Should Retailers Change the Way They Do Black Friday?
This article considers Black Friday sales in light of a Walmart worker being trampled to death and two men who shot and killed each other at a Toys R Us store. It offers several suggestions to reduce the chance of violence and death during these sales.
With a man being trampled to death at a Walmart in New York and two men shooting each other to death at Toys R Us in California, maybe it’s time to change how we do things. Just the thought that shoppers would be so callus as to knock down the employee who opened the door and step over his dead body to get to go shop is ridiculous. When two women break into a fist fight over toys and their husbands draw guns and kill each other, it’s time to reconsider how we do and see this shopping day.
Just a thought: perhaps instead of opening the doors at a goofy time like 5 am, stores should just stay open all night that night and have the sales still start at an early hour. The Walmart supercenters do this, and it gives shoppers time to get into the store at their convenience, find the products, and wait for the sale to start. As a veteran of a decade or so of these sales, this seems to work well. I’ve never felt in danger of being shot or trampled.
The cost to stay open all night would be minor to the store compared to the improved safety for the customers and staff. Most of these stores are only closed less than eight hours that night anyway and some as little as 5 hours. Frequently, their staff is in the store several hours beyond closing time getting the merchandise ready for sale.
It may turn out that with a little shopping being done during these extra open hours that it would actually be profitable for stores to do this. They could even start the sales at the crack of midnight. Some outlet malls already open up at midnight. Small stores in these malls report sales exceeding $1,000 per hour for the six or seven hours that the sale lasts. Large category killer and department stores might see sales exceeding that number by 10 times or more.
Phased in sales that start from hour to hour or every 3 or 4 hours may even be worth considering althought the automated check out systems may be a little tough to program. While this seems like it should not be difficult, many stores have problems getting the prices right for one big start time for the sales.
It is not so important how this bedlam is reduced, but it needs to be seriously addressed. Even losing the loss leaders in favor of a wider sale with less aggressive discounts might be better. Consumers would not save as much on one item, but the overall savings could be bigger.
These suggestions may not seem too great to Walmart or other retail giants. If huge lawsuits and a poor public image start to snowball, they may have no other choice but to change their practices.
1 Comment
No, retailers do not need to change. People need to change, thus the impetus behind my poem Twinkle!
Good job though. As someone who has worked in retail, the numbers are staggering. This is the day that corporations finally turn a profit, thus the ‘Black’, as in; in the black. The rest of the years profits all go toward operating expenses. The drive to create buzz and excitement for black friday is driven by our own consumerism. We don’t participate. For that matter, the whole idea of gift buying for a holiday pumped up by retailers is a bit nauseating. Start a new tradition of hosting dinner parties amongst friends, leave the physical gifts at the stores.
Clay