Archived Black Friday Prep-electronics

[BRBeast]

Hey guys last year was my first year as a Electronics TL. It was a little rough so I'm looking for some advice on prepping to help out once crunch time comes. We are a couple months out, anything I should be doing now??? Any useful advice to excel??

Thanks in advance

 

[Leonhart621]

Start casing the games

 

[Bosch]

Know your d-code games. We always
have a battle what to do with those.

I'm In Stocks but that I see every year.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Train your team well. All my Dcode games on the floor

 

[Kartman]

Gird your loins...

 

[theanimal]

Take what you could have done differently from last year and strategize how you will implement changes this year. Also, try and keep tabs on what worked and what didn't so year after year you can keep tweaking it. Also if you leave or get another position it would be nice to pass those notes on to the next person.

Definitely though and Decode products, get them out and put them where they can be seen to catch people's attention

 

[Budweisered4]

Last year i was put in charge of running electronics from those 3 days of fun so the tl over electronics ( it was his first year as a TL) could assist over the rest of the floor ( I was at the time just a Full Time Electronics TM) Since that was also my 5th year back there I had the experience of what worked and such and then adapted it with what I thought would make it even better and in the end result many guests complimented how organized and easy it was to shop back in that department.

The biggest thing i did was take a hands on approach and literally I mean hands on with all the big ticket items tho mainly Apple have it all organized and products color coded dotted & a sheet print out of what we have and what color and size. It was definitely a process to do that but it worked. I had a print out to keep at electronics and then one to display at the front of the line with the team member there so the guests would know what is currently left in stock. The end of the line person also had a list and was communicated when we were out of products.

Overall esp after mapping and knowing where everything was going to be located and the great communication leading to those days and during those days made things run as its called "organized chaos" but the all the guests loved how it was all handled

 

[Yetive]

As for what to start doing right now, I'd say hiring and training.

 

[HardlinesGuy]

Like others said, D-Code games. Also, merchandise protection. Talk to your AP team and see if they can help, but really try to make sure that merch. pro. is at 110%. If there aren't enough keepers or spiderwraps, talk to an ETL and have them order more as soon as possible. SAP Numbers for AP resources are all on WorkBench. Black Thursday and Friday are two major shortage days, and the more serious that everyone takes the pre-chaos MP, the less the shortage there will be. Good luck!

 

[Kaitii]

last year i laughed at the chaos electronics had

karma is coming for me this black friday guys

 

[SFSFun]

Lol merch protection... Last year our Electronics TL just unlocked all of the video game cases and display cases and left them that way.

 

[theanimal]

Lol merch protection... Last year our Electronics TL just unlocked all of the video game cases and display cases and left them that way.

They are supposed to be unlocked, that's why they need to be cased up. This helps from one unlocking the case per guest.

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

Start cross training now. Get a good feel for who can handle the pressure (schedule them early) and who is more guest intensive schedule them later). Find a few cashiers that you think would make good a fit to man your registers. Get great routines in place. Do you have any team members that were with Target last year? Ask them for their opinions and suggestions. If you have the electronics team take ownership and work as a cohesive group your job as a TL will be so much easier.

 

[HardlinesGuy]

last year i laughed at the chaos electronics had

karma is coming for me this black friday guys

I was crowd safety leader for electronics last year... Absolute hell.

Lol merch protection... Last year our Electronics TL just unlocked all of the video game cases and display cases and left them that way.

They're supposed to be unlocked for easy access but the shortage that creates is insane, so we case everything.

 

[SFSFun]

Yeah we didn't case any of those. I remember because it made it super convenient for the SFS team to not have to worry about finding someone with a mag key.

 

[HardlinesGuy]

Yeah we didn't case any of those. I remember because it made it super convenient for the SFS team to not have to worry about finding someone with a mag key.

My store doesn't do SFS yet. But we have about 5 extra magnet keys all numbered and locked in the AP office that we only sign out for Black Friday. They get penciled in under the regular sign out sheet and we have the key holders sign their name on a make-shift sign out sheet for the extra keys.

 

[fx0007]

just get scheduled for Sunday-Thursday morning (the setup) like I did last year and not end up in the Black Friday schedule at all

 

[Streetdate]

I went from hating BF to loving it when I moved to electronics. Granted that's because they took me off the floor and put me in charge of the Apple Shop/cage. I literally stand in the desk, talk to guests about iPads and hand their item off to cashier who checks them out on the spot.

As far as prep goes, case as many games as possible, find a sorting system for the Apple Shop (First year running the cage I had 15 minutes to sort the thing because my ETL AP and Elec TL literally just threw everything in the cage), and sacrifice a virgin to the gods of your choosing.

 

[TM2]

You can add shelves to your cage with zip ties. Pretty helpful for keeping it organized.

 

[BRBeast]

Thanks for the suggestion guys.


Goodluck all with the impending Q4.

 

[SFSFun]

just get scheduled for Sunday-Thursday morning (the setup) like I did last year and not end up in the Black Friday schedule at all

Hah! Thanksgiving is time and a half pay, so at my store they'd add in a Thurs-Fri overnight shift to get you to 40 regular hours.

 

[DevinDeLaSpot]

For reference, I oversee electronics, entertainment, luggage/travel, automotive, sporting goods, toys, store equipment and devices, and our HL Team Trainers.

Right now, my departments have all SPLs set two weeks early, full endcaps and sidecaps, early-set seasonal toys, and no discontinued product in the back. We also scan through my departments for real once per week.

At this point, we have very little product in the back for electronics, none for video games, and a medium amount for toys.

My Electronics TMs have an average of 8 years in electronics for spot, and are all able to pull d-code, set SPLs, and are cross-trained for HL, market, electronics, and backroom.

Anything you all might be able to recommend where focus is concerned? My store is not regularly making sales, but I've done most everything I can think of to drive sales in my departments, yet instocks is still a challenge (we've had next to no cameras, especially gopros, Nintendo product, or Bose product forever it seems despite accurate OHs). I've been working with our GSTLs to promote Peotection Plan sales, and most of my team have alright AAR as well.

Would love any feedback you all could offer! With a new ETL-HR, ETL-AP, ETL-SF, and a new STL things are looking a bit interesting for my store coming in to Black Friday this year!

 

[TM2]

For reference, I oversee electronics, entertainment, luggage/travel, automotive, sporting goods, toys, store equipment and devices, and our HL Team Trainers.

Right now, my departments have all SPLs set two weeks early, full endcaps and sidecaps, early-set seasonal toys, and no discontinued product in the back. We also scan through my departments for real once per week.

At this point, we have very little product in the back for electronics, none for video games, and a medium amount for toys.

My Electronics TMs have an average of 8 years in electronics for spot, and are all able to pull d-code, set SPLs, and are cross-trained for HL, market, electronics, and backroom.

Anything you all might be able to recommend where focus is concerned? My store is not regularly making sales, but I've done most everything I can think of to drive sales in my departments, yet instocks is still a challenge (we've had next to no cameras, especially gopros, Nintendo product, or Bose product forever it seems despite accurate OHs). I've been working with our GSTLs to promote Peotection Plan sales, and most of my team have alright AAR as well.

Would love any feedback you all could offer! With a new ETL-HR, ETL-AP, ETL-SF, and a new STL things are looking a bit interesting for my store coming in to Black Friday this year!

I'm sure you know this, but setting end caps that far out can be detrimental to sales if not done carefully. Be sure not to set over something that is selling well, or that might be on sale next week.

 

[Walmart]

Make sure your electronics team gets priority for mydevices. Have no idea why thir letting softlines have them =/

 

[ISMike]

Make sure your electronics team gets priority for mydevices. Have no idea why thir letting softlines have them =/

If the softlines team actually keeps all tabled/basics items in the proper plano location it seems somewhat reasonable but I would doubt that, personally.