Black Friday shopping is a fun tradition for many families. You eat your thanksgiving meal, and then you go wait in line at your mall or store for it to open so you can get great deals on the products you want. However, sometimes Black Friday shopping is more complicated than it needs to be, so here’s some tips to help you out as a shopper, while also making the day easier for the associates you are interacting with.
1. Read the back of your coupons.
This simple step can save a LOT of time and headaches for you and the store associate. If you plan on using a coupon, make sure the item you are trying to buy is not excluded, or part of a sale that is excluded. If it is dollar off coupon (ex,$10 off of a purchase of $50), make sure you have the minimum amount needed to use the coupon. Often times items are marked down enough on their own that the coupons will not work on them. Don’t wait until you get up to the register to find out it isn’t going to work, you’re just wasting everybody’s time. If your coupon doesn’t end up working, do not blame the associate for it because it is not their fault.
2. Know the details about specific items you’re looking for.
This will save you time and confusion. If you know exactly what item you’re looking for, it will be easier for an associate to help you find it. Don’t ask an associate “Where’s the red top that was in the ad?” because most likely there will be more than one red top in the ad. Instead try “Where’s the Calvin Klein red button down that was in the ad?” These specifics can be the difference between a quick and painless shopping experience or a long drawn out one.
3. If you plan to try on merchandise, wear easy-on easy-off clothes and shoes.
This should be pretty self-explanatory, but the easier it is for you to get undressed, the quicker you will be in and out of the fitting room.
4.When you try on the merchandise, don’t leave it in a pile on the fitting room floor.
To save the associates from having to clean up a mess every time someone goes in and out of a fitting room, place the items you are not interested in on the rack or in the basket that will most likely be provided. It doesn’t take a lot of extra time or effort, and your associates will thank you for it.
5. Have your payment method ready when you check out.
If you are waiting in line for any amount of time, get out your cash or credit card, coupons, and anything else you will need to pay for your items. If you are writing a check, partially fill out the check while you are waiting so it speeds up the checkout process.
6. Be polite to your associate.
If someone is helping you locate items or ringing up your purchase, be polite, please. Lots of the associates work long shifts and have possibly been working for several hours longer than a normal shift. Being rude will not restock items, give you lower prices, or a faster checkout.
7. If an associate tells you that you cannot take a cart out of the store, don’t try to take it out of the store.
If the store you are going to is part of a mall, often times the carts need to stay in that particular store. Do not ask the associate if you can take the cart with you because the answer will be no. Run your purchases to the car before moving on to another store, or see if the mall itself has carts that can go in and out of any store.
8. Try not to destroy displays or piles of folded clothes on tables.
Many times, items are folded and sized on the tables, with small on top, then medium, large, and extra-large on the bottom, or numerically with small sizes on top and larger sizes on the bottom. Do not remove and unfold each item individually until you get to one that fits you. If you are looking for a large, odds are it will be somewhere in the middle, so just pick up part of the stack instead of unfolding everything.
9. If you’re buying something that you think may go out of stock quickly, get there early.
If the store you’re going to opens and 5 pm on Thanksgiving Day and you’re looking for an item that you know is in high demand, don’t wait until 5 p.m. Friday to go look for it. Try to get there as early as possible in order to get the item you want, because the store may run out.
10. If an associate says something is out of stock, they are telling you the truth.
Associates will be restocking merchandise in the store throughout the time they are open. If all of an item sells, there’s not much they can do about it. If you ask them if there are any more in “the back,” and they tell you no, please believe them. They are not trying to prevent you from getting what you want, they are not being lazy for not checking; odds are, they know that there are no more in the back, and asking them to check will not magically restock that item. It doesn’t make sense for a store to keep fast-selling items in the back.
11. Associates are not babysitters.
If you choose to bring children along with you, keep an eye on them. Losing track of a child is bad enough on any given day, but on Black Friday things are particularly hectic. Please keep your children near you so you can monitor their behavior and prevent them from touching/tearing up/breaking/jumping on merchandise. This is especially true in any store with ornaments, glassware, dishes, and fragile decorations. The store wants to keep your child safe, as well as the merchandise intact, and it will be easier for everybody if you pay attention. It is not the associate’s job to keep your child from causing trouble, nor is it their job to entertain your child while you shop. If your child does break something (especially glass), please let an associate know. It will help keep other patrons safe.