How does Target stock and restock their toys?
 

So we finally! got Target in Quebec. I was at the opening of one of the stores today. I noticed that, although the pegs were full they weren't stocked with complete cases ie 10 figs instead of twelve. I also noticed at another Targat that opened a few weeks ago that restocks arent done with full cases either. Half full pegs of, say, Batman figs were filled with half cases. Do they just put out what they need and keep the balance of the stock in the stockroom? I know in the states the price checkers actually tell you not only the price but also if there is more stock in back.

Re: How does Target stock and restock their toys?
 

I do know, having witnessed it myself, that my Target does not put out the entire case. There's an employee entrance which, if I stand outside, I can even see the MarvelU figures sitting in a bin on the inventory shelf (sometimes even when there are no MU figures out on the pegs!!!) so they must use some kind of rationing to decide how many are put out at a time.

Who knows why they do this... maybe it's to fight scalpers for some reason?

Re: How does Target stock and restock their toys?
 

I don't really think there is a "rationing" it's just whether there is enough room on the pegs for full case. The employees stock at night so they get paid to put stuff out by the hour. As far as looking at the figures in the backroom, why aren't you having an employee run the DPCI # and have them pull them for you. Odds are that those are put aside by an employee, anyways, so cut his grass! Seriously though, have them scan the DPCI # and they will pull them out of the back if there is room on the pegs.

Re: How does Target stock and restock their toys?
 

Thanks guys that what I thought. Might also explain why I couldn't find the new Storm Shadow fig. So, tell me more about this "employee entrance ", where is it situated in the store?

Re: How does Target stock and restock their toys?
 

Yep, employees take the best and leave the rest.
...And then post their haul ;)

Re: How does Target stock and restock their toys?
 

I've seen that happen at TRU, employees definitely do grab toys for themselves (and hey, wouldn't YOU?) including scalping stuff on ebay.

Anyway, to answer 4lott, at my Target the MarvelU figures were put right by the employee entrance (that is to say, the entrance to their storeroom) so if I happen to be standing near there when an employee enters or leaves the storeroom and the door swings open, I get a quick glimpse at the shelf and can see if there are any figures that haven't been put out. Don't know if this is the same at other Target stores. It was just dumb luck that I noticed it one time.

If I see there were some MU or SW figures inside, I will try to find an employee to go and just tell them that the pegs are empty or not full, and ask them to go and put out the figures. I will say that half the time I can't even FIND an employee willing to do this. Target seems to have cut back on their staff by a lot since they opened. Sometimes I'm told that there's a crew that is assigned to stock the pegs and it's their job to handle that (so in other words, bug off) but once in a rare moon, somebody will go and bring out the figures.

Re: How does Target stock and restock their toys?
 

Well I can think of one reason why they might ration stuff. If you've noticed, at my Target at least, the store doesn't seem to carry a lot of inventory. I think that's been a huge complaint by customers since they opened - they go in and find scant stuff that's worth buying. Even Zellers seemed to be a lot fuller than Target is, when it comes to toys (maybe the fact the toy aisles were so messy just makes it seem that way).

If you don't have much stock, then you'd ration it until your company can get their distribution channels up and running to handle larger deliveries. For all we know they could only have a few trucks that deliver stock to their stores, or their delivery trucks only come once every week (contrast to say Walmart which seems to get delivery trucks daily).

So rationing just prevents the shelves from looking empty and deserted. Imagine going into a big retail store and literally finding row after row of unused pegs and shelves. I think that'd look pretty bad...

Re: How does Target stock and restock their toys?
 

I worked at Zellers until they closed and when Target took over we were told that they'd have only about 60% of the SKUs that Zellers had. Their idea is to have less products but have more of each in stock. Sadly it seems they dont have their distribution system set up right as it always seems empty to me.
Zellers was always packed to the rafters and we had just as much stuff packed away in the back. I miss the days of digging through skids to see what I could find. Not to mention the 70-80% off sales. Zellers tended to keep everything even if it didn't sell for years. I remember finding Zoids from 2002 in 2011 and even dayplanners from 1998 and 1999 lol. As much as everyone complained how messy it could be at times, I'd rather have a messy store with product I want then a tidy store with nothing!

Here's a few photos of our store from both 2001 and 2011. Our stock room here is way emptier then it usually was. Normally you could barely walk down the main row.

Re: How does Target stock and restock their toys?
 

That makes sense to me. Zellers definitely seemed to have more stuff than Target does, even if it was just older stuff.

Target just seems to have a lot of empty shelves.

That said I still like getting the Target Exclusives here now(like the recent Beast Hunters stuff) at reasonable prices. I've also found an assortment of Vintage Collection figures that never really saw much of a release in Canada.