A tale of 2 Black Fridays

I just got back from Thanksgiving Weekend and I have a business tale to tell.  This was the first year I went to a Black Friday sale.  My sister wanted to get a couple Kindles that were actually a remarkably good deal at one of the big box stores (who shall remain nameless).  Our experiences couldn’t have been more different.  Mine was enjoyable, hers was miserable (which made mine a bit miserable because after I was done with my shopping I had to wait the rest of the time with her).

First what they did right.

We arrived there late because we were waiting the finish of the Texas v. Texas A&M game.  Also, my family lives in the Rio Grande Valley, so any trip to a store means a 45min drive.  So we didn’t get there till after midnight, which is when they opened. The line stretched around the building, but it was an orderly line and we were in the store within 30 mins.  So far so good.

My experience was the good one.  I mostly went to accompany my sister but I saw some DVD box sets that were a really good deal in the flyer so I thought I’d buy them.  I found them easily.  While my sister went to wait in line at Electronics, I went to find the line for checkout.  On my way I saw them stocking some pillows that were $3.  I need new pillows to replace the decorative ones on my bed (yes I use two different sets of pillows – ones to sleep, ones for show), so I pick up those as well.  (might be a good plan to have employees randomly stock end caps to draw attention to them.  It creates the idea of , “They’re restocking, this might sell out!”) I then get in line.  The line stretches in a C-shape around the store.  I’m halfway around the store at the Electronics section again.  I get ready for a long wait, it only takes 30-40 mins.  Not bad considering how long the line is.  They had every register open and had someone directing people to the next available register.  So I’m out of there fairly quickly.  Not bad.

Good things:

• Quick, orderly entrance
• multiple registers
• director of traffic
• easy to get product

Things that they could have improved (for their sake)

Every endcap that around the perimeter of the store (which the lines followed) should have featured some impulse buy.  Items under $10 that scream “Grab Me!”

Now the bad experience.

My sister wanted to purchase 2 kindles, one for herself, one as a gift.  We quickly locate the kindles behind their locked display case.  We find a uniformed employee and let them know we’d like to purchase two of the kindles.  They say, “Look for the tall thin guy.  He has the keys to this area.”  Seriously that’s what they said.

So after a few minutes we locate the tall thin guy.  He tells us that everything in electronics has to be purchased through the electronics section,  for which we have to get in line.  It’s a long line, but it kind of makes sense.  It ensures a first come/first served result for electronics like X-boxes, Playstations, etc.  So we get in line.  My sister, and I eventually, wait 4hrs.

Here’s what they did wrong:

• Only 2 registers open in electronics
• You could only pay for Electronics not anything else, which meant after waiting in line, you had to wait in line again to buy the rest of your stuff.
• After the lines disappeared at the front of the store, they didn’t supplement their registers at electronics.
• Did a poor job of pulling product for those waiting in line.

You read that right, they only had 2 registers open in the electronics section.  So on top of the fact that everyone who wants something from electronics has to get in line (whether it’s headphones or an X-box), you only have 2 people to ring them up.  At a minimum they should have brought in more registers.  6 seems like a good amount.  Re design the layout for Black Friday and put 4 extra temporary registers in.

My company runs a boutique that does 7K a week normally.  For Halloween we do 20-30K.  We normally have 1 register, for Halloween we have 3.  We set them up 2 months before Halloween and hire new people around the same time.

The store we were at also sells the Square Up device that allows for mobile payments, perhaps you could have a couple sales associates armed with iPads to ring up people in line for smaller electronics items?  More convenient, moves the line quicker, and increases customer satisfaction.

Only pay for electronics.  This actually makes sense in a weird way.  The line would have taken much longer if, on top of getting something from electronics you also had to ring them up for everything else.  The problem, for the store, was people decided not to buy anything else after having waited so long in line.  There were several hundred dollars in merchandise just left aside.  That’s lost revenue.

A possible solution would have been to give electronics customers priority at the front registers.  Have a couple sales people whose only job is to take customers from electronics up to the front registers to facilitate their checkout process.  You don’t lose sales and you’re thanking your customers who spent time and a lot of money by treating them like VIPs.

Not supplementing registers.  While my sister was waiting I took a friend of ours home and then came back.  When I came back the lines for the front registers were gone.  My first thought was, why not use some of the employees who are now just walking around doing recovery (or just talking) to start running people up to the front?  You get a line of sales people at the back with carts and they take the customers product to the front for them.  Again, you’d make the customers feel special, and you’d move the line faster.

I found out they were kind of doing this, but doing it poorly.  They had one guy, take 3 people up at a time.  But they had the electronics registers closed.  How does that make sense?  They still had the cashiers there, but they had stopped ringing people up.  The line did pick up a bit after they began running people to the front, but would have moved faster if they’d used both. (or had just had 6 registers to begin with)

Pulling product.  Again, they only allotted one guy to pull product.  I can understand not wanting multiple keys for your stuff, but at least make sure the guy doesn’t get distracted.  When my sister and I finally get to the front of the line and tell him we want two Kindles, he gets distracted by another sales associate who asks him a question, proceeds to talk with her, then has to ask again.  Having a couple people pull product would have really helped.

Final Thoughts

I know a lot of this can sound like harping, but my sister will never buy electronics again on Black Friday.  If enough people have bad experiences then stores will lose out on sales.  I had a good experience and would gladly do that again.  My sister had two previous good experiences which is why we went in the first place.  If you put together a great shopping experience on the day when everyone complains about shopping experiences, then you’ll win year after year.

Suggestions

• Don’t skimp on staff.  Hire temps and always have more people than you need, you can let them go throughout the day as things slow down.
• Have multiple registers open.  Look at previous years and have enough registers going, staffed by your most experienced operators.
• Merchandise with an eye towards impulse buying.  If you know you’re going to have a long line, pepper that line with displays that are within reach of customers who have to wait.
• Brief everyone on what’s going on.  Had the first person we talked to told us to get in line for electronics we’d have been less upset (even though the wait would have been the same).  Even if it’s not their department, they should still know the rules.
• Have an after-action report.  At the end of the day (or the next day if everyone’s been up all night) go over what could have been improved and write it down for next year.

I’ll say it again, if you can deliver a great experience that people can offer as a counter example to everyone else’s horrible experiences, you’ll win on Black Friday.  That’s how you win the word-of-mouth advertising battle.  If you can get just one, “Sorry to hear about your experience, but I had a great time at such-and-such store,” you’ll get repeat customers every time, not just on Black Friday, but every day.