Retail Checklist: Tips for Black Friday crowd control

Bay Shore, N.Y. -- With a week to Black Friday, Lawrence, a Tensator Group Co., and a provider of queue management solutions, has issued its top five considerations for Black Friday crowd management.



By bearing the following considerations in mind and implementing simple queue management solutions, customers will be able to safely and efficiently move through checkout lines, according to Lawrence, and retailers can rescue sales that would have been otherwise abandoned.



Here is what retailers should keep in mind as they gear up for the big day:



Safety first: Allocate enough queue space to accommodate everyone looking to enter the store or the checkout lines.



Have extra barriers on-hand in case the need arises to better define spaces around hot selling items or to establish additional queuing spaces.



Utilize unproductive space. Turn wait time into additional browsing/shopping time by using in-queue merchandising solutions. Keeping customers engaged and entertained will make wait time more pleasurable and smart retailers can expect to benefit from additional revenue generation by offering impulse products.



Communication is key with large crowds. Make sure all store signage is clear, visible and effective bottom line: Make customer service and satisfaction the top priority. Train your staff to be alert, attentive, know the safety rules and be service oriented.