Walmart Taking Steps To Prevent Another Black Friday Trampling

[georgiapeach717]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/business/11security.html?_r=1

 

 

A year after an unruly crowd trampled a worker to death at a Wal-Mart store, the nation’s retailers are preparing for another Black Friday, the blockbuster shopping day after Thanksgiving. Along with offering $300 laptops and $99 navigation devices, stores are planning new safety measures to make sure the festive day does not take another deadly turn.

 

Last year, frenzied shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., trampled Jdimytai Damour, a temporary store worker who died soon afterward. To prevent any repeat, Wal-Mart has sharply changed how it intends to manage the crowds.

 

That new plan, developed by experts who have wrangled throngs at events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics, will affect how customers approach and enter the stores, shop, check out and exit. Each store will have its own customized plan. The hope is for an orderly Black Friday, a seemingly incongruous notion.

 

The most significant change at Wal-Mart is that the majority of its discount stores (as opposed to its Supercenters) will open Thanksgiving morning at 6 a.m. and stay open through Friday evening. Last year, those stores closed Thanksgiving evening and reopened early Friday morning. By keeping the stores open for 24 hours, Wal-Mart is hoping for a steady flow of shoppers instead of mammoth crowds swelling outside its stores in the wee hours of Friday.

 

In another new twist this year, shoppers at Wal-Mart will not have to sprint toward a pile of flat-screen televisions and scuffle with one another to get one. Rather, customers will be able to enter the store at any time and line up at merchandise displays for the must-have items on their lists. When the products go on sale Friday at 5 a.m., workers will supervise the lines, giving shoppers the merchandise in the order in which they joined the line — until the goods are out of stock.

 

(Only a small percentage of stores will not be open 24 hours; most Wal-Mart Supercenters are already open 24 hours.)

 

Another problem in the past was the bottleneck at store entrances. Like many big-box retailers, Wal-Mart does not have multiple entrances and exits to spread around customer traffic. So this year the chain will put workers in front of its stores to direct customers and keep them moving.

 

“We are committed to looking for ways to make our stores even safer for our customers and associates this holiday season,” said David Tovar, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, adding that the retailer was “confident our customers can look forward to a safe and enjoyable shopping experience at Wal-Mart.”

 

Aggressive shoppers are common the day after Thanksgiving. So crowd control plans, which vary by retailer, are critical. And they are especially important now, given the economy. Newly frugal consumers want more for less, and stores plan to drum up sales with stunning deals.

 

This year, for the first time, the National Retail Federation created a comprehensive set of guidelines for crowd control at stores. The guidelines note that special markdowns and historically low discounts have led to larger crowds.

 

“Retailers are very much trying to make themselves stand out in an environment like this,” Ellen Davis, a spokeswoman for the industry group, said in a conference call this week. But she added that “retailers need to understand that many of these sales and promotional periods might draw customers who are more insistent about getting a good deal.”

 

The federation said retailers were performing dress rehearsals with their employees. Some stores plan to serve drinks to shoppers, or offer entertainment while they are in line, to maintain calm. Also, the stores say that creating a rapport with customers makes news of sellouts and long lines more palatable.

 

Indeed, Peter Conway, general manager of a Best Buy in Westbury, N.Y., has made a habit of arriving at his store at 7 p.m. Thanksgiving night to chat with shoppers lined up outside.

 

“I’m outside talking with my customers, just getting to know them, seeing what they’re there for,” he said. “I’m very clear with them: ‘There’s not going to be any running.’ ”

 

For years, Best Buy has controlled crowds by sending teams of workers into the parking lots to dole out tickets for its so-called door-busters — hot items like digital cameras and laptops at exceedingly low prices. Tickets are given out about 3 a.m. and each customer is allowed one ticket for each door-buster item they intend to buy.

 

“They know if they have a ticket, they’re guaranteed they have that product,” Mr. Conway said. “It creates ease of mind.”

 

To keep shoppers from running aimlessly around its stores, Best Buy employees hand out maps, and they mark popular items with colored balloons that can be seen from anywhere in the store.

 

Many retailers, including Kohl’s and Toys “R” Us, said they were not changing their crowd management plans because they had not had problems.

 

After the death of Mr. Damour, Wal-Mart settled a case with the district attorney of Nassau County in New York. Wal-Mart agreed to create a $400,000 compensation fund, give $1.5 million to social service programs, and offer 50 jobs to area high school students each year for three years.

 

Rhett Asher, the National Retail Federation’s senior asset protection adviser, said during a conference call that big box stores and mall stores had different security issues. Malls are more bustling, public places with multiple entrances — so there tend to be fewer problems. Indeed, crowd control is not as much of an issue for Macy’s as it is for big-box stores, a spokesman said, because multiple entrances serve to disperse crowds.

 

Still, retailers of all sorts are making preparations. In just the last month, crowds of deal-hungry shoppers have created problems. In one instance, Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic said on Twitter that he would give away copies of his NBA Live 2010 basketball video game to the first five people who showed up at a particular GameStop store. Chaos ensued. Also last month, a woman at a Burlington Coat Factory store in Ohio said she had won the lottery and would treat her fellow shoppers to new clothes. When it turned out she was lying, a riot broke out.

 

“No matter how seamless and airtight you think this is,” Ms. Davis said of retailers’ plans, “the unexpected can happen.”

Edited November 11, 2009 by bigjimslade
cleaning up posting and added link to article

[BFNinja]

It’s sad that something tragic always has to happen before things are changed.

[bigjimslade]

http://walmartstores.com/FactsNews/NewsRoom/9517.aspx

 

Walmart U.S. Post-Thanksgiving Day Event Plan Statement

 

Customer and associate safety is always a top priority for us. This holiday season is no exception. Store-specific plans for all Walmart U.S. locations were developed in consultation with leading safety experts in the sports and entertainment industries.

 

Each plan addresses three areas:

 

* Customer approach and entry into the store;

* Customer flow throughout the store and around promotional merchandise; and

* Flow through the checkout aisles and away from the store.

* As an added measure, most of our U.S. stores will be open 24 hours for our post-Thanksgiving Day events. Our in-store specials will be available in all U.S. stores starting at 5:00 a.m.

 

We are committed to looking for ways to make our stores even safer for our customers and associates this holiday season. We are confident our customers can look forward to a safe and enjoyable shopping experience at Walmart.

[yoshi'sdad]

they said each store will handle their own plan. It could be interesting. The open thanksgiving day at 6:00 am could also spoil a lot of dinners for the ones that want to camp out for 24 hour in walmart. I personally don't need anything that badly to miss dinner with family

[KBsDarling]

i am really surprised it is 6am.....MAYBE 6pm at Walmart but I have never seen anything in the ad t go a full 23 hrs ahead of time. And honestly when we get to the one we usually go to at 1am we are the first people that are there for BF stuff.

[delphernina]

I know that the Walmart in my town is hiring police officers to watch the doors.

[rogue1230]

OK guys help me out here. I am confused!

 

 

So

1. Walmart will be 24 hours across the board?

 

2. This will be to allow customers to shop prior?to the sale, but at non sale prices?

 

3. when 5 am hits, will the products then be at sale price?

 

4.sooo... no waiting outside?

 

 

COOOONN FUUUUSED:confused:

[bigjimslade]

All WM stores will be open 24 hours across the board.

 

When 5 hits you will be handed tickets for the major items like computers, tvs, etc

 

You will have to line up inside in the line you want to be in. So if you want a TV you will stand in the TV line. You want a laptop and TV you better bring a friend.

 

OK guys help me out here. I am confused!

 

 

So

1. Walmart will be 24 hours across the board?

 

2. This will be to allow customers to shop prior?to the sale, but at non sale prices?

 

3. when 5 am hits, will the products then be at sale price?

 

4.sooo... no waiting outside?

 

 

COOOONN FUUUUSED:confused:

[rogue1230]

Jim I got to say this, I see your profile pic and I get all sorts of mixed up, hehehehehe.

 

So what happens with the small ticket items? clothes, sheets, toys stuff under 30$???? lines for those too?

[BFNinja]

I believe that they should allow people to get tickets for more then just one item. They could snake the line throughout the store while having all the pallets next to each other. This way each person comes up and is handed the things they have tickets for. This would allow people to get more then one item instead of only being able to get one. Edited November 12, 2009 by BFNinja

[friholic]

Well glad Walmart is going to try and do something. But why don't they just model stores that DON'T have problems.

 

Been going to Target's for many a years. They hand out tickets. Have many employees on hand to help. 5-10 minutes before the doors open the employees are out answering questions. Before the doors open, a group of employees stands to the side of the line to ensure those that stood in line get in before those that sat in their nice warm cars. :) This always starts a crowd going when, after standing in line for 2 hours. A group comes up and tries to blend in and get into line. The Target Managers make it real clear that isn't going to happen. Once inside security at the front reminds everyone "no running".

 

It seem so simple to me, but (on the outside looking in). :)

 

Whateven "plan" Walmart has, I hope it goes smoothly and nobody gets injured.

[bigjimslade]

I cant say for sure but I think they will be on the sales floor. Most of your riots happen over TVs and computers.

 

Do you like my pic? She is a great actress and should see some of her films.

 

Jim I got to say this, I see your profile pic and I get all sorts of mixed up, hehehehehe.

 

So what happens with the small ticket items? clothes, sheets, toys stuff under 30$???? lines for those too?

[friholic]

...............

 

So what happens with the small ticket items? clothes, sheets, toys stuff under 30$???? lines for those too?

Great question. If there is a line for everything............my Walmart stop will take 4 hours. :)

[areno79]

The Walmart I went to last year had the best system, IMO. It's a Supercenter, and while I showed up at 1AM fully prepared to wait outside in line, they remained open. They had most of the smaller items out (some on special endcaps/displays), and the big ticket items were wrapped in pallets and lines had formed at each one. Luckily we didn't need any large items, so we were done with our WM shopping by about 3AM. We parked our cart in one of the checkout registers, and had a good time chatting with line neighbors, and more importantly being WARM!

 

At 5AM the registers opened, and the associates (at least 2 per big item) opened the pallets and handed the items out to people in line in a nice orderly fashion. No running, screaming, or shoving. :)

[redspider61]

Great question. If there is a line for everything............my Walmart stop will take 4 hours. :)

no there is no lines for smaller things jus the big ticket items will be controled to prevent the madness of the past.. people looking for tvs, trampolines, bikes will be directed to lines and handed tickets and pickup will be in the back on the stores

[mrstoots]

I'm kind of wondernig about Walmarts being open on Turkey Day in MA because of the Blue Laws that we have. Stores are not open on Thanksgiving in MA. I've always hated the fact that I can't go to KMart for their Thanksgiving day sale because the store is not open. I know at my local Walmart I saw their holiday hours posted and for Thanksgiving it said they were closed. Of course it did not say anything about their BF hours so I wonder if they will open (legally) at midnight.

[BGndr]

no there is no lines for smaller things jus the big ticket items will be controled to prevent the madness of the past.. people looking for tvs, trampolines, bikes will be directed to lines and handed tickets and pickup will be in the back on the stores

That's what a family member who works at WM told me. The lines will only be for the "hot" items like TV's and laptops, not the smaller things.

[civiclover88]

The title of the article should be " Wal-Mart taking steps to screw their loyal customers". Even though I probably won't need any big ticket items this year, this new way of doing things is doing exactly that, screwing their customers out of things they may want. I hope they realize that. A separate line for each "hot" item? I don't know what scholar thought that up.

[amberjobryant]

The title of the article should be " Wal-Mart taking steps to screw their loyal customers". Even though I probably won't need any big ticket items this year, this new way of doing things is doing exactly that, screwing their customers out of things they may want. I hope they realize that. A separate line for each "hot" item? I don't know what scholar thought that up.

someone who has only studied marketing and never had to actually do it in a real world........I worked in marketing for many years, and had to learn the hard way that what you learn in the classroom does not always apply in the real world

[fluffkin79]

I'm happy they are doing something to keep the crowds under control. Hopefully they will come up with a system that will keep everyone happy(ish). I wonder: since I have to choose which 1 item to stand in line for, will I be able to get multiples of that item? Say, can I get 2 laptops for my 2 kids? Or get 2 cameras and trade one with friend who got 2 TVs? And will my cart full of BF movies, clothes and toys be able to stand in line with me?

[emschmitz]

The news is reporting that they are handing out tickets to people outside in the line for big ticket items only (tvs, laptops, gps, etc.) and then only letting 50 people at a time through the doors.

[nando_22_00]

since they will be open on thanksgiving

is there any special sale for that day?

[angelic680]

So it sounds like you cant get more then one thing on sale...that cant be right.....

 

I think if they want to make it more orderly they should do what bestbuy, kmart and everyone does the first people in line get to pick out of everything they want with tickets....

 

I sure hope everyone goes wild in my store and its every man for himself....LoL

[nikkilugi]

since they will be open on thanksgiving

is there any special sale for that day?

Not usually although they do price match KMart's ad if they have the exact items of course.

[mudd274]

Our store is open 24 hrs. and has been doing the line up for 3 years now and no one has ever gotten hurt. You just have to bring shopping buddies. Sometimes it means not getting a few items you want. Sit and figure out what are the items you must get verses the ones you would like to have. I like this so much better than standing in the cold and getting run over trying to get in the door.

[sracer]

So it sounds like you cant get more then one thing on sale...that cant be right.....

 

I think if they want to make it more orderly they should do what bestbuy, kmart and everyone does the first people in line get to pick out of everything they want with tickets....

 

I sure hope everyone goes wild in my store and its every man for himself....LoL

You mention Best Buy as if their plan is better. It is not. It encourages scalping of doorbuster tickets. A one-ticket total per person will eliminate the incentive for people to camp out in hopes of scarfing up one ticket for each item and scalping them for $20 a pop. Every year one must start camping earlier and earlier. 4 years ago, one could arrive at the local Best Buy at 11 pm Thanksgiving evening and be guaranteed to be no further back than 20th in line. Last year, the 20th person in line arrived at 1pm Thanksgiving day. Virtually all of that due to scalpers.

 

The problem with Walmart's new plan is that it doesn't eliminate the circus atmosphere... simply moving it indoors and distributing it across a few departments. Sure, they'll hand out tickets, but if they don't have an orderly process for fairly distributing those tickets there is going to be problems again this year. With these 24 hour stores, people will be "camping out" at registers

 

Some people think that Walmart is simply too slow to respond to the issues. I believe that it is deliberate... to hold off as long as they could with the circus atmosphere that strips people of their dignity for the sake of some black friday publicity.

[deelite]

You mention Best Buy as if their plan is better. It is not. It encourages scalping of doorbuster tickets. A one-ticket total per person will eliminate the incentive for people to camp out in hopes of scarfing up one ticket for each item and scalping them for $20 a pop. Every year one must start camping earlier and earlier. 4 years ago, one could arrive at the local Best Buy at 11 pm Thanksgiving evening and be guaranteed to be no further back than 20th in line. Last year, the 20th person in line arrived at 1pm Thanksgiving day. Virtually all of that due to scalpers.

 

The problem with Walmart's new plan is that it doesn't eliminate the circus atmosphere... simply moving it indoors and distributing it across a few departments. Sure, they'll hand out tickets, but if they don't have an orderly process for fairly distributing those tickets there is going to be problems again this year. With these 24 hour stores, people will be "camping out" at registers

 

Some people think that Walmart is simply too slow to respond to the issues. I believe that it is deliberate... to hold off as long as they could with the circus atmosphere that strips people of their dignity for the sake of some black friday publicity.

 

 

Best Buy's system is still better. IMO. The ticket and map system is awesome. Plus, I'll take dealing with scalpers over the Walmart atmosphere any day. For Walmart you have to basically pick which item you want the most unless you have friends? At least at Best Buy all I have to do is show up early (I am a BF camper so np for me) and I am promised to get all the big ticket items on my list. If I want a TV PC and Laptop, I'll have my tickets for all those items when I go to Best Buy. Not having to worry about jumping from one line to another in hopes of getting the other items is a huge plus. FYI..our store will boot scalpers out the line and redistribute the tickets.

[lorilwayne]

Its probably been 5 years since I shopped at a Walmart on BF that wasn't a super-center so the line thing isn't a big thing for me either. Now I have a motto that I don't go after the electronics items that day either. I have gone for DVD players, DVD-R's, camcorders, cameras but not the big TV's etc. This year I plan on not shopping period- although I will admit having 2 girls that are getting ready to enter the world on their own the $3-$5 small appliances is something that I'm chomping at the bit a little. Time will tell though.

[Guest smikmaisey]

Each big ticket item is going to have their own, clearly marked line. For example, a line for a 46" TV might be on Aisle 10 in the grocery department. Another line for a laptop might be in the Pet Department. Everything will be separated and crowds will be controlled.

 

A CSM at our local (small town KS) store says that they were told the line thing was at the discretion of the store managers- that our little store, while seeing a good deal of traffic for a small town, is no threat of a trampling incident and thus will not have lines for every big item, whereas stores in larger metropolitan areas will likely have lines for everything.

 

Our store has lines and tickets for the computers and tvs, mainly for convenience and loss prevention reasons. You get your ticket, pay, and pick up your item in a drive thru lane in the parking lot by tire and lube express. This keeps people who really ought not try to lift items from doing so, and keeps people from walking out of the store amidst the chaos with an old receipt taped to their brand new computer. The downside to this is that you do not get to choose your box. I personally like to make sure that the boxes of my merchandise are in excellent condition- both for gift giving and to ensure (approximate) that the merchandise inside the box hasn't been crushed or otherwise damaged. But thats just me....

[AndreaInNC]

DD18 works for a company who does security etc for sporting events and concerts and you would not believe how many folks they are recruiting to work lines at our local Walmarts!