Toys feature most sought-after items - Target Stores - Target Power Merchandising

Discount Store News, April 18, 1994

Like other discount department store chains, Target focuses on the toys kids clamor for most.

"We concentrate on most wanted [toys] or where we can make a statement," said Bob Guelich, senior vice president, hard lines.

Target is trying to emphasize Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the entire action figure category, he said. Barbie and Lego are not left out, nor are such licensed product lines as Aladdin, with shelf-talker signs to highlight the merchandise.

At Target's recently opened two-level unit in Pasadena, Calif., the toys department offered 10 gondola runs of toys, 1-1/2 of which were dedicated to Barbie, plus an endcap that was reserved for Bedtime Barbie, the soft-body version of the popular doll, priced at $10.49. Also, Barbie made a personal appearance during the grand opening festivities.

Other endcaps presented Kermit the Frog (part of Target's "Zing into Spring" promotion), UCLA Bruin licensed plush bears, as well as summer merchandise such as wading pools, pool toys and sandboxes by various suppliers. One endcap was dedicated to "New Store Specials" and featured an assortment of toys and juvenile products from FisherPrice.

Toys are located on the ground floor between boys' and girls' apparel instead of on the second floor with other hard lines departments.

Toy suppliers long have commended Target on its attempt to present a rounded selection of toys in the confines of a discount department store.

But in the Chicago market, which Target entered in March 1993 with 11 Greatland stores (now 20), the chain has yet to develop a following among shoppers as a toys destination store.

A consumer survey that DSN commissioned from Leo J. Shapiro & Assoc., Chicago, found that eight out of 10 consumers said their first and second choices for toys shopping is, as could be expected, the dominant toys specialty chain, Toys "R" Us. Twenty percent of all shoppers surveyed named Kmart as their first or second choice for toys shopping, followed by Venture, 15%; Wal-Mart, 11%; Kay-Bee Toys, 8%; and Target Greatland, 6%.

Research on the Chicago market described the typical toys shopper at Target Greatland as a women age 35 or younger who lives in a household earning less than $30,000 a year.

Only one of the 16 shoppers who named Target Greatland as a preferred toys shopping department was age 55 or older, the age at which older adults typically start buying toys again, this time for their grand kids.

And only two said their family income is more than $50,000 a year.

Nonetheless, compared to the eight other merchandise categories surveyed, toys was making a better impression on Chicago area shoppers than were women's and men's apparel, CE, sporting goods and H&BC.

When respondents were asked what they are most likely to shop for if they were going to Target, toys ranked eighth among 20 merchandise categories mentioned, showing the potential of the department.