Keeping shoppers in line on Black Friday

November 18, 2011|By Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff

In 2005, a Black Friday crowd at a Walmart store in Danvers got out of control… (Michele McDonald for the…)

The doorbuster deals are ready, Christmas songs are piping through store speakers, and holiday hires are in place. Now, retailers are girding for the next challenge: crowd control on the day after Thanksgiving.

Merchants here and across the country are rolling out a variety of strategies aimed at keeping sale-seeking shoppers safe when they show up before sunrise on Black Friday, the year’s busiest retail day.

The experience has often been more like a contact sport than shopping excursion - partly because of promotions that warn of limited quantities and one-hour-only deals. But this season, retailers promise, they are determined to bring a semblance of civility to Black Friday bargain hunting. Some of the measures aimed at promoting order in the aisles include limits on the number of people entering a store at once, online floor plans so customers can map out routes ahead of time, and staggered sales throughout the day to minimize swarms.

National retailers have been putting more emphasis on crowd management tactics in recent years following several Black Friday injuries and deaths caused by insufficient security and unruly mobs fighting for merchandise. The day has traditionally been marked by long lines of cold, anxious consumers who wait for hours before being set loose to race for flat-screen televisions, hot toys, and other products until shelves are stripped bare.

In addition to reducing the potential for bodily harm - and the liability it creates - merchants are also hoping that making in-store shopping less stressful on Black Friday will help them attract more customers and better compete with online rivals.

“Stores thought that creating this frenzy was good for business. As it turns out, this puts retailers in a very precarious legal position and it creates a very inefficient system for consumers to take advantage of sales,’’ said Marshal Cohen, chief retail analyst for the NPD Group, a market research firm in New York. “Retailers have finally figured out that they need to make it easier and more civilized for customers to shop. A happy consumer is a consumer that spends more money.’’

Target, for example, will try to quell store-opening chaos by creating a buffer zone of at least 10 feet between entrances and the start of lines. Groups of about 30 people will be ushered into the buffer zones and allowed to enter shops at timed intervals - about every 10 to 20 seconds. After the doors close behind them, the next group waiting outside will move into the buffer area.