After last year’s bad headlines around poor preparation for Black Friday and a sudden rush that lead to massive log jams in the delivery system, John Tavaria, Head of Direct at Shutl has said that businesses have prepared well for this year’s shopping bonanza.

He said that businesses have done, “detailed reviews of previous peaks alongside current trends,” that have been carried out and, ”forecasters will have been busy capacity planning so that customer expectations are managed well, but there’s no accounting for the way in which shoppers adapt their spending habits for retail events like this so it’s really important that retailers have every box ticked.”

Last year’s terrible headlines and scare stories of how businesses have suffered due to poor service brought about by the glut in sales seem to have been a wake up call for businesses preparing for this year’s Black Friday. Some – like Argos – have tried to spread the rush out with longer promotions where others have increased capacity on their websites. Throughout the e-commerce industry companies have been in negotiation with delivery companies and tight contracts have been drawn up according to the detailed forecasts demanded.

Tavaria went on to say, “this year they’re taking a more mature and pre-emptive approach to setting expectations since they’re all too aware of the consequences of disappointing a customer – not only a lost sale, but potentially a social media crisis and a front page headline.”

In reference to Tescos telling customers that their Click and Collect service would suffer some disruption, Tavaria came out in praise, “Even the biggest multichannel retailers and pure plays need to set expectations – remember that the landscape is evolving all the time in response to changing shopper needs and habits – it’s no small task to keep up!”

Though one expects imagery of fights breaking out for TV’s in supermarkets, the online version of Black Friday should pass peaceably and smoothly…