The Touchpoints in a Shop That Get Missed, and Who Should Clean Them

Customers notice a dirty floor, but they feel a dirty counter. A sticky EFTPOS pad, a smeared mirror in the fitting room or a basket handle that hasn't been wiped in a week leaves an impression that a well-mopped floor doesn't fix.

These are the touchpoints: the surfaces customers and staff put their hands on all day. Here is where they are in a typical store, what your cleaner should do with them, and what your staff can do between visits.

The touchpoints in a typical shop

At the entrance

Door handles and push plates, inside and out.
The lower part of the door glass and shopfront windows, where people push and children lean.
Hand sanitiser stations, including the pump and the stand.

Baskets and trolleys

Baskets are picked up by almost every customer and rarely cleaned. The handles collect grime fast, and the insides gather crumbs, leaves and receipts. In a supermarket, pharmacy or variety store they are one of the most handled things in the shop.

At the counter

The counter surface and its front edge, where customers rest their hands and bags.
EFTPOS terminals: the keypad, the screen and the card slot.
Customer-facing screens and signature pads.
Pens, if you still have them on the counter.
Bag and wrapping areas.

In the store

Display tables, especially the edges people lean on.
Shelf edges at hand height.
Testers and demonstration products: the counters around them and the test units themselves, where the store wants them cleaned.
Rail ends and hanger tops in clothing stores.
Mirrors at the end of aisles.

Fitting rooms

Door handles, locks or curtain edges.
Hooks, benches and seats.
Mirrors, which pick up fingerprints and makeup.
The floor, where pins, tags and hangers end up.

Back of house

Staff room tables, the fridge handle, microwave and kettle.
Staff toilet taps, flush buttons and door handles.
Stockroom door handles, light switches and the time clock or sign-in tablet.

What the cleaner should do each visit

On every visit, the touchpoints above should be cleaned and then disinfected where hygiene matters: counters, EFTPOS, door handles, fitting room hooks and handles, toilets and the staff kitchen. Cleaning removes the grime, and a disinfectant only works properly on a surface that is already clean, left wet for the time on the label. We explained why in reading a hospital-grade disinfectant label. The same rules apply in a shop.

A few things to get right:

Electronics need the right product. EFTPOS terminals and screens are cleaned with a cloth lightly dampened with a product the manufacturer allows, never sprayed directly. Your payment provider will usually say what is safe.
Testers are the store's call. Some stores want the cleaner to wipe tester units, others want only the counter around them. Put it in the scope.
Baskets need a routine. Wiping every basket every visit is rarely practical. Doing a set number each visit, or all of them weekly, keeps on top of it.
Mirrors and glass are streak-free or they aren't clean. A smeared mirror looks dirtier than one that wasn't touched.

The full task list for a regular retail clean is in what a regular retail cleaning contract should cover.

What staff can do during trading

A professional clean before open or after close starts the day right. During a busy day, the counter and fitting rooms need a quick reset that only staff can give. A simple routine is enough:

At open: a quick look at the entrance, door glass and counter.
Through the day: wipe the EFTPOS pad and counter between rushes with wipes kept under the counter, and clear fitting rooms every time they are used.
After a spill: clean it straight away and put out a wet floor sign. Leaving it for the cleaner tonight is a slip risk all afternoon.
At close: clear the counter, empty the fitting rooms and leave displays tidy so the cleaner can get to the surfaces.

Keep the routine to things that take a minute. Staff are there to sell, and a long list won't get done.

Busy periods

From November, foot traffic climbs and the touchpoints get used more. If your store is busy enough that the counter is never clear, it is worth adding a short daytime visit on the busiest days for the entrance, counter, fitting rooms and toilets. We covered other changes for the season in how often should a shop be cleaned.

Making sure it happens

Touchpoints are the first thing to slip when a clean is rushed, because a floor that hasn't been mopped is obvious and a counter edge that hasn't been wiped isn't. Two things help:

Name them in the scope. "Clean the counter" is vague. "Clean and disinfect counter surface and front edge, EFTPOS keypad and screen" is not.
Check the visits happen. Our cleaners sign in and out of every visit on our app inside a geofence around the store, with a photo. If something is missed, you raise it in our client portal and follow it through to the fix.

If you'd like a scope that names your store's touchpoints, ask for a quote and tell us how your store is laid out. Our commercial cleaning page explains how we work with retail.