Crowds, long lines, and Black Friday are synonymous. But just because some people thrive on the adrenaline and havoc that courses through this annual retail holiday, that doesn’t mean queue managers have to succumb to the masses.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration offers crowd management safety guidelines for retailers when it comes to special sales and promotional events, Black Friday in particular. We’ve taken their recommendations one step further and applied them to queue management so lines can be kept safe, orderly, and swift on the weekend after Thanksgiving.
1. Set up barricades or rope lines for crowd management well in advance of customers arriving at the store.
The last thing you want to be on Black Friday is reactive. It’s crucial for retailers to be completely prepared for the crowds ahead and have a plan about how they want people to filter into the store. Make sure that barricades are set up so that the line does not start right at the entrance to the store. By using heavy-duty stanchions with retractable belt barriers, you can create a clear line that can be expanded or contracted as needed, allowing for orderly crowd management entry and making it possible to divide crowds into small groups for the purpose of controlling the entrance.
2. Ensure lines have an adequate number of breaks and turns at regular intervals to reduce the risk of customers pushing from the rear and possibly crushing others, including workers.
One accidental or intentional shove can send a long, restless line of people into a toppling chain of dominoes. Injuries can and do happen, especially on Black Friday. Set the tone by creating the kind of line you can manipulate to keep customers moving and to keep dangerous situations at bay. Stanchions can be used to form a snaking line and belts can be recoiled to provide openings at set intervals. This is crowd control and savvy queue management in one solution.
3. Designate workers to explain approach and entrance procedures to the arriving public, and direct them to lines or entrances.
The general feeling on Black Friday is one of anticipation, tension, and a desire to just get things rolling. Not knowing what’s ahead or how many people have the jump on you in the store can lead to poor decision-making by antsy consumers who are waiting in line. Provide shoppers with as much information as possible. While there should be workers designated to clearly explain procedures to shoppers, signage can also help get the message across, from tall banner signage to post-top signs. Even consider creating signage that includes maps of the store with hot-ticket items starred or highlighted in some way – shoppers will have a distraction on which to focus (forgetting, ideally, about the actual wait) while they’re calmly getting their game plan in place.
4. Consider using mechanisms such as numbered wristbands or tickets to provide the earlier arriving customers with first access to sale items.
Virtual queuing can potentially accommodate this measure as early customers will be in possession of tickets printed with their check-in and arrival times. And there’s one thing you can guarantee about shoppers on Black Friday – they will have their smartphones with them, communicating with their party, looking for a better deal online, making reservations for lunch. So if you want to provide yet another route for people to register for their spot in the store beyond virtual queuing kiosks, allow this check-in process to happen via mobile phone as well.
5. Shortly before opening, remind waiting crowds of the entrance process (i.e., limiting entry to small groups, redemption of numbered tickets, etc.).
All the rules you’ve enforced in the queue up to this point need to be reinforced. So just before people are permitted to enter the retail space, they need to be reminded of what’s ahead. Employ digital signage with video, graphic, or visual messages to deliver information consistently. Consumers are automatically drawn to a large screen – keep the details concise and clear so they are easily absorbed and observed by every shopper.
Black Friday is a challenge to retail environments, but this weekend needn’t be a danger zone or thought of as an insurmountable chunk of days that must simply be endured. Thinking ahead, providing information, and demanding order through very clear queue management techniques can keep a Black Friday from turning truly dark.
About the Author
Perry Kuklin is the director of marketing and business development for Lavi Industries, a provider of public guidance, queue management systems, and crowd control solutions. To learn more about retail queue management for Black Friday and all year long, check out Lavi's latest e-book, Black Friday Queue Management Essentials.