As the COVID-19 crisis goes on spreading and affecting the daily lives and businesses of humanity, it is very clear that post this crisis the retail store businesses and the shopping behavior will also be affected. The retail stores will be quiet. Very few customers will be rushing in and out of the store. In this time of quarantine, the people are more aware than ever, they are watching everyday how the pandemic is overpowering country after country, state after state and city after city. The people feel a sense of fear and alarm whenever they step outside. Consumers are afraid to step out and purchase and are switching to online shopping with doorstep services where they do not have to go anywhere. The retailers on the other hand are losing business and have nowhere to go with the leftover inventory. 

During this tough time, the retailer should come up with a plan so resilient that their sales do not have to suffer after this pandemic or in any other such crisis that hits the world in the future. They need to understand the current situation and the consumers’ response to it. Currently, the consumers are panicking and stocking up to last as many days as possible without leaving home. They are scared. The retailers are starting to approach the online mediums to clear their inventory. They are involving with the big e-commerce companies like Amazon and Flipkart to get rid of the leftover products of their inventory. After the pandemic, it is expected that the people will be over the panic phase and enter a phase where they can step out of their houses but the fear still exists within them. The retailers need to prepare for this phase. 

The retailers need to start with the customer research and the analysis of changing purchase pattern. They need to predict the purchase requirements and medium post this period and plan a business model beneficial enough to recover all the losses they are dealing with right now. Here, comes a chance to be innovative and bring in new technologies in the retail world. There are several modern technologies that can be used. For instance: IoT in the store to digitally link the store shelves and inventory, augmented reality and virtual reality for an interactive online experience. After the normalization of conditions across the globe, the consumers could be categorized under two labels. One, who are not comfortable to go outside their houses and are still afraid. Two, who are sick of being locked up in their houses and go out every chance they get. Virtual reality shopping can satisfy both these categories. 

Virtual reality is using computer technology to create a simulated environment that delivers a simulated experience that can be similar to the real world. This method provides the means to extend to both the Internet shopper and offline shoppers giving them the same shopping experience as being in the physical store. The 360-degree 3D virtual reality stores aim to be interactive and at the same time ensures zero contact with the outside world. Virtual reality stores will allow the retailers to create, implement and experiment shelf arrangements a lot more easily than in physical retail stores where this has to be done manually. Planograms are used to create product arrangements in the physical store. The same can be done in a virtual reality store. 

Planograms can be created for the virtual reality 360-degree store’s shelf space arrangement. The advantage here for the retailers and the consumers is that it would be possible to create product arrangements as per every individual customer. This means no two customers will have the same products or product arrangement in the store. This can be done by analyzing the customer research reports and the shopping history while choosing the products that go on the shelf for each consumer (i.e. in accordance with their preference). Also, use the visual merchandising techniques like color blocking, cross-merchandising, etc. to enhance the planograms and increase the interactivity of the store and improve the shopping experience of the consumers. 

A virtual reality store incorporated with the appropriate mix of merchandising methods and planograms as the product arrangement tool is capable of solving the two most common issues of both online and offline shoppers. It solves the issue of time wastage while racing in store aisles to find one product. It also resolves the issue of wasting time as the online consumer scan the never-ending pages of the internet to find an item that is suitable for him/her. This transition will be lucrative for both retailers and consumers in this current scenario.  

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