The United States’ partial and phased lifting of its lockdown could be carried out with the aid of some nifty tech, thanks to Texas-based IWMS (Integrated Workspace Management System) firm Tango, and its retail location-visualization tool.

What Tango’s tech does is simple. Any store that hopes to reopen in the United States will need to ascertain how much exposure it has had to the coronavirus, especially during the lockdown. Based on the risk-reward assessment, these stores will draw up plans to reopen.

Determining a store’s COVID-19 exposure

“Before drawing up plans to reopen, what retailers are trying to figure out is how exposed their stores are to COVID-19 cases over time, and how the relative exposure of a location impacts a brand’s re-opening strategy,” said Pranav Tyagi, CEO, of Tango, “The first step to answering this question is to understand the flow of COVID-19 cases in the geographies where their stores exist. Our ‘Case Exposure by Brand Locations vs Category Locations’ does that, as well as it does for the store’s peer category.”

Once these findings are in, Tango’s location-visualization tool draws up a map-based representation of COVID-affected areas in the counties where these stores operate. It provides these insights on a dashboard that stores can look at and assess before making the decision of whether or not to reopen, and which locations are safe to re-start business.

“It helps retailers visualize locations on a map depicting the exposure per million cases in the counties where stores are located. Users can then zoom to a State level to see all counties thematically shaded along with their locations,” said Pranav, “Clicking on a specific county will also visualize cases per million overtime for that county and data regarding the drop in working hours which will affect disposable income and therefore sales at that location.”

Tech to cover all American counties

What Tango’s information does is collectively provide a tool for retailers to understand where they are in the COVID-19 pandemic, and plan re-start strategies accordingly. Tango is making its tech available free of charge to business in over 70 categories like clothing, convenience stores, and F&B to name a few. US-based businesses with a minimum of 25 branches can use the tool —Tango says it covers all American counties.

The United States has begun a long and painful walk to recovery even as the country has seen its COVID-19 cases rise to over a million. On Sunday, states like Oklahoma, Georgia, South Carolina, Colorado, Tennessee, and Montana announced plans to lift their respective state-wide lockdown orders. As a result, restaurants, salons, churches, and retail stores have slowly begun re-opening businesses that have suffered by way of the lockdown.

First Published:Apr 29, 2020 7:43 PM IST