Dear valued Customers and Partners,
A time for reflection and strength
Thumbzup recognises the arrival of COVID-19 as a time to reflect on the strength of our organisation and our resilience as a team and as a nation. The health, safety, and welfare of our clients, employees, and suppliers are a prime concern. Thumbzup has taken steps to ensure that our staff and services are prepared for operational sustainability and business continuity during this time.
‘Work from home’ has been implemented for our staff where possible and specific measures have been put in place to reduce the impact on staff in our offices in Centurion, Cape Town, Lahore, and Melbourne. All meetings are to be conducted via digital means as far as possible.
Be assured that our infrastructure will continue to run seamlessly as always. Thumbzup has recently moved our infrastructure into the Cloud providing a major advantage in terms of improved access, maintenance, and redundancy.
Our service levels to our Clients will remain a top priority and all our teams remain committed to supporting our Clients during this challenging time. There’s no time like the present to focus resources on what’s important and to help shape the industry to change and innovate in the current circumstances.
To this end, Thumbzup will be running a LinkedIn campaign to provide industry thought leadership.
Here are some of the current ideas and themes:
Contactless Payments
It has never been more opportune to raise awareness of the benefits of contactless payments, as it is one of the safest and most hygienic mechanisms to present card payments for both the customer and the cashier. At present in South Africa, contactless payments are limited to R500 per transaction, however, given the current climate, the industry should seriously consider increasing the limit to R1000.00 per transaction. Already some of the European countries are making contactless more viable.
“With immediate effect, Dutch banks are enabling customers to make more contactless payments in stores without having to enter their PIN, as part of the exceptional measures required to deter the spread of COVID-19.” Norwegian banks followed suit on the back of this announcement. – Finextra, a leading independent financial technology newswire research service.
Payment Mobility
Use mobile payment counters that are regularly sanitised, well-demarcated and well distributed across stores to limit the number of queues in-store and encourage social distancing. This not only limits queues but increases shopper confidence and reduces cart abandonment.
eCommerce and door-to-door deliveries
With the increase in eCommerce and door-to-door deliveries, Thumbzup is ready to assist in scaling up the following services:
- Self-checkout: enable customers with Android payment devices to process their baskets and make payment. This is particularly effective outside fitting rooms.
- Home delivery / click-and-collect: accept payment on delivery / collection and allow for electronic proof of delivery (ePOD). A photo can also be taken of the delivery / collection.
- Personal shoppers: Provide personal shoppers with a sanitised mobile payment device to scan a barcode, use the same device for delivery management, and payment acceptance on delivery, thereby facilitating the end-to-end business and transaction process.
Ramp up the customer experience and WOW your customers
What a wonderful opportunity to re-think the customer experience from start to finish. Already many retailers are using this opportunity to differentiate themselves and make a positive impact on their customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are a few thoughts, provided by some of our staff:
- Map your customer touchpoints and make sure that all areas of interaction allow for sanitisation
- Make sure each basket and trolley is cleaned thoroughly before being returned to its bay
- Place disposable paper wrappers on trolley handles
- Provide all shoppers with anti-bacterial wipes or disposable gloves as they enter the store
- Wipe down every till, payment device and counter after each new customer
- Encourage contactless payments
- Cashiers should not touch bank cards, loyalty cards, etc.
- In the long-term convert loyalty cards into QR codes
In summary, we will ensure that our business practices support our customers, staff and the larger community during the COVID-19 pandemic. We will continue to think out the box, be innovative and most importantly we will continue to communicate with you.
Stay well and stay safe.
Yours sincerely
Saul Gorin
