Effective Crowd Management

As retailers are preparing for this year’s holiday season, several incidents are fresh in their minds, including last year’s Black Friday trampling at a Wal-Mart store in Valley Stream, NY.

Just weeks after the holiday season, a $175 million class action settlement tasked retailers with distributing cosmetics in their stores. The distribution occurred in approximately 2,000 U.S. department stores in 1,200 shopping centers, and the affected department stores began preparations by discussing general guidelines and protocols to follow. As a result of the pre-planning and communication, no significant issues occurred during the mass distribution of the products.

In more recent history, two events in October 2009 also caused mayhem at retail locations.

In the first case, Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic NBA basketball team started a scavenger hunt with thousands of his fans using the popular social networking site, Twitter. Howard, who is featured on the cover of NBA Live 2010, a basketball video game, said he would give away copies of the game to the first five people that showed up to meet him at a local GameStop. Howard proceeded to give clues online leading fans to the store and overwhelmed the employees working that morning.

A little over a week later, a woman who claimed she won $1.5 million in the lottery offered to buy clothes for customers at a Burlington Coat Factory store in Ohio. When she did not follow through on her promise, she caused a riot in the store. According to law enforcement officials, when shoppers found out the whole thing was a hoax, they became enraged, threw merchandise around, looted the store and left it in total disarray.

While planned events like Black Friday and special entertainment give retailers plenty of time to plan and train for a flawless event, retailers must consistently work to prepare for the unexpected events that inevitably occur.

The purpose of this white paper is to provide guidelines and considerations for retailers and mall management officials when planning special events, including Black Friday and promotional sales.

The National Retail Federation has recently posted a great article titled:

Effective Crowd Management: Guidelines On How To Maintain The Safety And Security Of Your Customers, Employees And Store

This is the another section we would like to highlight!

Section 5: Crowd Management Guidelines Reference

Retailers, mall management and law enforcement can apply some basic components when preparing for an event to effectively utilize the resources at hand.

• Safety
• Communication
• Event Logistics
• Contingency Plan

Safety: Safety is a primary concern for retailers, especially when hosting large, in-store events. Plans should be made for the best interests of all people on-site during the event including:

• Customers
• Store Associates
• Mall Management
• Law Enforcement

Communication: While every event is different, a comprehensive plan should allow for contacts with all affected internal and external individuals, including customers.

Prior to the Event – A degree of advance communication with internal and/ or external contacts will be required for each event, with timings based on the scope of the event and anticipated number of attendees. As a general practice for very large events, such as Black Friday special promotions or celebrity appearances, retailers tend to plan two to three months in advance. As business cycles follow trends, sometimes there are special events planned with less advance notice. Key contacts to communicate with and utilize for the execution of a successful event include:

• Appropriate internal departments Facilities
• Human Resources
• Loss Prevention
• Marketing/Advertising
• Public Relations
• Operations
• Security
• Appropriate external contacts
• Attendees
• Law Enforcement
• Mall Management
• Media
• Neighboring stores
• Private Security Consultants

Day of the Event – On the day of the event, clear and effective communication to the operational team (cashiers, sales associates, loss prevention, security, store management) and to customers is critical to a successful and safe event. By keeping customers informed of the status of the event and the traffic flow, expectations on wait time or product availability can be managed appropriately.

Measures that can be put into place to clearly communicate on the day of the event include:

Signage placed in strategic locations identifying where the special event and/or promotional merchandise is located

Stanchions / Barriers either outside or inside the store to manage traffic flow.

Public Announcements – Some retailers use the public announcement system to update customers on the status of store opening, location of promotional items or the start time of special events.

Tickets / Wristbands – For retailers with promotions for the first customers in line or limited items, tickets and wristbands can be used to maintain orderly lines and manage expectations of customers.

Designated Chain of Command – Identify a key associate who will serve as the ultimate decision maker and serve as the observer making sure that all urgent issues and situations are being addressed. Additionally, clearly outline roles of associates from general manager to security personnel to cashiers.

Site Map – Create a site map noting entrances, exits, traffic flow, line flow and back up plans for larger-than-expected crows along with where appropriate store staff will be located.

Event Logistics: From the last person in line to the center stage or the place where the hottest promotional items are located, the logistics of the event should be fully thought through and accounted for. Event logistics to take into consideration:

Customers

• Entry/Exit Points – by limiting the accessibility of stores or other facilities to designated entry and exit points, traffic flow and crowd levels can be managed effectively. Additionally, propping open doors can decrease safety hazards that may arise with an influx of excited shoppers.
• Traffic Flow – using environmental barriers and store layout to place promotional items/entertainment areas in key spots will help manage congestion. Additionally, clear signage can help crowds easily find their way through stores.
• Associates
• Additional, knowledgeable staff onsite will help ensure a successful event
• Cashiers (designate a head cashier/store manager solely stationed at the cash wrap to float and resolve problems)
• Existing security and extra security including off-duty law enforcement or third party security
• Merchandise Placement
• During a promotional sale, strategically placing the items on sale throughout the store will help spread out the large crowd and manage flow better
• Retailers should account for re-stocking of merchandise

Contingency Plans: As mentioned in Section 3, the best laid plans may run into challenges. Contingency plans should be created for the “what if” situations, which will ensure customers, associates and security personnel that the event and potential extenuating circumstances were considered.