Sharp prices, brands, systems propel toys - Target

Discount Store News, April 5, 1993

Target's philosophy in toy merchandising is simple: have the top toys at the best prices.

Several top toy manufacturers credit Target with running a department that features a carefully selected assortment of name brand items that are sharply priced, expertly promoted and always in stock, thanks to technology that facilitates a Just-In-Time distribution system.

"They definitely don't want moms to be disappointed," said Lydia Brichta, a former Target toy buyer and current director of marketing for TOMY Toys.

Nonetheless, Greatland is running behind established retailers in the Columbus, Ohio, market when consumers think about buying toys, concluded an exclusive consumer survey that Leo J. Shapiro & Associates, Chicago, conducted for DSN. Target entered the Columbus market 16 months ago with three Greatland stores.

Asked where they would shop for toys, 6% of Columbus consumers mentioned Target Greatland as either their first or second choice. As could be expected, the largest number of responses were for Toys "R" Us, which garnered 72.5% of mentions.

Among discounters, Meijer and Kmart were the top choices with 20.5% and 20%, respectively.

Target comes out better, though, when compared with just other discounters, excluding Toys "R" Us and other toy store outlets. Among shoppers who mentioned a discount store as either their first or second choice for toys, 13.8% cited Target Greatland.

Visually, Target's toy department is bland. It is tucked away near the rear of the store on the back side of the race-track in most Target stores and located along the back wall in the new Target Greatlands in Chicago. At the new Greatlands, Target provides 12 gondolas of 20ft., plus the use of the back wall to store and display boxes containing bulkier goods, such as Little Tikes three-wheeled trikes. These large items are stocked on the warehouse racking that runs along both the perimeter walls of a Greatland store.

The merchandise assortment is narrow, and Target provides no vendor-supplied displays in the department to call attention to any brand name or line. Toys are not merchandised nearly as meticulously as other departments in a Target store.

In games, for example, the assortment is not organized either alphabetically or by vendor. If any logic prevails, it seems to be a run of games from conventional board games to floor games.

Also, in Barbie items, which represent Target's largest toy assortment, the discounter relies on the merchandise itself, to lure customers into the single gondola run of Barbie dolls and accessories, rather than any brand signage, except for a small category sign that tells shoppers where Barbie dolls are located. It is as prominent as the sign in hardware that reads "tools". A similar sign lets customers know they are entering a facing run of Disney licensed figures.

The entire toy department is noticeably free of the vendor signs or displays commonly found in many other discounters' toy departments.

But Target doesn't leave its merchandise assortment to fend for itself. It does use special in-store promotions to stimulate traffic, create excitement and impulse purchases. During the critical Christmas selling season, Target expands its merchandise assortment to include such try-me toys as electronic learning aids to keep kids in the toy aisles.

Expansion is simple because toys are located next to seasonal, now set for Lawn and Patio.

But for spring and summer, Target keeps everything in the box, since its year-round toy department lacks floor space for displays, such as table and chair sets and sandboxes.

To celebrate the grand openings in Chicago, Target and Mattel held an in-store Barbie event called "Real Kids Star With Barbie." The program, begun earlier this year and offered to many Mattel accounts including Wal-Mart and Kmart, invites girls into the store for an audition to appear in a television commercial with Barbie. Winners also will be featured in Barbie magazine as well as get a trip to Hollywood, a Mattel spokeswoman said.

Target offered an exclusive Lamb Chop plush puppet with an "I Love Chicago" tee-shirt during the Chicago openings. The toy was placed at checkout and in the toy department.

A private label offering is an Ugly Duckling plush, featured on endcap at $8 and cross merchandised at the store entrance next to health and beauty care. Another private label plush in Circo, a Target brand in kidswear.

Another stimulus to toy department sales in Target's storewide Great Gifts program for Christmas. Great Gifts is comprised of a selection of special or unique items from throughout the store that Target repackages for the holiday. It merchandises all Great Gifts items together.

A Great Gifts committee, which looks for quality and value, selects all items featured in the program. Target also takes a lower margin on Great Gifts and offers them at a good value, said Brichta of TOMY.

Except for being larger, the toy departments in the new Greatland stores in Chicago look much like toy departments at conventional Target stores. The merchandise selection varies only marginally, due more to the space than the format.