Black Friday has long been a popular sales day for retail shopping. Occurring the day after Thanksgiving, this sales “holiday” is crucial for most retailers. However, it can be dangerous, with unpredictable surges of frantic shoppers that can catch unprepared retailers off guard. A successful day can quickly turn into a retail disaster if stores fail to provide proper crowd control and organizational solutions.
Read on to learn how one Big Box retailer found themselves in a sticky situation and how Stretchtape’s quick turn process saved the day.
Why Big Box Retailers Use Custom Caution Tape
Retailers often use caution tape to help manage the increase in customers on days like Black Friday. It’s a simple, low-cost solution for blocking safety hazards or dangerous areas, reinforcing social distancing guidelines, and controlling crowds.
Stores can use caution tape to control the flow of customers through their environment. Retailers can lead customers from the front doors, through sections or aisles, to the register, and out the back without confusion.
Retailers can also define spaces around hot-selling items and organize the checkout area to minimize crowding. Since accidents often happen in crowded areas, especially during high volume times like Black Friday, being prepared with caution tape can prevent injuries. Dangerous areas can be sectioned off around broken glass, spills, or other hazards.
Additionally, custom caution tape allows retailers to communicate hazards in stores while simultaneously promoting their business. With more people on the shopping floor, there’s more opportunity to get eyes on the business’s branding as customers move through the store.
Stretchtape Delivers to Save Big Box Retailer
Typically, retail stores spend the weeks before Thanksgiving preparing for the increase in foot traffic. They ready their stores for thousands of shoppers by evaluating traffic flows, ensuring they have enough stock to capitalize on the weekend activity, and training staff to manage the volume of expected customers. For some, Black Friday is the most profitable time of the year. The right processes and preparations can make all the difference between a good year and a great one.
However, when one American big box retail chain realized they would not be receiving a key component of their Black Friday strategy, their distributor turned to Stretchtape for a solution.
A Supply Chain Problem
Just three weeks before Thanksgiving, the Big Box retailer found themselves without their custom caution tape. Supply chain issues hindered the delivery from their supplier, and it wouldn’t be possible to meet the due date.
There was little time left. To manage traffic flow effectively in its nearly 2,000 stores across the country, every facility would need custom caution tape on hand by the Tuesday before Black Friday—which was only a few weeks away.
A Rapid Solution
The client tasked Stretchtape with completing the order before the nearing deadline. Interrupting its production team, Stretchtape rapidly created the artwork, obtained approval, and made printing plates. As Stretchtape regularly runs custom items, it was simple to shift work through print production and quickly complete the project.
Stretchtape shipped approximately 500 cases of product to the Big Box retailer locations across the country, meeting the company’s tight deadline.
Overwhelmingly Positive Results
The Big Box retailer implemented its crowd flow strategy across retail locations in time for Black Friday using custom caution tape, proudly using an American supplier to deliver an American-made product. Customers could efficiently identify products, move through the store, and complete their shopping without the stress of overcrowding or disorganized systems.
Avoid supply chain pain
Import reliability is not improving any time soon, so considering a US-based solution is highly recommended. Ensure your store is prepared with custom caution tape for crowd control and brand promotion during upcoming holidays.
Stretchtape offers several barricade tapes for numerous industrial purposes. The water-resistant, durable film creates quick entry barriers and can warn of danger or hazards. The heavy gauge film is designed to resist tears and rips and can be used indoors and outdoors. Stretchtape’s barricade films also offer maximized visibility.