coronavirus began, we have more or less accepted this as part of human evolution and are still moving on with all the precautions. Hygiene standards are the foremost priority. And businesses can convey these protocols with standard hygiene QR codes to the customers.

Displaying them outside of their stores will give more assurance to the customers. And on scanning them, retailers can show customers with sanitization standards followed in the premises. Further pasting them to the POS receipts can keep everyone aware of the safety guidelines with the products.

From small retailer shops to medium and large corporations, all have adopted these contactless methods in this pandemic situation. Business understands that today's customers are more aware of these present scenarios and will visit only when there is no contact whatsoever. Several new methods are now applied by businesses to give customers more assurance and reliability of their services in this pandemic time.

Appointment-based shopping can give people time and space during the non-peak hours to enjoy buying things at ease. This way, brands can help them get custom notification based on their history and schedule their timing to keep things clear ahead of their time.

Businesses can also restrict the number of customers on their premises by sending them SMS and video-optimized solutions to save their time. These SMS marketing methods are highly sophisticated and alert customers with the right time to get inside malls. With videos, retailers can ask their customers directly to know their demands and solve them as quickly as possible.

The Trend for Digital Payments

Digital methods are more precise and provide a seamless transaction from one device to another. These touchless methods were part of the transactions, but with the pandemic and contactless requirements, digital methods have become the primary methods for conducting business transactions. Any business with limited information can open a business account with their payment provider and get a custom QR Code created from an online QR Code platform for their specific needs. These codes are always unique and present a new identity for your business in this digital age.

Especially the young generation is quite aware of these methods and enjoys touchless payments. At the same time, the older generations have also started to get a hold of these methods. Customers can direct their mobile camera from their mobile app and scan the QR code to begin paying the businesses for their product or services.

Contactless Feedback

With social distancing norms, staying contactless is how customers understand the value of keeping distance. They are often hesitant in exchanging cash notes, writing feedback, or making any sort of contact. Here, QR Code-based contactless visitor form is crucial in getting the right feedback from the customers. Most of the top brands were still using SMS and in-app notifications in this digital age. And with the prevailing pandemic scenario, this trend is likely to become the norm among businesses. You can easily put a QR or NFC tag on the exit places and allow customers to connect with you in this once in a lifetime pandemic situation.

Contactless Delivery

Most of the food retail brands have also started offering contactless delivery. Here, the delivery partner puts the order on a nearby clean surface. A message and notification are then sent to the customer, who can then pick up their order from that specified place. And in the pandemic, many customers opted to buy products or groceries online and get things delivered at their doorstep.

Conclusion

Earlier touchless payments by Venmo, Apple Pay, and Square were considered as novelty ones – as only a few followed them. But with these pandemic circumstances, zero-touch retail has shown a way forward in this digital era. You can use smartphone technology to scan and pay them directly from your wallet or bank, thus avoiding any contact whatsoever. Businesses can further leverage this technology to communicate with their customers, provide them assurance, take feedback, and get seamless payment for keeping their operation running high even in this pandemic. All the national organizations and the world health organization (WHO) have recommended using contactless payment methods to avoid the spread of Coronavirus in these dire consequences. And these NFC payment methods have emerged as the best way to get things moving in the right direction.

Author's Bio: 

Apoorva Hegde is a Content Marketer at Beaconstac