Best Buy completes Black Friday rehearsal

Posted Nov 20th 2007 4:25PM by Brian White
Filed under: Consumer Experience, Best Buy (BBY), Black Friday

Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) will be rocking and rolling this coming Friday, as millions of bargain-seeking shoppers hit the early morning streets of American to seize on those Black Friday prices everywhere.

It's almost like a TV sitcom, mind-numbingly predictable: retailers open up early, shoppers get up early, TV news crews film them, everyone shops 'til they drop then go home for turkey sandwiches while retailers count up the numbers and hope for the best. Every year the same plot.

Well, the largest consumer electronics retailer in the U.S. has already rehearsed for this coming Friday, as it engaged recently in tests to ensure the surge of traffic this Friday doesn't clog store openings, checkout lines or shopping aisles. Best Buy, in other words, is preparing some preventive maintenance in anticipation for the chaotic rush at the end of this week.

This past weekend, the retailer had 100,000 of its employees participate in a dry run for the upcoming Black Friday shopping day. It went all out, too -- simulated customer lines and shopping scenarios were the order of the weekend.

Best Buy associated should know what their roles are as well as how to efficiently guide consumers to bargains and then get them out the door as fast as possible so as not to clog up the system. Best Buy's goal is to "orchestrate an orderly flow" of shoppers, according to store managers. It may not make the best B-roll, but it may make everyone's job a little less chaotic. Let's hope every retailer has the same strategy come this Friday.

Tags: BBY, Best Buy, BestBuy, Black Friday, BlackFriday, shopping experience, ShoppingExperience