Modern retailers in every sector need to make a proactive effort to ensure that no one is excluded from their premises. Customers should be able to enter your store, browse your products, and find the information they need to make purchases.
If you have set up your business without considering the needs of a diverse customer base, you are risking financial and reputational losses. Here are six ways to make your retail store more accessible for disabled customers to ensure that you are maximizing your potential income and, more importantly, offering everyone the opportunity to enjoy your products or services.
1. Install automated sliding doors
When disabled customers approach your store, do they need to battle against heavy doors, climb steps, or move their wheelchair through a narrow entrance? If so, many may choose not to even attempt to enter your store. To ensure that no one is prevented from entering your store, consider installing sliding doors which open automatically when someone approaches. Visit evoproducts.com for more information on automated sliding doors.
2. Welcome medical support/service animals
More and more disabled people are enjoying the benefits of service animals, which help them in their day to day lives. Service dogs are a common sight nowadays, and having a dog with them should not prevent them from being able to shop. While you might have a ‘no dogs’ policy in general, make it clear with signage that service dogs are welcome.
3. Provide relevant staff training
When a disabled person enters your store, does your team have an understanding of how they should interact with them? If not, they may inadvertently neglect or possibly offend a disabled customer. Provide training for your staff that gives them the skills they need to support disabled customers sensitively. For example, customers with limited sight may need help with reading product labels or finding what they are looking for.
4. Be inclusive and diverse in your marketing
If you display posters in your store and/or distribute printed or digital marketing materials, try to be more inclusive when choosing models. It is important that people feel represented so that they can connect with a brand.
5. Design your store with accessibility in mind
While disabilities manifest in lots of different ways, most people will benefit from a more spacious design. This means plenty of space around displays, wide walkways, ramps, elevators to different levels, and wide doorways. You might also consider lowering the sales desk’s height and displays so that people in wheelchairs or restricted mobility can use the store independently.
6. Be open to feedback from disabled customers
You should be giving all your customers to opportunity to provide feedback on your services and products, and this includes your accessibility. Customer surveys should address accessibility, and employees should be open to listening to the comments they receive from customers on a day to day basis. When you receive feedback from customers, make sure that you respond positively and make it clear you value their input, and then implement change where possible.
