Black Friday is the shopping event of the year, with total sales from brick and mortar establishments totaling $12.3 billion on Black Friday in 2017, and about 37% of the North American adult population joining the fun! That’s 225,000,000 people out and about, an astronomically larger than typical number. Add to that the extra challenges of early opening times, crowd control, over-eager shoppers sleeping in parking lots, and potential problems like shoplifting, trampling and brawls breaking out, and you have some major Black Friday security issues for retail stores. These issues are at best a minor headache, sapping at your profit margins. At worst, a major incident on your premises can lead to lengthy legal battles and crippling financial troubles.
Hire extra security for Black Friday
Hiring a security guard for Black Friday is a great way to help ensure the day goes smoothly, and reduce shrinkage. Simply having a visible security presence on hand is enough to prevent many would-be shoplifters. Depending on the size of your business, it may be necessary to take on more than one extra security guard in order to ensure that the majority of your store is under observation.
Every year it seems to get worse and worse, the violence that surrounds Black Friday and the mayhem that has become the number one shopping day in America. We see it year after year, trampling at Wal-Mart over the new Xbox, lines and aggravated customers getting in scuffles over the latest toy for their kid that they have waited in line hours of even days for. Black Friday has become an ugly day, filled with masses of overwhelming people and flashes of violent outbursts at malls, plazas and stores.
As scary as it sounds, even though it ‘Tis the season to be jolly,’ there have been 7 deaths and 98 injuries attributed to Black Friday shopping events since 2006. There are even Black Friday death and injury counters that are easy enough to find on the Internet. But if you own or run a store, or manage a mall or a plaza, Black Friday shopping and the potential injuries and law suits that come with it are no cheerful or laughing matter at all.
This Holiday season make sure that the crowds that visit your store or stores are safe from other customers, and that your property is also safe from crazed crowds. Don’t gamble with your property or with the safety of your customers. Protect your stores, your goods and your hard earned customers on Black Friday and throughout the holiday shopping season with Central Protection Services, Edmonton.