How to build flexible retail scheduling for Black Friday

Black Friday pushes labour costs, overtime and variance against plan to their limits.

Retailers that prepare early see better control of labour spend, fewer compliance risks, and a smoother experience for both customers and employees. Many organisations reduce overtime by up to 50% with the help of accurate forecasting and flexible scheduling tools.

This guide covers how to plan smartly for Black Friday across both traditional stores and the growing number of dark stores that now support online fulfilment.

Why Black Friday requires smarter workforce planning

Black Friday creates a unique set of pressures for frontline teams:

• Higher footfall and longer opening hours.
• Sharp increases in overtime when labour supply lags behind demand.
• Fluctuations between in-store traffic and online orders.
• A rising reliance on dark stores for faster fulfilment.

Retailers can only manage these peaks if their scheduling, forecasting and labour planning are tailored for both customer-facing locations and fulfilment hubs.

What are dark stores – and why do they matter on Black Friday?

A dark store is a store-like space used only for online order fulfilment. Customers don’t browse there; the entire layout is built for fast pick-and-pack operations. They’re becoming essential during Black Friday because they:

• Speed up fulfilment and click-and-collect.
• Reduce pressure on in-store staff by handling large online order volumes.
• Allow retailers to scale up quickly without impacting customer flow in traditional stores.
• Improve labour visibility, since fulfilment demand can be forecast separately from in-store demand.

For peak season, dark stores shift the workload: many retailers now need two workforce plans – one for stores and one for fulfilment – that work together in real-time.

How to build a flexible Black Friday schedule across both stores and dark stores

1. Forecast demand by channel

Treat in-store traffic and fulfilment demand separately.

• Identify the hour-by-hour peaks for both.
• Forecast click-and-collect spikes.
• Map order volume forecasts to required picking and packing hours.
  
  

2. Create flexible rotas that include fulfilment roles

Peak staffing plans should include:

• Store associates
• Cashiers
• Click-and-collect runners
• Dark-store pickers and packers
• Drivers for local delivery (where relevant)

Build in reserves who can switch between store and fulfilment tasks if demand shifts.

3. Cross-train teams

Cross-training protects both labour costs and customer experience.

• Train store teams on basic fulfilment workflows.
• Train dark-store teams for light-store support if needed.
• This helps you avoid expensive last-minute overtime.
  
  

4. Use mobile communication to keep teams aligned

When shifts, tasks or fulfilment priorities change, mobile updates help employees act fast.

• Publish rotas early.
• Notify employees of role changes instantly.
• Share break rules and safety guidance for long trading days.
  
  

5. Track labour costs, fulfilment output, and OT risk in real time

During Black Friday, track:

• Labour cost vs plan
• Order fulfilment times
• Staffing accuracy
• Overtime spikes

If fulfilment starts to outpace store traffic, be ready to reassign people.

6. Run a post-event review

Focus on what drove:

• Overtime
• Mis-staffing
• Delays in fulfilment
• Longer queue times
• Employee fatigue

These insights will sharpen your planning for the next Black Friday, Cyber Monday and all other peak events.

Interested in learning more?

See how retail chain Rituals transformed with efficient scheduling in this customer case.

Want to see how smarter scheduling, forecasting, and engagement come together in one platform? Quinyx helps you cut labour costs, protect compliance, and give your frontline a better experience – shift by shift.