This Holiday Season, Develop a Plan for Crowd Control

The bustle of the holiday buying season means more customers will likely be coming through your doors: According to the National Retail Federation, as many as 140 million Americans will shop over Thanksgiving weekend—97 million on Black Friday alone.

To ensure the safety and security of your store during the busy holiday season, having the proper crowd control procedures in place is vital.

Your crowd control strategy should include these four steps:

• Remind and retrain all employees about your store’s emergency plan to address potential risks facing workers and customers.
• Dedicate a knowledgeable employee to communicate and manage crowds from arrival to departure.
• Establish clear protocols for conflict resolution. Giving employees the authority and tools to calm frustrated shoppers is important, especially if the need to diffuse a situation presents itself.
• Be prepared to allocate resources in real time.

Source: National Retail Federation